His stay in South Florida was only a brief three months, but Florida Panthers fans are left to ponder what could’ve been had the Cats decided to go with Brandon Bussi as the backup to Sergei Bobrovksy instead of pending unrestricted free agent Daniil Tarasov.
Signed to a one-year, two-way deal on July 1, 2025, the Panthers tried to slip the 27-year-old through waivers to the AHL’s Charlotte Checkers, only to see him get claimed by the Carolina Hurricanes on October 5.
Finally given a legitimate chance on an NHL roster, Bussi was superb during the 2025-26 season, compiling a 31-6-2 record, 2.47 goals against average, .894 save percentage and two shutouts. His fine play earned him a three-contract extension on February 16, 2026.
I was a little surprised when the Hurricanes decided to go with veteran Frederik Andersen at the start of the playoffs, as he struggled mightly for most of the season, and looked to be closer to retirement than postseason glory.
Rod Brind’Amour’s decision paid off as Carolina, set up for a rather easy path through the playoffs by finishing first in the Eastern Conference, and let’s not kid ourselves, the break everyone caught by the wounded two-time defending champs missing the postseason dance, cruised through the first three rounds, with the well-protected and lightly-worked Andersen putting up Conn Smythe-worthy numbers.
As I mentioned prior to the start of the Stanley Cup Final, my expectation was that Andersen wouldn’t have it so easy in the final and was likely to get exposed by the Vegas Golden Knights, a much more difficult opponent than Ottawa, Philadelphia or spent Montreal, and that’s exactly what’s happened.
The Golden Knights have already beaten him 12 times in the series and with the Hurricanes looking completely dead in the water after two periods of Game 3, Brind’Amour inserted Bussi into the lineup to give Andersen a break and take some lumps in the third period of what was seemingly going to be a big rout.
Bussi, seeing playoff action for the first time, made some solid stops and then denied red-hot Mitch Marner’s penalty shot attempt and Carolina eventually went on to reel off four goals in the final frame to stunningly send the game to overtime.
Unfortunately for Bussi and the Hurricanes, Vegas ended up winning the wild and wooly tilt when Shea Theodore’s one-timer missed wide, came off the end boards, and found its way into the back of the net after pinballing off the unfortunate goaltender.
Bussi played 45:26 after coming in in relief and stopped 18 of the 19 shots he faced. He looked much more confident and composed than Andersen has at any point in the series.
If Carolina wants to give itself the best chance of capturing its first Stanley Cup in two decades, the right choice is to start Bussi Tuesday night in Game 4. Andersen hasn’t been terrible by any means, but he doesn’t look capable of keeping the Golden Knights from scoring three or more goals or stealing a game, which might be the difference between winning or losing in a series between two very evenly matched clubs.