With Frederik Andersen gone, reigning champion Brandon Bussi and a healthy Pyotr Kochetkov vie for crease time.
For the first time in over five seasons, the Carolina Hurricanes will not have veteran Frederik Andersen as their main man in net.
The 36-year-old netminder left in the offseason, signing with the Edmonton Oilers.
Instead the Canes will be relying on a relatively unproven tandem of Brandon Bussi and Pyotr Kochetkov.
Bussi, 28, is entering his second NHL season after his storybook rookie year culminated in a Stanley Cup championship last year.
Kochetkov, 27, is a goalie who's had a lot of highs and lows in his four-year NHL career, but most notably is the fact that he's coming off of hip surgery that kept him out of game action since December of 2025.
But while the door looks to be wide open for one of the two to grab the number one role, it isn't something that the team is necessarily looking for.
"We have two guys and obviously they're both gonna play," said Hurricanes coach Rod Brind'Amour. "This isn't like one guy is going to play 70 games. That's not going to happen. Both of them will hopefully push each other, stay healthy and I think it'll be a good rotation."
Carolina has seen first hand just how much goalie injuries can derail a season, so they're not going to be overworking guys if they don't have to.
And both Bussi and Kochetkov seem to have the same attitude as well when it comes to the tandem and how they're approaching this season.
"I don't view it as competing for a number one job," Bussi said. "I don't have any goals — other than winning the Stanley Cup — but for like what I personally want to accomplish this year. I said it last year, I'm a day-to-day person. So I'm just focused on making sure I'm ready for opening night and whether I play or not, whatever. I'm going to play when they tell me and I'm going to try and put my best foot forward every time I play."
"After last season, I never think about 'I want this many games.' or stuff like that," Kochetkov said. "I just try and think about practice, recovery and next day. Nothing more because all my career, I looked too far every time. At first, I want to go to the NHL. After that it's I want to be first goalie, I want to play more, blah, blah. When you're older and you see a little bit of a different angle of your life and your game, now I just want to be excited for what I do and play games. That's what I think about."
While it will more than likely be a near 50/50 split for the netminders this upcoming season (given that everyone can stay healthy), it'll still be telling who gets the first game of the year.
After that, how the two perform in the regular season will be the only thing that determines who will be the true number one option.
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