Canes Extend Brandon Bussi

The goaltender has broken all sorts of NHL records since Carolina claimed him off of waivers.

Earlier today, the Carolina Hurricanes announced that they had signed goaltender Brandon Bussi to a three year contract extension worth $1.9 million annually. Bussi, the 27 year old goalie that hadn’t played a single NHL game before this season, has turned into one of the NHL’s best stories this year. From being waived by the Florida Panthers to making his NHL debut and winning against San Jose for Carolina, Bussi has made headlines at every turn. He has won 23 of his 27 appearances this season and currently sits on a seven game win streak.

This contract gives the Hurricanes some insurance in goal in the medium term and also gives Bussi a nice pay raise and some certainty for his future. Three years is a perfectly fine term for this sort of extension. It carries Bussi until he’s 30 (he’ll turn 31 by the time free agency rolls around in 2029) and helps Carolina keep their goaltending group at a very reasonable cap hit. Bussi has shown that he can be a starting goalie this year, and even if he’s not making starter money, he’s still Carolina’s number one goalie this year and likely throughout this contract extension. He and Frederik Andersen were set to be UFAs this year, so locking up Bussi now ensures that Carolina can move into next year with a likely tandem of Bussi and Kochetkov.

I had written a while ago that Carolina’s future in net was incredibly murky. And, prior to this move, it was. Kochetkov is a UFA in 2027 and Andersen is surely hitting UFA status after what has been a disastrous season for him. Carolina may still look to upgrade on Andersen this year or Kochetkov next year, but for now, they’ve made a commitment to Brandon Bussi. At this AAV, it’s a nice raise to reward Bussi for his excellent play, and it’s also a safe bet financially for the Hurricanes. Bussi may not be winning 85% of his starts for his entire career, but even if there’s some regression, it’s a solid AAV that’s a very small percentage of the salary cap. Carolina’s philosophy seems to be that they don’t want to spend a ton on goaltending and would rather allocate that money towards building out a deep forward and defensive core. And, as we’ve seen with their regular season success, it seems to work. It has yet to result in playoff success, but I’m willing to bet on this team along with some deadline upgrades this year.

Carolina signing Bussi gives them some insurance in net for the next three seasons and also gives the player motivation to continue improving. I’m a huge fan of getting this deal done now before the team risks losing him to free agency. He could have been offered some silly money on the free agent market and Carolina would have been stuck with an injured Kochetkov and nothing else to work with. Eric Tulsky made a smart move getting this deal done now.