The Carolina Hurricanes have been scorching hot down the stretch after making a few key changes to their lineup.
In Jake Guentzel and Evgeny Kuznetsov, the Hurricanes added two supremely skilled forwards to their roster who can both bend the game to their will in the offensive zone. They’re the type of aggressive deadline additions the Hurricanes have seldom made in the past.
But arguably the bigger news in Carolina concerned the return of starting goaltender Freddy Andersen, who missed a significant chunk of the season while dealing with blood clotting issues.
On Thursday’s edition of Daily Faceoff Live, former NHL goaltender Carter Hutton joined Frank Seravalli and Tyler Yaremchuk to discuss what Andersen’s return has meant to this year’s Hurricanes team.
Frank Seravalli: One of the great stories of the year has been Freddy Andersen and his return after the blood clotting issue that he had. He came back March 7 — in the nine games [since], 8-1-0 with a .954, scoring hot as the ‘Canes have played really well. What have you liked about his game?
Carter Hutton: I think just his simplicity, right? Like, they play a man-on-man in-zone, but for me, Freddy Andersen is never out of position. I’ve always been a goalie that’s jealous of the way Freddy plays. I’ve played a lot of games head-to-head with him, especially when he was in Toronto. He’s always had that knock of, ‘He can’t get it done in the playoffs.’ For me, it’s just his health is where it’s at — and the fact that they used this in the right sense of, they give him spotted starts and at times when, if he’s not playing, he cannot even be on the bench at times, just trying to get him ready for the playoffs. The biggest sign for me is the other night, when he gave up three to the Bruins and they lost 4-1, the next night, he came back — I know it was against Columbus — and he gets a shutout. He’s got two shutouts in his last three games. The additions that Carolina has made up front are obviously paying dividends as well, but I think this is going to be a player that can be a big difference-maker. This Carolina team wants to go the distance.
Watch the full episode here:
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