Mourning a tragedy, Hurricanes’ Andersen reaches precipice of greatness in Stanley Cup Final
RALEIGH – Everything was different for Frederik Andersen a week ago. He was on the phone with his good friend and agent, Claude Lemieux, who had called to ask him a question.
Andersen’s Carolina Hurricanes were about to battle the Montreal Canadiens in Game 3 of the Eastern Conference Final at Bell Centre. Lemieux had the opportunity to carry the pre-game torch as a Stanley Cup winning alumnus of the storied franchise. But it would mean dawning the colors opposing Andersen, so Lemieux, ever supportive of his friend and client, wanted to ask permission.
“Right away, obviously I said go for it,” Andersen said. “It’s a very big honor for a very big storied franchise to get to do that and be a guy that they asked for that honor.
“It speaks really highly of how he thinks of his loved ones, to ask them.”
Those words hung heavy in the air as Andersen spoke them at 2025-26 Stanley Cup Final Media Day Monday at Lenovo center. Andersen is now in mourning after Lemieux, 60, died by suicide three days after raising the torch to raucous applause in Montreal. One day after Lemieux’s passing, an emotional Andersen posted a shutout to help his Canes knock out the Habs in five games.
“You could see he was playing for something more than just a hockey game,” said Canes teammate, Danish countryman and longtime good friend Nikolaj Ehlers Monday.
Speaking to reporters with the first Stanley Cup Final appearance of his career a day away, Andersen fought as hard as he could to avoid breaking down into tears. The tragedy was one more obstacle, the largest yet, in the winding road that has been Andersen’s 11-year NHL career.
And when we look back at the path Andersen took – including re-entering the NHL Draft in 2012 as an Anaheim Ducks third-round pick, two years after first being selected in the seventh round by the Hurricanes – it’s astounding to see the Great Dane at the peak of his powers.
The idea of tending goal in a Stanley Cup Final probably felt a million possibilities away in November 2023, when Andersen got the biggest scare of his pro career: a diagnosis of deep-vein thrombosis and subsequent pulmonary embolisms. Four months passed before he could suit up for an NHL game again, and there were times in between when the question began to feel like an “if” rather than a “when.” But he made it back that season, and, as he has repeatedly in his career, flashed brilliance in stretches, particularly the games directly after his return. He memorably did the same last season during the Hurricanes’ dominant first two rounds of the Stanley Cup playoffs, posting a .937 save percentage, but he, like the team around him, crumbled against the mighty Florida Panthers in the Eastern Conference Final. Andersen allowed four or more goals in three of four starts, posting an .838 SV% in the sweep defeat.
Going into this season, the last of his contract, Andersen was hardly locked in as the team’s starter, let alone part of its long-term plans, even if he’d been trusted as the No. 1 last postseason. Pyotr Kochetkov, 10 years his junior and signed an additional year, needed to get his shot at becoming the 1A goaltender sooner or later. When Kochetkov underwent season-ending surgery for a nagging lower-body injury in December, it was upstart Brandon Bussi, a 27-year-old career AHLer, rather than Andersen who seized control of the crease. Bussi was one of the season’s biggest early stories, becoming the fastest goaltender in NHL history to win 25 games, and wowed to the Canes to the point they rewarded him with a life-changing three-year, $5.7-million contract extension in February. Andersen started just three games in December. With all his health concerns – he’d missed 38 games last season due to a knee injury as well – it was fair to wonder if Andersen’s career was lurching toward its completion or at least the end of his days as a starter.
But Bussi faltered, closing out the regular season with an .865 SV% in 12 games after he put pen to paper on his contract. With Kochetkov getting healthier but not in time to see NHL games before the regular season ended, the Canes turned back to Andersen for the postseason. While it made sense to trust a veteran of 85 playoff starts over Bussi, Andersen wasn’t exactly great down the stretch this regular season, to the point it was fair to wonder if Carolina’s same-old goaltending letdowns would surface again in the spring. But something changed. Andersen found magic. It happened in Rounds 1 and 2 of the postseason for a second consecutive year, during which he went 8-0 with a jaw-dropping .950 SV%. But after an ugly Game 1 against the Canadiens signalled a potential return of the Andersen known for wilting deeper in the playoffs, he bounced back, particularly across the final two games of the series, even with a heavy heart grieving Lemieux’s loss. Time and again, Andersen has found a mental fortitude this spring that outside forces sometimes wondered if he had.
“He’s got so many strengths, but the biggest thing I’ve noticed is his ability to manage his emotions during the game as well as during the course of the season,” Bussi told Daily Faceoff Monday. “And that really gets highlighted during playoff time, specifically when we’re on the road. The crowd gets loud: how do you manage that, how do you keep cool? And that calmness and that presence that he brings, you can feel it as it radiates and it gives us even more confidence. So it’s obviously a big thing that has been the reason why he’s been so successful in his career and why he’s having so much success right now.”
Andersen has a great defensive club in front of him this spring as usual; Carolina has the third-lowest expected goals against mark per 60 at 5-on-5 among the 16 teams in the 2025-26 Stanley Cup playoff field. But Andersen has lifted his teammates as much as they’ve lifted him; among regular starters this postseason, Andersen sits second in goals saved above expected per 60. His claim to a potential Conn Smythe Trophy win is as real as anyone’s. At the same time, he’s trying to soak in every step of the way rather than thinking only of the endgame.
“I don’t know if you get to choose your path, but I think this path has brought ups and downs,” Andersen told Daily Faceoff. “I think looking back, you’re in it for the ride, too, we’re not just going for the end goal here. We’re living life right now, and I think that’s really cool, too. We want to make it extra special to get to the ultimate goal, but I think the ride so far has been really special.”
To a man, every Hurricanes player spoke Monday about the teams’ family-like culture. Top center Sebastian Aho and coach Rod Brind’Amour explained that the team was there for Andersen any way they could be following the Lemieux news, knowing they couldn’t change what happened but could let him know he wasn’t alone.
“It’s not easy. We go through stuff in life. Sometimes it’s impossible not to bring it into the room,” Andersen said. “We’ve had guys going to the birth of their children. Obviously that’s on the different end of the spectrum. But I can’t really say enough about the way everyone supports each other through that stuff. Everyone goes through stuff – being there for each other, it’s cool that we get to lean on each other like that.”
The Canes are there for him, just as they know he’s there for them – off the ice when it’s needed and, through this postseason, on the ice as one of the team’s leaders. Whether they finish the job or not and take down the Vegas Golden Knights in the Final won’t change the way they feel about Andersen and how he feels about them.
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