About Last Season: Frederik Andersen

Andersen proved the doubters wrong with his performance during the regular season.

By Matthew Somma Jul 12, 2022, 11:00am EDT

Frederik Andersen 2021-2022 By The Numbers

Age: 32
NHL Seasons: 9
Stats: 35-14-3, 2.17 GAA, .922 save percentage
Advanced Stats: 22.1 GSAA, .840 HDsv%
Contract status: On a two-year, $4.5M AAV contract through 2023

Hey, remember when the Hurricanes traded Alex Nedeljkovic and everyone was thrown into a frenzy about goaltending? Ah, good times. When the Hurricanes decided to sign Andersen in free agency, it was viewed with skepticism by many in the fan base. Andersen hadn’t exactly been stellar in Toronto, and while Toronto’s defense wasn’t the best, it didn’t inspire a ton of confidence in many fans. Andersen would have a lot to prove, and he managed to do just that early on in the season. Andersen won his first eight starts as a Hurricane and never looked back.

Throughout the year, Andersen proved to be a steady netminder that would provide the Hurricanes with some desperately needed stability. The Hurricanes can play erratically at times, so his calm nature was a welcome sight. Andersen stayed consistent all year long, giving the Hurricanes elite goaltending that they haven’t had since, well, a very long time ago. It seemed that whenever the Hurricanes were struggling to score, Andersen was able to keep the puck out and give the team a chance until the forwards could figure it out. These big games helped Carolina earn a place at the top of the Metropolitan Division for the first time in franchise history.

Andersen earned a handful of accolades this past season, most notably an All-Star nomination and a Jennings trophy, which he and Antti Raanta earned for having the lowest goals against in the entire NHL. This was the first Jennings trophy in franchise history, which goes to show how crucial Andersen was to this team’s success.

The end of Andersen’s season was cut short due to an injury, though. He was hurt during a game against Colorado on April 16 and did not return for the rest of the season. This injury obviously raises some concerns given Andersen’s past injury issues, and the fact that he also missed the playoffs only amplifies the concerns about next season. Will Andersen be able to bounce back and return to form next year? For that, we’ll need to take a look at Andersen’s stats. Andersen’s Goals Saved Above Average for this past season was 22.1, which is nearly eight goals higher than his previous high set during the 2018-2019 season with Toronto.

In fact, last season was the third time in his career that Andersen has had a GSAA in the double digits. Past performance indicates that Andersen may be due for some regression back towards the mean next season. Andersen’s high danger save percentage this past season was .840, which is absurdly high. For reference, Andersen’s previous high was .795, also set during the 2018-2019 season. Andersen was ridiculous this past season, but there may be some regression.

There’s also the question of what defense the team will be putting in front of Andersen next year. Tony DeAngelo is already out, and presumably, the Hurricanes could be losing two other defensemen to unrestricted free agency. Now, this might not be a bad thing. Giving Andersen some defensive help in front of him may help keep him at the top of the league in terms of save percentage.

This past season, Andersen provided the Hurricanes with truly elite goaltending, something that this team has been in desperate need of. While Raanta was great in the playoffs, you have to wonder how things would have gone if Andersen was in net the whole time. The team will have Andersen as their starter next season and while there may be some regression in his game, there’s no doubt that Andersen will be a great goalie for the Hurricanes in their quest for a Stanley Cup next year.