The Carolina Hurricanes are off to an exceptional start to the 2025-26 season, with a 6-1-0 record. They beat the Colorado Avalanche in a shootout while wearing fantastic Hartford Whalers throwbacks. In the offseason, the Hurricanes tried to add Mitch Marner and Kirill Kaprizov after the failed Mikko Rantanen trade, per The Athletic's Pierre LeBrun. The insider outlines what could be next for Carolina amid goalie questions.
“So what’s next? At this point, I don’t believe there’s a big-game target on the horizon for them. They viewed Kaprizov as a unique target, but with all the big names around the league having now extended, there’s nothing on the market that makes sense. And they feel they have a very deep lineup already,” LeBrun reported.
“The question is whether their goaltending is good enough. If there’s one area rival clubs point out to me as Carolina’s potential downfall, it’s in goal. But internally, they believe in what they have. They think a healthy Frederik Andersen can lead them to a deep playoff run. And they feel there’s nothing out there that is a tangible upgrade and going to be available. So barring injuries, they’re going to run with Andersen and Pyotr Kochetkov,” the insider continued.
The Hurricanes have won just one game in the Eastern Conference Final in the Rod Brind'Amour era. But the goaltending has never been dramatically improved in the offseason. Andersen and Kochetkov have the expectations of the franchise on their shoulders with no plans to change things up.
The Hurricanes did contemplate one option to change the goaltending room during training camp. They were one of two teams mentioned in connection to Carter Hart, who ended up with the Vegas Golden Knights. For now, it is Andersen and Kochetkov for the Hurricanes, without any trade options readily apparent yet.
