After sustaining an injury during Game 4 of the Carolina Hurricanes’ Round 1 Stanley Cup Playoff series against the New Jersey Devils, goaltender Frederik Andersen returned to play against the Washington Capitals on Tuesday evening.
Andersen secured his fifth postseason win.
On May 4, Frederik Andersen met with the media to discuss his one-year, $2.75 million extension.
On why his one-year extension was a fit for him:
“We were just trying to see what options are out there. I think, obviously, my agent and Eric [Tulsky] had talked a while, and throughout the past… I don’t know how many weeks, trying to figure out different structures and ways to get this done. And when they [Hurricanes organization] expressed interest to keep me around, I was very thrilled about that. Very happy we could get something done.”
On not testing the free market:
“I really love it here. I think the years I’ve been here, we’ve had really competitive teams, and the area is awesome. I love, love living here. And yeah, everyone in the organization does a tremendous job. So very happy to be able to stay here and stay another year on a team that’s got very high expectations and shooting for the best. I think that’s why I’m just happy to get it done and provides both the team with some little bit of clarity going forward and obviously giving me a little bit of security. So yeah, just thrilled about that.”
On the factors that have made the Hurricanes organization and Raleigh “home”:
“It’s a nice area. I think before you get here and play here and live here, you probably don’t see it as a place…. I think when you do get around and exploring the area, but it’s hard to not fall in love with this area. Obviously, the weather is very, very good for most parts of the year, and you still get some of the seasons, which I think is great, and the people around town are super friendly, and then I think we get spoiled when we play in Lenovo Center, with the fans we get and the engagement we have there is unbelievable. So all that all adds up and makes this place a wonderful place to play.”
On his goals for the 2025-2026 season:
“I have a good level of play in me. The past couple years have had some bumps in the road in terms of staying healthy, but just controlling, staying what I do to be in the net as much as possible and have that feeling of confidence that I can help the team, both when I’m playing and obviously helping Pyotr [Kochetkov] and continuing his development and taking over as a great young goalie in this league. So that’s what excites me about having this done and being able to be around next year too.”
On his relationship with Carolina goaltending coach Paul Schonfelder:
“Paul’s been great. He’s very even-keel, and stays very much with this lane in terms of goaltending. I think he has a nice ‘less-is-more’ approach. He leans a lot towards letting the goalie play the way that makes [him] successful… how different Kooch [Kochetkov] plays in terms of our foundation of the game, and obviously, that’s something he has to manage. And not take us too far away from what’s made us successful, and polish us on what we’re already doing.”
On playing for Denmark at the 2026 Olympics:
“At the moment, obviously, I’m still very interested in going to play if everything goes well, and, yeah, and then when we get to that point, obviously there’s a lot of a lot of stuff before that, and we’re obviously focused on what we got going on right now in this playoff run. And when we get to that next year, I’m sure I’ll be interested in going and it would be a very cool experience to get to represent my country and get to be part of that best-on-best tournament.”
ITR 49: For Real This Time – Inside The Rink
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