{"id":785072,"date":"2026-07-07T01:43:12","date_gmt":"2026-07-07T01:43:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/785072\/"},"modified":"2026-07-07T01:43:12","modified_gmt":"2026-07-07T01:43:12","slug":"frederik-andersen-heads-to-edmonton-reuniting-with-mike-babcock","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/785072\/","title":{"rendered":"Frederik Andersen heads to Edmonton, reuniting with Mike Babcock"},"content":{"rendered":"

Open this photo in gallery:<\/a><\/p>\n

Carolina Hurricanes goaltender Frederik Andersen (31) clears the puck as Montreal Canadien Ivan Demidov (93) moves in during the third period of Game 4 of the NHL Eastern Conference playoff series in Montreal in May.Graham Hughes\/The Canadian Press<\/p>\n

New Edmonton Oilers goaltender Frederik Andersen doesn\u2019t expect to start as many games under coach Mike Babcock as he did when they were Toronto Maple Leafs.<\/p>\n

Anderson has reunited with Babcock in Edmonton after signing a one-year contract with the Oilers on July 1, which was eight days after Babcock was announced as the NHL club\u2019s new head coach.<\/p>\n

Andersen started 66 games in back-to-back seasons under Babcock in Toronto in 2017 and 2018.<\/p>\n

Fresh off a Stanley Cup win with the Carolina Hurricanes, Andersen predicts he\u2019ll be deployed in a rotation with Tristan Jarry, and possibly the newly acquired Devon Levi.<\/p>\n

\u201cSpeaking of my time with Babs \u2026 I think I played 66 games \u2026 a couple years in a row. Those days are probably over for me, but I\u2019m definitely happy to be part of, I think, a good goalie rotation,\u201d Andersen said Monday during a video media conference call.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe can get a lot out of each other, especially with the schedule being a little bit different the last few years. <\/p>\n

\u201cThe game has changed, too. It makes it more demanding to play a lot of games and still perform the way you want to. However it plays out, it\u2019s tough to predict, but I\u2019m ready to support the other guys and play when called upon.\u201d<\/p>\n

The 36-year-old from Herning, Denmark, is part of the Oilers\u2019 latest try at a goaltending formula that can win a Stanley Cup. <\/p>\n

Edmonton lost to the Florida Panthers in the 2025 and 2024 Cup finals in six and seven games, respectively, before bowing out in the first round to Anaheim in April. The Oilers didn\u2019t re-sign Connor Ingram, who started five of six games against the Ducks.<\/p>\n

Open this photo in gallery:<\/a><\/p>\n

Frederik Andersen holds up the Stanley Cup trophy during the Carolina Hurricanes’ championship parade and rally in Raleigh.James Guillory\/Reuters<\/p>\n

\u201cEdmonton has been knocking on the door for a while now,\u201d Andersen said. \u201cThey\u2019ve been close. It would be awesome to be part of the team to get over the hump. They\u2019re very serious about it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Anderson started 16 straight playoff games for Carolina before injuring his knee during the Cup final against the Vegas Golden Knights. Brandon Bussi finished out the final three games of the series.<\/p>\n

Andersen\u2019s knee required no interventions this off-season other than rest, he said.<\/p>\n

The Oilers dealt Stuart Skinner, who logged the majority of starts in the two Cup final runs, to Pittsburgh for Jarry in December. <\/p>\n

The latter, who enters the fourth year of a five-year contract that carries a US$5.375-million cap hit, went 9-6-2 in the regular season as an Oiler and started a 4-3 overtime loss to the Ducks in Game 4. <\/p>\n

Levi, 24, was acquired from Buffalo on July 1. His career record with the Sabres was 17-17-2. <\/p>\n

The clock is ticking on Edmonton\u2019s Stanley Cup aspirations. Superstar Connor McDavid\u2019s contract expires in 2028. <\/p>\n

He and teammate Leon Draisaitl are the bane of NHL goaltenders.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019ve made me and the rest of the league look silly a lot of times before in games, but now obviously it\u2019s just going to be in practice,\u201d Andersen said. \u201cIt\u2019s cool to get to see that up close and see how they operate.\u201d<\/p>\n

A one-year contract with a base salary of US$1-million might seem below market for a proven playoff performer, although the Dane\u2019s deal has US$1.8-million in bonuses built in.<\/p>\n

\u201cMaybe age had something to do with that,\u201d said Andersen, who turns 37 on Oct. 2. \u201cThat\u2019s how it went. This was an opportunity I could go to Edmonton. I think the deal is structured in a way that\u2019s going to help the team have some flexibility in terms of the bonuses they can put forward to next year.\u201d<\/p>\n

Andersen, who is 6-foot-4 and 229 pounds, owns a career record of 324-149-58, 28 shutouts, a 2.59 goals-against average and .913 save percentage over 13 NHL seasons with Anaheim, Toronto and Carolina. <\/p>\n

In 101 playoff starts, he\u2019s 59-37 with eight shutouts, a 2.32 goals-against average and .913 save percentage.<\/p>\n

Babcock coached Anderson in Toronto for just over three seasons until the Maple Leafs fired Babcock on Nov. 20, 2019. <\/p>\n

That was Babcock\u2019s last NHL coaching gig before the Oilers named him the team\u2019s sixth new head coach in the last 11 years.<\/p>\n

The Columbus Blue Jackets hired Babcock in 2023, but he resigned without coaching a game after he\u2019d asked players during one-on-one meetings to view photos on their personal phones as a way of getting to know them.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy experience is good,\u201d Andersen said. \u201cAs a goalie, you don\u2019t deal with the head coach as much. He kind of leaves you alone with the goalie coach to do your thing. <\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s a great coach. Great X\u2019s and O\u2019s. Got a lot out of our group. We were a young team then. Excited to see what we can do together in this new opportunity.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Open this photo in gallery: Carolina Hurricanes goaltender Frederik Andersen (31) clears the puck as Montreal Canadien Ivan…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":785073,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[194294],"tags":[901,888,902,879,877,903,49,48,876,895,896,891,878,875,46,23752,549,295,894,887,914,880,881,893,889,890,884,904,885,909,910,912,907,911,905,908,882,898,899,714,897,906,865,61,900,892,886,883,913],"class_list":["post-785072","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-edmonton","tag-alberta","tag-arts-news","tag-bc","tag-breaking-news","tag-breaking-news-video","tag-british-columbia","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-canada-news","tag-canada-sports","tag-canada-sports-news","tag-canada-trafficcanada-weather","tag-canadian-breaking-news","tag-canadian-news","tag-economy","tag-edmonton","tag-education","tag-environment","tag-federal-government","tag-foreign-news","tag-globe-and-mail","tag-globe-and-mail-breaking-news","tag-globe-and-mail-canada-news","tag-government","tag-life-news","tag-lifestyle","tag-local-news","tag-manitoba","tag-national-news","tag-new-brunswick","tag-newfoundland-and-labrador","tag-northwest-territories","tag-nova-scotia","tag-nunavut","tag-ontario","tag-pei","tag-photos","tag-political-news","tag-political-opinion","tag-politics","tag-politics-news","tag-quebec","tag-sports-news","tag-technology","tag-travel","tag-trudeau","tag-us-news","tag-world-news","tag-yukon"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/785072","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=785072"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/785072\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/785073"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=785072"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=785072"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=785072"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}