Stathead<\/a>, only 42 goalies in history have played in at least 11 NHL games after not making their debut until they were at least 27 years old.<\/p>\nMost fizzled out quickly, while a few \u2014 such as Aaron Dell and Carter Hutton \u2014 built respectable careers as NHL journeymen.<\/p>\n
Nine of the 42 reached 100 wins in their career, but the careers of many of that list are not comparable to Bussi\u2019s path for a few reasons.<\/p>\n
Wayne Stephenson didn\u2019t get his chance until 1972, when the NHL was rapidly expanding. He primarily played for the Canadian National Team before getting his shot. Richard Brodeur jumped to the NHL in 1979-80 after 165 wins with the WHA\u2019s Nordiques.<\/p>\n
Europeans Niklas Backstrom, Roman Cechmanek, Cristobal Huet and Martin Gerber proved themselves overseas before getting a chance in the NHL.<\/p>\n
Johan Hedberg \u2014 for my money, one of the most reliable No. 2 goalies of this century \u2014 reached the NHL seven seasons after being drafted, finishing with nearly 400 regular-season and playoff games with five NHL teams.<\/p>\n
As Bussi\u2019s legend has grown, the name that\u2019s most come to my mind is Tim Thomas.<\/p>\n
The two-time Vezina Trophy winner and recipient of the Conn Smythe Trophy (when the Bruins won their last Stanley Cup championship in 2011) is the model for late-blooming goalies. Though drafted by the Nordiques in 1994, Thomas \u2014 with the exception of four games with Boston in 2002-03 \u2014 bounced between the minors and Europe for nearly a decade before he got his chance, finishing his career with five seasons of 28 or more wins.<\/p>\n
The better example might be Dwayne Roloson. Both he and Bussi went undrafted and had strong NCAA careers. Roloson spent two full seasons in the AHL before making his NHL debut at 27 years, 1 month and 1 day. Bussi played three AHL seasons and finally got his first game on Oct. 14 \u2014 at 27 years, 3 months and 19 days.<\/p>\n
Roloson, however, had a losing record in each of his first five NHL campaigns before finishing his career at age 42 with more than 600 career games, 227 career wins and five 20-win seasons.<\/p>\n
Let\u2019s be clear: That\u2019s a long way from a goalie who hasn\u2019t yet played a baker\u2019s dozen of games. But Bussi has made the best possible impressions on the NHL, Hurricanes fans and, most importantly, Carolina\u2019s front office.<\/p>\n
While Bussi is not eligible to sign a contract extension until Jan. 1, there is optimism a new deal can be worked out between the team and its unexpected star goalie.<\/p>\n
A Nys find<\/p>\n
Two.<\/p>\n
That\u2019s how many of the Hurricanes\u2019 seventh-round picks since relocation have played more NHL games than rookie defenseman Joel Nystrom.<\/p>\n
Frederik Andersen, with 531 games, has the most, though his circumstances are unique. While Andersen was selected by Carolina in 2010, he opted to reenter the draft and was picked by Anaheim in the third round in 2012. The other is Steven Lorentz, who was chosen 186th in 2015 in his second time through the draft. He has played 335 games \u2014 along with Kelly Cup, Calder Cup and Stanley Cup rings. (Eighth-round picks Jaroslav Svoboda and Niklas Nordgren played 134 and 58 NHL games, respectively, and 1997 ninth-round pick Kent McDonell played 32.)<\/p>\n
Nystrom, in his first full season in North America, impressed the Hurricanes\u2019 coaching staff enough during training camp that when defensemen started dropping at the start of the season, he earned a recall ahead of several more experienced options.<\/p>\n
Nystrom got assigned to the AHL on Sunday, when Slavin was reactivated, and he had zero goals and five assists in 23 games with the Hurricanes \u2014 but he already has a new deal.<\/p>\n
Carolina signed the 23-year-old Swede to a four-year extension on Friday that will pay him a total of $4.9 million.<\/p>\n
The contract is reminiscent of the one given to goaltender Pyotr Kochetkov in November 2022. Kochetkov, fresh from Russia and the KHL, was pressed into action at the end of the 2021-22 season, winning all three of his late April starts and playing in four playoff games.<\/p>\n
Kochetkov then went 2-0-2 in the middle of November 2022 before being rewarded with a four-year, $8 million contract.<\/p>\n
While there\u2019s an argument that both players could have bet on themselves to potentially get more money, there is a big carrot in both deals. Like Kochetkov, whose contract ends following the 2026-27 season, Nystrom will be an unrestricted free agent in the summer of 2030, after his second deal expires.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s a low-risk bet for Carolina that also gives Nystrom a chance to cash in at the end of the contract. Furthermore, if Nystrom can\u2019t crack the Hurricanes\u2019 lineup during the deal, burying his $1.225 million cap hit in the minors would have no cap implications.<\/p>\n
Teams are allowed to stash $375,000 more than the NHL minimum salary, which will go up from $775,000 to $850,000 next season when Nystrom\u2019s contract kicks in. That\u2019s $1.225 million \u2014 exactly the cap value of Nystrom\u2019s deal. That means none of Nystrom\u2019s cap hit would cost against Carolina\u2019s cap hit should he be in the AHL.<\/p>\n
That makes the only real risk the cash paid to Nystrom \u2014 with the potential of it being a considerable bargain should he become a regular.<\/p>\n
It could also have implications for Jalen Chatfield, a fellow right-handed defenseman whose contract is up after the 2026-27 season, when he\u2019ll be 31.<\/p>\n
Hurricanes make AHL coaching change<\/p>\n
