In the summer of 2021, the Carolina Hurricanes made the surprising decision to trade away Alex Nedeljkovic, instead going with a more experienced tandem of free agent signees in Frederik Andersen and Antti Raanta.
It seemed like a strange move, given that Nedeljkovic's age and performance pointed to the fact that he could be a long-term starter. The Hurricanes had seen somewhat of a revolving door of goalies over the last while, struggling to find a long-term starter. Even just since Rod Brind'Amour took over in 2018, the Hurricanes had used Petr Mrazek, James Reimer, Curtis McElhinney, Alex Nedeljkovic, and then Andersen and Raanta.
Surprisingly though, it worked out great for Carolina last season, with Andersen bouncing back after a down year to post a .922 save percentage through 52 games, and Raanta acting as a steady backup.
This season, however, it hasn’t been quite as simple. Andersen has now missed over a month of action and even before getting hurt, he was off to a poor start, posting just an .891 save percentage across eight games. Raanta hasn’t been great either, managing only an .894 save percentage through nine games himself.
Enter Pyotr Kochetkov. We had seen a little bit of Kochetkov last season, with the young netminder making two regular season starts with Carolina, before being called upon in the playoffs due to injuries. A 36th overall pick in 2017, there was certainly excitement around the goalie. From his numbers in the KHL to limited action in the AHL, all signs pointed to the fact that Kochetkov had starter potential. Still though, with Andersen getting injured this year, the obvious solution would’ve been Raanta stepping up for Carolina.
With Raanta struggling though, Kochetkov has completely taken over, starting eight of the team’s last 10 games. Kochetkov has taken the opportunity and ran with it, posting a .918 save percentage through 11 games (10 starts), picking up six wins and two shutouts along the way.
A key has been just how steady Kochetkov has been in goal. He hasn’t necessarily had many games where he’s put together any sort of jaw-dropping performances, but he has been incredibly consistent. Rarely allowing bad goals, Kochetkov has managed above a .900 save percentage in seven of his 10 starts. He’s also allowed two goals or less in six of those 10 starts, and only more than three goals twice.
Kochetkov's play creates an interesting situation for the Hurricanes once Andersen is healthy. With three quality goalies, it’s still hard to imagine Carolina keeping all on the roster. Given the way Kochetkov has played, he’s not likely to be sent back to the AHL, and Raanta is a good enough goalie that he should carry a bit of trade value. While they wouldn't get much of a return, it wouldn’t be surprising to see the Hurricanes opt to move Raanta for a pick.
Looking ahead towards the future though, we know it includes Kochetkov. The Hurricanes locked up the netminder to a four-year contract extension a few weeks ago, which kicks in next season. With both Andersen and Raanta on expiring deals and Kochetkov’s extension set to carry just a $2 million cap hit, the Hurricanes could get excellent value over the next few years.
Kochetkov is already verging into starting goalie territory and we can probably expect that as early as next season, the role will be his to lose going forward. He's certainly earned his starts this season, and it's going to be really interesting to see if he can fully take the starting role from two veterans for the remainder of the season.
At just 23 years old, Kochetkov seems set to become the Hurricanes' long-term solution in net.
Carolina Hurricanes Blogger • 
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