Carolina Hurricanes’ playoff potential rides on how they address goalie problem
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- Canes must upgrade goaltending now to preserve realistic Stanley Cup contention.
- Front office holds about $13M cap space and can pursue veteran NHL starters.
- Options range from internal Bussi roll to costly trades for other starters.
If anyone was hopeful through the first half of the season that the Carolina Hurricanes were going to be able to play through whatever goaltending issues arose — and there were plenty of people who were — by throwing multiple goalies at the problem to see what might stick, it should now be abundantly clear that the team’s path to a Stanley Cup championship is becoming riddled with 4-foot-by-6-foot holes.
In October, as the season began teeming with optimism, it was apparent the Hurricanes had made significant upgrades at all positions — except in goal.
At the time, it was fair to wonder whether the team’s reliance on goalies with a particularly fragile history — physically — was wise, and whether the abundance of cap space, which has been made larger still this season by the team’s unprecedented spate of injuries throughout the roster, could best be used on an upgrade between the pipes.
The answer to the latter, now, is unequivocally, “Yes.”
At the time, we mused that the Hurricanes’ goaltending numbers overall, their raw, statistics, had been fine enough, even in the playoffs. Mentally, we figured, they were fine. What was concerning was the extensive injury history for both Frederik Andersen and Pyotr Kochetkov. (At the time, Kochetkov was already on the IR to begin the season. We now know why.)
Andersen played in only 22 regular-season games last season. He played 16 in 2023-24; 34 in 2022-23; and 52 in 2021-22 (but none in the playoffs).
Kochetkov played 47 regular-season games last season. He played 42 in 2023-24; 24 in 2022-23; and three in 2021-22).
To begin this season, it was Andersen who appeared the epitome of health. Kochetkov’s ailment, at the time, we thought to be minor.
And now?
Kochetkov is done for the season, choosing to address his nagging injury (sustained in the preseason) with surgery, ending his season before the halfway mark. And his numbers had been good, too — 6-2 with a 2.33 goals-against average.
Andersen is still healthy. That’s about the extent of the positive news for the Great Dane, who is mired in one of the worst statistical stretches of his career. Andersen has plummeted to 51st overall in the NHL in GAA (3.38), and 59th (out of 60 qualified goalies) in save percentage (.865). For a team that doesn’t allow a lot of shots like the Canes, save percentages will likely be lower in Carolina overall, but that might be stretching a bit too far.
Health no longer appears to be a concern for Andersen. But all of a sudden his mental state has to be. He’s 5-9-2 in 16 starts this season. He hasn’t won a game in nearly two months, and is 1-8-2 in his past 11 starts.
Thank goodness for Brandon Bussi.
Initially claimed as a stopgap and perhaps a solid option for Chicago of the American Hockey League after losing Cayden Primeau on waivers, all Bussi did was rip off 13 wins in 15 starts. Prior to the Canes’ New Year’s Day debacle against Montreal, Bussi led the NHL in GAA (2.08), was 13th in save percentage (.912), and had been the most dependable of all the Canes’ keepers.
Bussi can’t start every night, nor apparently, is he infallible, as everyone witnessed Thursday. Could he start more often than he has? Sure. But there’s no telling how that will affect his play.
Primeau is back in the system after a waiver-wire boomerang from Toronto, and his numbers in Chicago are adequate (3-3-5, 2.49, .914), but his career NHL numbers are nothing to write home about (15-25-7, 3.73, .882).
As previously mentioned, the Canes are awash in cap space. They already had about $10 million to begin the season, and with so many games lost to injury throughout the roster this season, the team’s number has actually grown a bit, and sits at about $13 million.
While it can be debated on what else the team may or may not need to try and win a Stanley Cup this season — apart from a completely healthy roster — let’s focus on what options the Hurricanes have to address what is now a glaring need between the pipes.
Option A: Trade for an NHL-ready goalie
Primeau and Amir Miftakhov of the Chicago Wolves are playing well in the AHL. They sit 15th and 16th, respectively, in GAA and 10th and 11th in save percentage. The last thing Carolina needs is another AHL-ready goalie who may or may not do well in the NHL (though at this point, it’s fair to ask whether they’d be better than Andersen has been the past two months).
