{"id":482931,"date":"2026-01-30T07:48:43","date_gmt":"2026-01-30T12:48:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/?p=482931"},"modified":"2026-01-30T07:48:43","modified_gmt":"2026-01-30T12:48:43","slug":"nhl-rumours-extension-talks-with-carolina-hurricanes-goalie","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/2026\/01\/30\/nhl-rumours-extension-talks-with-carolina-hurricanes-goalie\/","title":{"rendered":"NHL Rumours: Extension Talks with Carolina Hurricanes Goalie"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>It&#8217;s time for some more NHL rumours. We&#8217;re nearing the Winter Olympic break and that means general managers are going to get busy. The rosters freeze just before the games, but that doesn&#8217;t mean that extension talks can&#8217;t happen. We&#8217;ve seen some trades take place, but we could also see other activities.<\/p>\n<p>One team that could lock down one of their key young players is the <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/2026\/01\/10\/nhl-rumours-carolina-hurricanes-may-deal-depth-forward\/\" target=\"_self\">Carolina Hurricanes<\/a>. This edition of NHL rumours deals with impending contract talks with their breakout netminder.<\/p>\n<p><em>All NHL rumours come from the original source and are subject to change.<\/em><\/p>\n<h2>NHL Rumours<\/h2>\n<h3>Update on Contract Extension Talks with Young Carolina Hurricanes Goalie<\/h3>\n<p><em>Rumour: We offer an update on where contract extension talks stand with the Hurricanes and young goalie <a  target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.hockey-reference.com\/players\/b\/bussibr01.html?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2026-01-29_hr\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Brandon Bussi<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>Analysis:<\/em> We&#8217;ll go through multiple sources to find out where negotiations are going between Bussi and the Canes. Carolina general manager Eric Tulsky sat down <a  href=\"https:\/\/nsjonline.com\/article\/2026\/01\/tulsky-talks-contracts-trades-hurricanes-goaltending\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">for an interview<\/a> with <em>The North State Journal&#8217;s<\/em> Cory Lavalette. The subject of giving Bussi a new deal came up in the chat.<\/p>\n<p>Bussi has been a revelation in between the pipes for the Hurricanes. There was a massive worry in goal after <a  target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.hockey-reference.com\/players\/k\/kochepy01.html?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2026-01-29_hr\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Pyotr Kochetkov<\/a> was ruled out for the<a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/2025\/12\/29\/carolina-hurricanes-goaltending-injury-news\/\" target=\"_self\"> rest of the season.<\/a> <a  target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.hockey-reference.com\/players\/a\/anderfr01.html?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2026-01-29_hr\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Frederik Andersen<\/a> is a<a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/2023\/07\/01\/carolina-hurricanes-sign-frederik-andersen-to-new-contract\/\" target=\"_self\"> good enough goalie,<\/a> but the team needed someone to shoulder the load in the crease.<\/p>\n<p>Enter the 27-year-old, who has put together a strong rookie season for Carolina. The Sound Beach, New York native has a 19-3-1 record with a 2.15 goals-against-average and .909 save percentage. His performance has given the Canes<a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/2025\/12\/22\/carolina-hurricanes-injury-news-one-forward-one-defenceman\/\" target=\"_self\"> some breathing room<\/a> and a possible chance to address other needs at the trade deadline.<\/p>\n<p>However, the former Western Michigan University product is <a  href=\"https:\/\/puckpedia.com\/team\/carolina-hurricanes\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">an unrestricted free agent<\/a> at the end of the season. Goaltending has long been a question when it comes to the Hurricanes, but Tulsky has a chance to solidify the team&#8217;s situation.<\/p>\n<h3>What It Means<\/h3>\n<p>David Pagnotta of <em>The Fourth Period<\/em> was <a  href=\"https:\/\/www.thefourthperiod.com\/jan-2026\/hurricanes-bussi-working-on-contract-extension\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">the first outlet<\/a> to report that Bussi and the Hurricanes were in contract talks. Pagnotta&#8217;s article about contract talks came out on January 24 and stated that all signs are likely that Bussi will remain with the club.<\/p>\n<p>The rise of Bussi has been an incredible one since being claimed off waivers from the<a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/2026\/01\/19\/florida-panthers-lineup-gets-massive-boost\/\" target=\"_self\"> Florida Panthers<\/a> in October. Bussi&#8217;s surprising run is one of the reasons that the Hurricanes are in first place in the Metropolitan Division.<\/p>\n<p>However, there are still some concerns regarding a new deal for Bussi, who currently gets $775,000 per season. There&#8217;s no doubt that he&#8217;ll likely command a decent raise from his current salary.<\/p>\n<p>Lavalette&#8217;s interview also brings up sample size as a possible worry for Tulsky. The general manager said it was a valid point, but he added that they&#8217;ve been aggressive at signing deals for players in that situation. Tulsky also mentioned that all types of deals have been discussed, including a short-term contract. The general manager stated that all options are on the table.<\/p>\n<p>Carolina could still give Bussi a well-deserved raise, but it would also provide insurance in case he&#8217;s a one-season wonder. There&#8217;s an old saying that goaltenders are voodoo, and the Canes want to hedge their bets.<\/p>\n<p><em>Main photo by: \u00a0Marc DesRosiers-IMAGN Images<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>It&#8217;s time for some more NHL rumours. We&#8217;re nearing the Winter Olympic break and that means general managers are going to get busy. The rosters freeze just before the games, but that doesn&#8217;t mean that extension talks can&#8217;t happen. We&#8217;ve seen some trades take place, but we could also see other activities. One team that [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2352,"featured_media":482932,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[10,4547,34,4548,4321],"tags":[8272,6575,7940,2629,4108],"class_list":["post-482931","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-hurricanes","category-hockey","category-news","category-nhl","category-rumours","tag-brandon-bussi","tag-carolina-hurricanes-rumours","tag-eric-tulsky","tag-frederick-andersen","tag-pyotr-kochetkov"],"modified_by":"Colton Osmond, Dept Manager","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/482931","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2352"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=482931"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/482931\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":482946,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/482931\/revisions\/482946"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/482932"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=482931"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=482931"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=482931"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}