The Hurricanes made a coaching change with their AHL affiliate Friday, dismissing Cam Abbott as coach of the Chicago Wolves and naming assistant Spiros Anastas as interim coach.<\/p>\n
The move came as a bit of a surprise seeing that the Wolves were 11-7-3 and in a playoff position, but Carolina has been considering the move for a while. While the on-ice results have been fine under Abbott \u2014 who led the team to the playoffs in his first season last year, a two-game exit in the first round courtesy of Rockford \u2014 clearly there were concerns about the direction of the team.<\/p>\n
Before being hired for the Wolves job, Abbott had six years of experience in the Swedish Hockey League, leading Rogle BK to its first Champions League title in 2021-22. The Ontario native played collegiately at Cornell and had brief stints in low-level North American leagues before playing six seasons in Sweden and then transitioning to coaching.<\/p>\n
The decision to relieve Abbott of his coaching duties wasn\u2019t made hastily \u2014 the Hurricanes tried to make the situation work over the past two seasons. But it became clear to the organization that a change was needed.<\/p>\n
Anastas, who has coached internationally and in both the AHL and ECHL, is expected to serve as interim coach for the rest of the season. He won the Calder Cup as an assistant with Grand Rapids in 2013 and also twice served as a head coach in the ECHL.<\/p>\n
Abbott \u2014 whose twin brother, Chris, is the Hurricanes\u2019 vice president of pro player personnel \u2014 will remain with the organization.<\/p>\n
Hughes haul for Canucks<\/p>\n
Friday\u2019s biggest news was the trade of Vancouver star defenseman Quinn Hughes to the Wild in a blockbuster swap. Minnesota gave up young center Marco Rossi, emerging defenseman Zeev Buium, first-round-pick winger Liam Ohgren and the Wild\u2019s 2026 first-round pick to get the eldest Hughes brother.<\/p>\n
The Hurricanes sniff around anyone and everyone who might be available in the league, and you can bet they at least gauged what the price would be to acquire a superstar such as Hughes. So how would a package from Carolina have looked?<\/p>\n
There\u2019s actually a pretty easy comparable trade.<\/p>\n
Alexander Nikishin and Buium are similarly valued. Nikishin is farther along than Buium, but the Wild\u2019s 2024 No. 12 pick is four years younger and on his entry-level contract for another year. Both have all-star potential.<\/p>\n
Rossi already has 40-point and 60-point seasons, and he is signed for two more seasons at $5 million annually, after which he\u2019ll be an arbitration-eligible RFA. Logan Stankoven hasn\u2019t accomplished as much \u2014 he\u2019s trending toward a 40-point season this year \u2014 but is about a year and a half younger and locked in through 2034 with a contract that is $6 million against the cap starting next season.<\/p>\n
Ohgren, drafted at No. 19 in 2022, hasn\u2019t done much in 40-plus NHL games \u2014 he had zero points in 18 games with the Wild this season \u2014 but I wouldn\u2019t characterize him as a bust yet. Bradly Nadeau, drafted at No. 30 in 2023, has been a better AHL player but hasn\u2019t yet translated that to the NHL. Nadeau is the better prospect, but you could also argue the overall value of the first two assets favors Minnesota, at least a little.<\/p>\n
And then there\u2019s the first-round pick \u2014 Carolina could put up an equivalent draft choice to Minnesota\u2019s, especially since they have four first-rounders in the next three years.<\/p>\n
The Hurricanes could have survived a deal such as that if it meant getting Hughes, but it would put them in a tough situation \u2014 one the Wild currently finds themselves in. By giving up a top-six center, Minnesota is paper-thin down the middle. Carolina could weather that better than the Wild, but losing Nikishin would hurt \u2014 that blow would be softened by the Hughes upgrade, obviously \u2014 and Nadeau still has sniper potential. It would also leave the team dangerously shallow down the middle.<\/p>\n
The Hurricanes did a good job in last year\u2019s Mikko Rantanen deal of not ending up with a deficit of talent. I\u2019m not sure the Wild did that \u2014 there are huge questions at center without Rossi and not enough cap space to fill the void with another trade.<\/p>\n
Had Carolina made the equivalent deal that I mapped out, they\u2019d have questions up front, too. The Hurricanes would have more cap space and remaining assets than the Wild to try to solve the 2C question, but it would be much less than what they have had they swung a Hughes trade.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"RALEIGH, N.C. \u2014 The Carolina Hurricanes are atop the Eastern Conference after three shootout wins in four days,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":350497,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[556],"tags":[64,63,3615,575,85],"class_list":{"0":"post-350496","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nhl","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-carolina-hurricanes","11":"tag-nhl","12":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/350496","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=350496"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/350496\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/350497"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=350496"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=350496"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=350496"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}