But how about NHL goalie on teams that, at the halfway mark, are ready to accept that this season may be more “rebuild” than “reload”?
And for that, the Canes would have to look west. None of the teams in the Eastern Conference are more than five points out of a playoff position at the moment, and it’s fair to say that none can realistically be ruled out of a run to the postseason. Yes, even the Sabres, with their recent run.
But in the West? The chasm between the haves and have nots is widening.
Jordan Binnington of St. Louis is a name that appears a lot as a possibly available trade target. The Blues are close to the cap, and Binnington is owed $6 million this year and next. His salary off the books in St. Louis would give the Blues a bit of flexibility to retool, certainly, and his cost may not be as high as some others. But his numbers this season are less than impressive. In fact, his GAA is worse than Andersen’s, and his save percentage is just a hair better. That’s … not an upgrade.
Here’s an option not enough people are talking about, though: Vancouver’s tandem of Thatcher Demko and Kevin Lankinen, most specifically Demko. There seems to be regular chatter about Canucks center Elias Pettersson and the Hurricanes (and for good reason, the Hurricanes need a center, too), but not to be overlooked amid Vancouver’s tough season is the potential availability of its goalies.
Demko is having a good season behind a suspect defensive group, posting a 2.72 GAA and .907 save percentage despite an 8-8- record. He was a 35-game winner two seasons ago. In a Fantasy Sports world, you could see a Demko-Pettersson combo deal benefitting the Canes, of course, but that would get pricey, and Carolina would almost certainly have to give up a top-end roster player — think Andrei Svechnikov — to make it happen. General Manager Eric Tulsky has pushed a lot of right buttons in his brief time at the helm in Raleigh, but that would be a very large, red button to push.
The other possible bugaboo in that scenario is Demko’s contract. His new deal kicks in next year and pays him $8.5 million over three years, with a full no-trade clause. But since that doesn’t kick in until next season, Vancouver could freely move him this season. Pettersson, for what it’s worth, is due $11.6 million for four more seasons after this year.
Devin Cooley would be another possibility out of Calgary, with Dustin Wolf’s new long-term contract set to kick in next season making him the Flames’ obvious No. 1. And until a recent indefinite leave of absence, even Linus Ullmark out of Ottawa may have been an option. But it’s going to cost a lot in terms of player equity, especially since every team in the NHL knows the situation in which the Canes find themselves.
Option B: Stand pat
This option would draw the ire of an anxious fanbase, but it seems to be the direction in which the current administration is leaning. The thought is — and it’s not entirely unfounded — that most goalies, playing in the Canes’ system, will have a chance to win every night, if they go on a “run.” This very franchise has seen it happen, in 2006 with Cam Ward. Ward, in that season, was an even lesser-known entity than Bussi is this season, and his run through the playoffs that season was nothing short of amazing.
That was … 20 years ago.
In the past 10 Stanley Cup Finals, six of the 10 winning goalies played more than 50 regular-season NHL games that year. Another played 42 in the COVID-shortened season.
Of the remaining three champions, two rode a single goalie through the playoffs after a regular-season split or late-season switch. Those two times in 10 tries are what the Hurricanes would be trying to replicate by standing pat: hoping the “best” option catches fire at the right time — or doesn’t get hurt along the way.
The way this season has gone, assuming injury is a far safer bet than assuming health, which is cause for concern should the Canes choose Option B.
And after Thursday’s meltdown against Montreal, standing pat with either Andersen or Bussi, behind what is now a suspect defensive group, seems more reckless than hopeful.
Thirteen million dollars affords a lot of wiggle room. No one — rocket scientist or otherwise — could have predicted the level of injury attrition to which the Hurricanes have been subjected this season. But there was plenty of foresight to have that wiggle room in place, in case something happened.
Well, something has happened. A lot of somethings.
The Carolina Hurricanes’ administration owes its coaching staff, its players, and its fan base, particularly in this 20th anniversary season of a run to the Stanley Cup — during which they also made big, in-season moves — an all-in effort to win another one.
With the pieces the Canes already have in place, and the team’s generous salary cap flexibility, Tulsky can afford to fix this goalie conundrum (and any others, while he’s at it).
The Hurricanes’ playoff potential depends on it.
This story was originally published January 1, 2026 at 5:00 AM.
