Most of the smoke around first-year goalies this season has rightfully come against the youngest ones – Yaroslav Askarov, Arturs Silovs, and Jesper Wallstedt featuring at the top of the class. One of the brightest stories, though, has come in Carolina.
27-year-old Brandon Bussi started the season as the Hurricanes’ third-string option with no NHL experience. He was claimed off waivers from the Panthers, who had signed him to a two-way deal just this past offseason, to serve as insurance for a banged-up Pyotr Kochetkov.
Fast forward past the halfway mark, and the former AHL standout in the Bruins’ system would likely be Carolina’s Game 1 starter if the playoffs started tomorrow. He’s now wrestled away the lion’s share of playing time from the struggling Frederik Andersen and, with Kochetkov likely done for the season, there’s little in-house challenge for him as the No. 1 option.
His raw numbers are good but not great. Behind one of the league’s elite possession systems in Carolina, they don’t need to be. His .904 SV% and 2.20 GAA in 22 starts have been enough to propel the Canes to a raucous 18-3-1 record when he’s between the pipes. That’s worked out to 7.4 goals saved above expected, per MoneyPuck, 18th in the league. Among goalies with at least 20 games played, his 0.332 GSAx/60 ranks 12th.
That promising breakout story, plus Andersen’s pending unrestricted free agency and unlikelihood of returning, has the Canes deep in talks to get a contract extension worked out for Bussi, David Pagnotta of The Fourth Period reports. “Everything that I’ve been told is that things are positive and it looks like it will get there,” Pagnotta said. “I would imagine, in the foreseeable future, Brandon Bussi will be extended with the Hurricanes, so good news on that front.”
What that deal may look like is hard to pin down. Initially signed by Boston as an undrafted free agent out of Western Michigan in 2022, he’s only ever been on entry-level or two-way deals, with the latter all carrying league-minimum cap hits. A one-way deal worth at least seven figures is a given. Whether Carolina pushes for a multi-year deal remains to be seen, but with no young goalies in the system making a real push for NHL ice time, it’s likely they envision he and Kochetkov as their tandem for the foreseeable future, barring an external upgrade – although Kochetkov could be a UFA himself in 2027.
His age makes it hard to imagine his extension being a particularly rich one. The last real comparable is Alex Lyon landing a two-year, $1.8MM contract from the Red Wings in free agency in 2023, following his age-30 breakout as a legit NHL option with the Panthers. It’s a richer goalie market now, but seeing Bussi land more than $2MM annually on a two-year pact would be a sharp departure from usual trends.