Kukla's Korner Hockey

Kukla's Korner Hockey

Hurricanes Lost A Goalie They Could Have Used

11/01/2013 at 9:38am EDT

from Luke DeCock of the News & Observer,

Long before they lost both Cam Ward and Anton Khudobin to injuries in the space of 10 days, the Hurricanes lost Frederik Andersen to a contract squabble. They had taken the Dane with the 187th pick of the 2010 draft, and he looked like one of those rare late-round picks who might actually pan out.

But Andersen refused to sign, telling the Hurricanes they had too much goaltending depth with Ward and Brian Boucher, and went back into the 2012 draft, where he was taken by the Anaheim Ducks, an organization with more goaltending depth than the Hurricanes. Carolina general manager Jim Rutherford took the rare step of issuing a press release criticizing both the player and his new agent, Ritch Winter.

“We tried to sign Frederik to a contract, and made him aware that we felt there was an opportunity here for him to earn one of our two NHL spots during training camp,” Rutherford’s statement read. “We are very disappointed that he chose not to join our organization. Prior to him changing his agent, we had every indication that he was very interested in being a part of the Carolina Hurricanes.”

By now, given Boucher’s sudden departure and Ward’s frequent injuries, Andersen probably would have played in as many as 40 NHL games for the Hurricanes during the past two seasons. Instead, he has played three games for the Ducks this season – with top American prospect John Gibson still ahead of him on the long-term depth chart – while the Hurricanes are forced once again to rely on Justin Peters, who despite his NHL contract is not at this point an NHL goalie.

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Paul Kukla founded Kukla’s Korner in 2005 and the site has since become the must-read site on the ‘net for all the latest happenings around the NHL.

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