The Carolina Hurricanes have been perennial contenders for the Stanley Cup for years, but can never seem to get over the hump, with some fans pointing to the netminder as their weakest point.<\/p>\n
Enter Brandon Bussi, who has taken the NHL by storm, losing just four of the 27 games he has played with a 0.908 save percentage. The 27-year-old has become the Canes\u2019 go-to netminder, but it hasn\u2019t always been that way this season \u2014 or his career.<\/p>\n
Premiering in November after missing the start of the season, Carolina Hurricanes goaltender Pyotr Kochetkov had been battling an injury since the preseason. Even with the injury, Kochetkov put up impressive numbers. He had a 6-2-0 record in his eight games played, but ultimately made the decision to ease his discomfort.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s been dealing with it all year. He\u2019s decided to have surgery, so he\u2019s probably going to be out for the year,\u201d said head coach Rod Brind\u2019Amour. \u201cHe didn\u2019t feel right all year. He\u2019s been playing great; that\u2019s the hard part. He was kind of fighting through it, but doesn\u2019t want to continue that way, so we\u2019ll get it fixed and go from there.\u201d<\/p>\n
Carolina started the season with two more goaltenders in Frederik Andersen and Bussi. Also suffering from injuries, Andersen started the season with career lows as his save percentage dropped to 0.875. As for Bussi, no one knew what to expect from the newbie.<\/p>\n
The New York native has been a free agent since the beginning of his career, bouncing from team to team. Starting with the Providence Bruins in the AHL, he put up decent numbers, being named to the AHL\u2019s All-Star Rookie team during the 2022-2023 season. This past summer, the Florida Panthers signed him as a free agent, and by the first week of October, he was up for waivers, having never played a game for them.<\/p>\n
That\u2019s when he came to Carolina and changed the team and his career forever.<\/p>\n
Starting his season against San Jose, Bussi only let in one goal and ended the game with a 0.941 save percentage. In his next five games, he tallied just one loss and still had a 0.912 save percentage. To say people were impressed with him would be an understatement.<\/p>\n
He took each of his next six starts and went on to become the fastest goaltender to reach 10 wins in NHL history, reaching the mark in just 11 games. Breaking another record soon after, he became the fastest netminder to 20 wins, reaching the mark in just 24 games.<\/p>\n
Standing at 6-foot-4, Bussi has taken up the tactic to intimidate players in the pursuit of a goal. Spreading his wingspan to take up as much space as possible, anyone trying to score gets less of an opening to put the puck in the back of his net.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m thankful for my size, so when you have it, you got to use it,\u201d Bussi said after a 3-2 home shootout win against the Philadelphia Flyers. \u201cThere\u2019s a difference between being overly aggressive or conservative. Maybe trying to find that middle ground and using my [height] to my advantage.\u201d<\/p>\n
Even with his frame, he\u2019s quick on his skates. Never one to shy away from leaving the goal line, Bussi is known to rush towards players, especially during shootouts. He has even completely lain down on the ice in front of other players\u2019 skates to prevent goals, showing his dedication to both the team and his position.<\/p>\n
I would just say he\u2019s a gamer. He works his ass off, and you know, practices and competes for every single puck. He\u2019s a great kid, too, so good to see him get rewarded here, and obviously, a really great opportunity for him right now.<\/p>\n
\u2014 Carolina Hurricanes defenseman Mark Reilly<\/p>\n
With his historic performance this season, Bussi has become a fan favorite, even earning the nickname \u201cThe Bus\u201d in his first season in Carolina.<\/p>\n
No place on earth shows its love for the goaltender like the fans in the Lenovo Center. Earlier this season, the Canes hosted the Florida Panthers, where Bussi let in just one goal and saved 15 other shots against his former team, ending with an impressive 0.938 save percentage.<\/p>\n
That same night, Bussi got into an altercation with a Panther player, tussling with him and falling to the ground. But as Bussi got back on his feet, the crowd of red started chanting his name over and over again, echoing throughout the arena. It ended up being Carolina\u2019s most dominant win of the season, dominating the Panthers 9-1, and the energy in the arena could only be described as buzzing.<\/p>\n
We\u2019ve only seen the beginning of Bussi. As the playoffs crept closer, more and more fans engaged in conversations about extending his contract, desperately trying to keep him in Carolina. Their prayers were answered on Monday as he signed a three-year extension for $1.9 million a year, staying in Raleigh until the end of the 2028-29 season.<\/p>\n
Along with the agreed salary, the Carolina Hurricanes Foundation will be making a $10,000 donation to the Autism Society of North Carolina in honor of Bussi\u2019s younger brother, Dylan, who has autism. Covered in white puzzle pieces, Bussi\u2019s goalie mask is in tribute to his brother.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe hockey world can work in mysterious ways in some sense,\u201d Bussi said. \u201cI\u2019m fortunate that I got an opportunity, and that Carolina sees me the way I see myself. I\u2019m really happy to be a Carolina Hurricane and be here for three more years.\u201d<\/p>\n
With a future as bright as his demeanor, Bussi has and will continue to impress not only Carolina fans but fans across the NHL with his story. Once a free agent being passed from place to place to an NHL record holder, the Brandon Bussi story has only just begun.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s difficult to break into the league,\u201d Bussi said. \u201cSometimes, different opportunities pop up in different ways. Mine happened in a way that doesn\u2019t happen for a lot of people. Things happen for a reason. That\u2019s always been my motto. I\u2019m very fortunate that it gets to happen here for longer.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Carolina Hurricanes have been perennial contenders for the Stanley Cup for years, but can never seem to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":485902,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[556],"tags":[64,63,575,85],"class_list":["post-485901","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nhl","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-nhl","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/485901","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=485901"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/485901\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/485902"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=485901"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=485901"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=485901"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}