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NHL Brandon Bussi's start with Carolina has him in rare company. James Guillory / Imagn Images RALEIGH, N. C. — The Carolina Hurricanes are atop the Eastern Conference after three shootout wins in four days, one over Washington and two over Philadelphia. That success wouldn’t have been a surprise given the expectations to start the season, but the fact that Carolina has done it without Jaccob Slavin and with a waiver-wire pickup leading the team in net makes the season’s first 32 games impressive. Advertisement Perhaps the best news for the Hurricanes came on Sunday, when defenseman Jaccob Slavin was activated from injured reserve and returned to the lineup. It was a busy week for Carolina, and here’s the latest. Brandon Bussi has become the most unlikely of stars. The 27-year-old goalie, claimed off waivers by the Hurricanes from Florida as an insurance policy when Carolina tried to assign Cayden Primeau to the AHL to start the season, set an NHL record on Thursday by earning his 10th win in his 11th appearance. Bussi also saved 24 of 26 shots on Sunday in the shootout victory. His unprecedented start has him in rare company. According to Stathead, only 42 goalies in history have played in at least 11 NHL games after not making their debut until they were at least 27 years old. Most fizzled out quickly, while a few — such as Aaron Dell and Carter Hutton — built respectable careers as NHL journeymen. Nine of the 42 reached 100 wins in their career, but the careers of many of that list are not comparable to Bussi’s path for a few reasons. Wayne Stephenson didn’t get his chance until 1972, when the NHL was rapidly expanding. He primarily played for the Canadian National Team before getting his shot. Richard Brodeur jumped to the NHL in 1979-80 after 165 wins with the WHA’s Nordiques. Europeans Niklas Backstrom, Roman Cechmanek, Cristobal Huet and Martin Gerber proved themselves overseas before getting a chance in the NHL. Johan Hedberg — for my money, one of the most reliable No. 2 goalies of this century — reached the NHL seven seasons after being drafted, finishing with nearly 400 regular-season and playoff games with five NHL teams. As Bussi’s legend has grown, the name that’s most come to my mind is Tim Thomas. The two-time Vezina Trophy winner and recipient of the Conn Smythe Trophy (when the Bruins won their last Stanley Cup championship in 2011) is the model for late-blooming goalies. Though drafted by the Nordiques in 1994, Thomas — with the exception of four games with Boston in 2002-03 — bounced between the minors and Sweden for nearly a decade before he got his chance, finishing his career with five seasons of 28 or more wins. Advertisement The better example might be Dwayne Roloson. Both he and Bussi went undrafted and had strong NCAA careers. Roloson spent two full seasons in the AHL before making his NHL debut at 27 years, 1 month and 1 day. Bussi played three AHL seasons and finally got his first game on Oct. 14 — at 27 years, 3 months and 19 days. Roloson, however, had a losing record in each of his first five NHL campaigns before finishing his career at age 42 with more than 600 career games, 227 career wins and five 20-win seasons. Let’s be clear: That’s a long way from a goalie who hasn’t yet played a baker’s dozen of games. But Bussi has made the best possible impressions on the NHL, Hurricanes fans and, most importantly, Carolina’s front office. While Bussi is not eligible to sign a contract extension until Jan. 1, there is optimism a new deal can be worked out between the team and its unexpected star goalie. Two. That’s how many of the Hurricanes’ seventh-round picks since relocation have played more NHL games than rookie defenseman Joel Nystrom. Frederik Andersen, with 531 games, has the most, though his circumstances are unique. While Andersen was selected by Carolina in 2010, he opted to reenter the draft and was picked by Anaheim in the third round in 2012. The other is Steven Lorentz, who was chosen 186th in 2015 in his second time through the draft. He has played 335 games — along with Kelly Cup, Calder Cup and Stanley Cup rings. (Eighth-round picks Jaroslav Svoboda and Niklas Nordgren played 134 and 58 NHL games, respectively, and 1997 ninth-round pick Kent Mc Donell played 32. ) Nystrom, in his first full season in North America, impressed the Hurricanes’ coaching staff enough during training camp that when defensemen started dropping at the start of the season, he earned a recall ahead of several more experienced options. Advertisement Nystrom got assigned to the AHL on Sunday, when Slavin was reactivated, and he had zero goals and five assists in 23 games with the Hurricanes — but he already has a new deal. Carolina signed the 23-year-old Swede to a four-year extension on Friday that will pay him a total of $4. 9 million. The contract is reminiscent of the one given to goaltender Pyotr Kochetkov in November 2022. Kochetkov, fresh from Russia and the KHL, was pressed into action at the end of the 2021-22 season, winning all three of his late April starts and playing in four playoff games. Kochetkov then went 2-0-2 in the middle of November 2022 before being rewarded with a four-year, $8 million contract. While there’s an argument that both players could have bet on themselves to potentially get more money, there is a big carrot in both deals. Like Kochetkov, whose contract ends following the 2026-27 season, Nystrom will be an unrestricted free agent in the summer of 2030, after his second deal expires. It’s a low-risk bet for Carolina that also gives Nystrom a chance to cash in at the end of the contract. Furthermore, if Nystrom can’t crack the Hurricanes’ lineup during the deal, burying his $1. 