Lingering lower-body injury forces Kochetkov into surgery, sidelining the star netminder for the season and reshaping Carolina's goaltending plans.
The Carolina Hurricanes are more than likely to be without goaltender Pyotr Kochetkov for the rest of the season as the Russian netminder has elected to have surgery for a lower-body injury that has been nagging him all year.
The 26-year-old has been dealing with the injury since the start of the season, originally missing a chunk of time to start the year and he's tried to play through it since, but now he's decided that enough's enough.
"It's what he's been dealing with all year," said Hurricanes coach Rod Brind'Amour, who broke the news on Monday. "He's decided to have surgery. He didn't feel right all year. Was playing through it, but he doesn't want to continue that way. So he'll get it fixed and we'll go from there."
The Russian netminder had a 6-2-0 record on the year, his fourth as a full-time NHLer, and he was playing some really solid hockey for the Canes.
It's a shocking twist of events for the Hurricanes too, as Kochetkov was even slated to start Monday night against the New York Rangers after fully practicing with the team on Sunday.
Now, the team will have to move forward with a tandem of Brandon Bussi and Frederik Andersen.
Carolina has been extremely lucky to have found a diamond in the rough with Bussi, as the rookie has been one of the league's best goalies, but it's been a tougher go for Andersen, who hasn't won a game since Nov. 4.
"We're going to need him," Brind'Amour said on the veteran netminder. "The luxury we had is no longer a luxury. We no longer have three guys to rely on. It's pretty clear that we have these two guys now and they have to figure it out."
It's been a tough year for the Canes overall as far as injuries go, with a plethora of ailments having popped up all over the roster not even half way through the season.
"This is kind of unprecedented stuff," Brind'Amour said. "We went a couple years where we didn't have our D get any injury. We were pretty lucky then, but now it's been all year."
The rampant increase of injuries has been noticeable all across the league and perchance more than likely due to the condensed nature of the schedule, as the league has to fit in the Olympic break.
"There's probably more risk involved when you're playing so much, but you have to figure it out," Brind'Amour said.
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