While there are going to be many teams across the NHL trying to get their hands on the Nashville Predators 22-year-old Russian goaltender in Yaroslav Askarov who reportedly wants a trade out of Nashville, the Carolina Hurricanes have a 25-year-old Russian goaltender of their own in Pyotr Kochetkov who could be ready to transition to the teams number 1 goaltender.
Whether he was ready or not, last season Pyotr Kochetkov was the Hurrcianes starting number 1 goaltender. After veteran Freddy Andersen was limited to just 16 games during the 2023-2024 regular season due to a deep-vein thrombosis subsequently causing pulmonary embolisms, the 25-year-old Kochetkov was thrust into the starting role. Kochetkov started a career high 42 games, with a record of 23-13-4 and a save percentage of .911 and goals against average of 2.33. Both career highs.
When Andersen made his return on March 7th of 2024, the veteran was fantastic for the Canes, taking back his crease. Over the 10 game span since he returned Andersen went 9-1, only twice having a save percentage below .930 during that time.
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While Andersen was great since returning, the veteran is entering the final year of his 2-year $6.80M contract that was signed back in July of 2023. Current Canes GM Eric Tulsky will have to decide whether or not to re-sign the soon to be 35-year-old Andersen.
If the plan is to possibly move on from Andersen after this season, it could make sense to start to transition Kochetkov into the starting role. The very athletic and confident Kochetkov showed signs last year that he is capable of being the guy in net going forward. The team, and specifically head coach Rod Brind’Amour certainly believe in Kochetkov’s abilities, speaking highly of the young goaltender to NHL.com’s Walt Ruff.
“We’ve known that the talent is there,”Rod Brind’Amour said of his young backstop during the campaign. “We noticed day one that he was something special, but he’s a young kid. It takes time.”
As Kotchetkov prepares to enter his 4th NHL season he has a great opportunity to show the Hurricanes coaching staff that he is ready to seize an even bigger chunk of the work load. Given Andersen’s age and his recent trend of being injured/health battles over the last two seasons that could open the door for Kochetkov to get more starts to keep Andersen fresh. If Kochetkov shines in his opportunities that could lead to him taking the reigns.
Kochetkov was selected in the 2nd round of the 2019 NHL draft. In 69 career starts Kotchetkov owns a win-loss record of 38-20-9 and 8 career shutouts.