225 million cap hit in the minors would have no cap implications. Teams are allowed to stash $375, 000 more than the NHL minimum salary, which will go up from $775, 000 to $850, 000 next season when Nystrom’s contract kicks in. That’s $1. 225 million — exactly the cap value of Nystrom’s deal. That means none of Nystrom’s cap hit would cost against Carolina’s cap hit should he be in the AHL. That makes the only real risk the cash paid to Nystrom — with the potential of it being a considerable bargain should he become a regular. It could also have implications for Jalen Chatfield, a fellow right-handed defenseman whose contract is up after the 2026-27 season, when he’ll be 31. Advertisement The Hurricanes made a coaching change with their AHL affiliate Friday, dismissing Cam Abbott as coach of the Chicago Wolves and naming assistant Spiros Anastas as interim coach. The move came as a bit of a surprise seeing that the Wolves were 11-7-3 and in a playoff position, but Carolina has been considering the move for a while. While the on-ice results have been fine under Abbott — who led the team to the playoffs in his first season last year, a two-game exit in the first round courtesy of Rockford — clearly there were concerns about the direction of the team. Before being hired for the Wolves job, Abbott had six years of experience in the Swedish Hockey League, leading Rogle BK to its first Champions League title in 2021-22. The Ontario native played collegiately at Cornell and had brief stints in low-level North American leagues before playing six seasons in Sweden and then transitioning to coaching. The decision to relieve Abbott of his coaching duties wasn’t made hastily — the Hurricanes tried to make the situation work over the past two seasons. But it became clear to the organization that a change was needed. Anastas, who has coached internationally and in both the AHL and ECHL, is expected to serve as interim coach for the rest of the season. He won the Calder Cup as an assistant with Grand Rapids in 2013 and also twice served as a head coach in the ECHL. Abbott — whose twin brother, Chris, is the Hurricanes’ vice president of pro player personnel — will remain with the organization. Friday’s biggest news was the trade of Vancouver star defenseman Quinn Hughes to the Wild in a blockbuster swap. Minnesota gave up young center Marco Rossi, emerging defenseman Zeev Buium, first-round-pick winger Liam Ohgren and the Wild’s 2026 first-round pick to get the eldest Hughes brother. Advertisement The Hurricanes sniff around anyone and everyone who might be available in the league, and you can bet they at least gauged what the price would be to acquire a superstar such as Hughes. So how would a package from Carolina have looked? There’s actually a pretty easy comparable trade. Alexander Nikishin and Buium are similarly valued. Nikishin is farther along than Buium, but the Wild’s 2024 No. 12 pick is four years younger and on his entry-level contract for another year. Both have all-star potential. Rossi already has 40-point and 60-point seasons, and he is signed for two more seasons at $5 million annually, after which he’ll be an arbitration-eligible RFA. Logan Stankoven hasn’t accomplished as much — he’s trending toward a 40-point season this year — but is about a year and a half younger and locked in through 2034 with a contract that is $6 million against the cap starting next season. Ohgren, drafted at No. 19 in 2022, hasn’t done much in 40-plus NHL games — he had zero points in 18 games with the Wild this season — but I wouldn’t characterize him as a bust yet. Bradly Nadeau, drafted at No. 30 in 2023, has been a better AHL player but hasn’t yet translated that to the NHL. Nadeau is the better prospect, but you could also argue the overall value of the first two assets favors Minnesota, at least a little. And then there’s the first-round pick — Carolina could put up an equivalent draft choice to Minnesota’s, especially since they have four first-rounders in the next three years. The Hurricanes could have survived a deal such as that if it meant getting Hughes, but it would put them in a tough situation — one the Wild currently finds themselves in. By giving up a top-six center, Minnesota is paper-thin down the middle. Carolina could weather that better than the Wild, but losing Nikishin would hurt — that blow would be softened by the Hughes upgrade, obviously — and Nadeau still has sniper potential. It would also leave the team dangerously shallow down the middle. Advertisement The Hurricanes did a good job in last year’s Mikko Rantanen deal of not ending up with a deficit of talent. I’m not sure the Wild did that — there are huge questions at center without Rossi and not enough cap space to fill the void with another trade. Had Carolina made the equivalent deal that I mapped out, they’d have questions up front, too. The Hurricanes would have more cap space and remaining assets than the Wild to try to solve the 2C question, but it would be much less than what they have had they swung a Hughes trade. Cory Lavalette is a freelance writer covering the Carolina Hurricanes. He is senior editor for North State Journal, a statewide newspaper based in Raleigh covering North Carolina, and has written about the Hurricanes for several outlets since 2008. He is a graduate of Utica College (now Utica University) and has lived in the Triangle since 2000.