Hurricanes Sign Frederik Andersen To Contract Extension

3:30 PM: The team confirmed that they’ve signed Andersen to a one-year extension.  The deal carries a $2.75MM guaranteed salary plus $250K for 35 games played, $250K for 40 games played, and $250K if Carolina reaches the Eastern Conference Final with him playing in at least half of the playoff games.  That brings the potential value of the deal to $3.5MM.  GM Eric Tulsky released the following statement:

Frederik has played extremely well for us and ranks in the top 10 all-time for winning percentage by an NHL goalie. We’re excited that he will be staying with the team for next season.

2:03 PM: An already-thin UFA market for goaltenders could be getting weakened even further.  ESPN’s Kevin Weekes reports (Twitter link) that the Hurricanes are closing in on finalizing a one-year extension with pending free agent Frederik Andersen.

Over four seasons with the Hurricanes, the 35-year-old has largely done well when healthy.  However, the challenge has simply been staying healthy.  Andersen has only played in 38 games over the past two seasons due to various injuries plus a blood-clotting condition.  Last year, he put up a stellar 1.82 GAA with a .932 SV% in 16 games while this season, he posted marks of 2.50 and .899, respectively.

Despite the limited action, Andersen was Carolina’s starting goalie for their first-round series against Carolina.  He played quite well in the first four games before suffering an undisclosed injury that caused him to come out early in that fourth game and miss Game 5.  However, team reporter Walt Ruff relayed today that Andersen was a full participant in practice for the second straight day, suggesting he should be good to go for the start of the second round against Washington.

Andersen’s soon-to-expire contract carries a $3.4MM AAV.  Given how much time he has missed the last couple of years, it would be surprising to see this next deal have that much in guaranteed money.  However, since he’s now 35 and apparently signing only a one-year deal, he is eligible to have performance bonuses in that contract.  Speculatively, that would lower the guaranteed cost while having some games played incentives that could push the potential value around what he has made over the last two seasons.

Andersen will once again form a tandem with Pyotr Kochetkov who still has two years left on his contract at a club-friendly $2MM charge.  That duo has been a cost-effective one (again, when healthy) for the last couple of years and that should continue now for at least one more year.

Carolina is shaping up to have plenty of cap space available this summer.  Following the re-signing of Taylor Hall earlier this week, the Hurricanes have around $32MM in room this summer, per PuckPedia.  Notably, they only have a handful of roster spots to use that money on.  While a new deal for Andersen will cut into that a bit, GM Eric Tulsky will certainly have lots of flexibility to try to add to his roster this summer.

Photo courtesy of Charles LeClaire-Imagn Images.