Andersen hoping to help Oilers ‘get over hump,’ win Stanley Cup 

Frederik Andersen wants to do for the Edmonton Oilers what he just did for the Carolina Hurricanes. 

The 36-year-old goalie sees similarities between the teams.

“Edmonton has been knocking on the door for a while now, it’s a team that’s got aspirations to try to win,” Andersen said Monday. “They’ve been close and it would be awesome to help them get over the hump. I’m really excited about that opportunity.”

Fresh off helping Carolina win the Stanley Cup last month, Andersen signed a one-year, $2.8 million contract with Edmonton on Wednesday. 

The Cup championship came after some disappointing times in the postseason for the Hurricanes, a feeling the Oilers know all to well. 

Carolina lost in the Eastern Conference Final two of the previous three seasons before getting to the Stanley Cup Final and defeating the Vegas Golden Knights in six games last season.

Andersen was 13-2 with a 1.89 goals-against average, .910 save percentage and three shutouts in 16 Stanley Cup Playoff games, including going 12-1 through the first three rounds. 

But he allowed eight goals in the first two games of the Final and was pulled after allowing four goals in the second period of Game 3. Brandon Bussi played the rest of the way with Pyotr Kochetkov as his backup.

That followed a regular season where he was 16-14-5 with a 3.05 GAA and .874 save percentage in 35 games, including going 9-4-0 after representing Denmark in the 2026 Winter Olympics.

“I think probably since the Olympic break I felt like I was finding my game and again being comfortable with things, the way I was moving around and the structure in my game,” Andersen said. “I think that was a reset for me, and I continued to build toward the playoffs. I was really excited about getting the nod in Game 1 (of playoffs) and I just took it from there and really just laid it out there for each game. It was a really fun run to be a part of and obviously the ending, I would have loved to play, but it still felt amazing to be a part of the team that hoisted it.”

That championship pedigree in goal is something the Oilers have been missing. They were eliminated in the Western Conference First Round last season by the Anaheim Ducks in six games. That came after going to the Stanley Cup Final in back-to-back seasons, only to lose to the Florida Panthers each time. 

“I can’t speak to the locker room yet and how the team is under a new coach, but I think one thing that I’ll take with me is realizing that the better a team can know their identity and their strengths, it’s going to be better,” Andersen said. “That’s what I think we showed in Carolina the last few years. We were working towards being really confident and comfortable in the way we play, and I think that really was probably the biggest reason that got us to the top.”

The new coach he mentioned is Mike Babcock, who was Andersen’s coach with the Toronto Maple Leafs from the start of the 2016-17 season through the first 23 games of 2019-20.  

Edmonton hired Babcock on June 23 to replace Kris Knoblauch, who was fired May 14 after three seasons as coach. 

“I think my experience with him has been good,” Andersen said. “As a goalie you don’t really deal with the head coach as much and he kind of leaves you alone with the goalie coach to kind of do your thing. He’s a great coach, great X’s and O’s. I thought he got a lot out of our group. 

“We were a young team then and I’m excited to see what we can do together in this new opportunity.” 

Andersen was in his prime with Babcock in Toronto. He had back-to-back seasons with 66 starts in 2016-17 and 2017-18 and was the undisputed No. 1. 

With the Oilers, Andersen is expected to play in a three-goalie rotation along with Devon Levi, who was acquired by Edmonton in a trade with the Buffalo Sabres on July 1, and Tristan Jarry.  

“I think that’s something that’s not going to be a day-to-day thing, but something we’re going to have to manage,” Andersen said. “The schedule has been very different from what it used to be, and I think the game has changed as well, and it makes it more demanding to play a lot of games and still perform the way you want to.”

Andersen played 35 games in the regular season for Carolina in 2025-26, with Bussi playing 39 and Kochetkov getting into nine games.

The Hurricanes finished with a 53-22-7 record, the best in the Eastern Conference, allowing 2.88 goals against per game, sixth best in the NHL.   

Now he comes to a team that has had goaltending issue the past few seasons. The Oilers acquired Jarry in a trade with the Pittsburgh Penguins for Stuart Skinner on Dec. 12, 2025, with the expectation he was going to be the undisputed starter. 

Jarry, however lost his No. 1 job to Connor Ingram toward the end of the season and only made one start during the playoffs. 

The Oilers allowed 3.23 goals per game last season, 25th in the NHL.

Enter Anderson, who is 59-37 with a 2.32 goals-against-average and .913 save percentage in 101 playoff games.

The 59 wins are third most in the NHL since his first postseason (2013-14), behind only Andrei Vasilevskiy (70) and Sergei Bobrovsky (61). 

“However it plays out, it’s tough to predict, but I’m ready to support the other guys and play when called upon and I think that’s something we’ll all lean on each other and figure out with Peter (Aubry, goaltending coach) and (Babcock) too,” Andersen said. “That’s something we’ll have discussions about I’m sure, but we haven’t gotten that far yet.”

One thing is for sure, Andersen no longer will have to face Oilers superstars Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl for at least one season. 

“I’m sure they’ve made me and the rest of the League look silly a lot of times before in games and now it’s just going to be in practice,” Andersen said. “It’s cool to get to see that up close and see how they operate. It’s a cool experience and a cool opportunity to get to play with elite players.”