The Carolina Hurricanes have activated goaltender Frederik Andersen from the injured reserve. Andersen has been out of commission since November due to blood-clotting issues.
Andersen played six games for the Hurricanes this year before leaving the team indefinitely. He put up a 2.87 GAA and .894 SV% in that small sample size. Given the nature of the ailment nobody knew when he’d be able to return to the Canes’ lineup and there was a concern that this might have ended his career. Fortunately, the Danish netminder has recovered from his injury and is set to return to the Hurricanes’ crease in the near future.
The Hurricanes currently have quite the logjam in the crease. As of right now, they have five goalies under contract who have played at least one game for the team this year. They include Andersen, Pyotr Kochetkov, Antti Raanta, Spencer Martin, and Yaniv Perets. Perets only played one game for the Hurricanes this year and is on a two-way deal playing in the ECHL right now.
But that leaves four goalies and only two spots on the roster for them. The team has begun to deal with that problem by placing Raanta on waivers in order to send him down to the minors. He may well end up being picked up by another team. The team has struggled in net this year but have been better of late due to Martin and Kochetkov stealing the show in Raleigh.
Andersen will almost certainly take the crease back and be the team’s full-time starter as they head into the playoffs. Over his career, he has a record of 286-128-52 with a 2.58 GAA and .915 SV% and has been one of the best NHL goalies over the last decade. The team needs him to be at the top of his game as they trade to win the second Stanley Cup in Hurricanes history and the first in the Rod Brind’Amour era.
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