Zach Hyman and Connor McDavid break down the addition of former Maple Leafs netminder Frederik Andersen and why his championship pedigree is the missing piece for Edmonton’s goalie tandem.
The ties between the Toronto Maple Leafs of the late 2010s and the current Edmonton Oilers roster grew even stronger this offseason with the addition of veteran goaltender Frederik Andersen.
Andersen, who spent five seasons in Toronto as the club's starting netminder before moving on to Carolina, signed with Edmonton, reuniting with former Leaf teammate Zach Hyman.
"Awesome. I talked to Freddie," Hyman said with a smile from his annual charity golf tournament on Monday. "He just got married, so big congrats to Freddie. And he just won, obviously. So two rings for him in one summer. Pretty good."
Andersen arrives in Edmonton fresh off a championship run with the Carolina Hurricanes, bringing a veteran calm to a goaltending room that will feature a unique multi-goaltender approach alongside newly acquired goaltender Devon Levi and returned Tristan Jarry
For Connor McDavid, adding a goalie with playoff success and standard regular-season workload capacity was an essential piece of offseason business.
"He was really solid, obviously," McDavid said of Andersen. "It's really exciting, even bringing in Levi too. Having kind of a three-goalie system, you know, I think Carolina's obviously done that for a little bit and obviously had success. Injuries happen and you always need to have somebody ready to go in there, and we'll always have that."
With Andersen joining Hyman, Edmonton continues to benefit from players who honed their games under the relentless spotlight of Toronto before bringing that battle-tested experience west.
Andersen signed a one-year deal with a $1 million guarantee. His salary can escalate up to $2.8 million if he achieves certain games played and playoff appearance thresholds. He joins Mike Babcock, who became head coach this summer. The list of former Leafs who are Oilers now is long. DJ Smith joined as an associate coach, and was also a former player an assistant coach with the Leafs. Kasperi Kapanen is also a former Leaf.
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