All-Star Profile: Frederik Andersen

RALEIGH, NC. -Much was made during the 2021 off-season regarding the Carolina Hurricanes decisions regarding their goaltending group.
A
star of the month
,
star of the week
and All-Star nomination later, Frederik Andersen has put most of those questions to bed.

In addition to his league-wide recognition, the 32-year-old Dane has made history along the way as well, becoming the first goaltender in league history to win 24 of his first 30 outings with a team. Those 24 wins? Tied for second in the league, only behind Andrei Vasilevskiy of Tampa, who has played six more games than Andersen.
His .929 save percentage (SV%)? Also second in the league.
Although more commonly viewed as a team statistic, his 2.01 goals against average (GAA) through the first half of the year is tops among all.
Speaking of team statistics, they say your goaltender needs to be your best penalty killer, right? The Canes have been shorthanded more than 29 of the NHL's 32 teams and yet their penalty kill ranks number one. How? A big thank you to Andersen, who has a .969 SV% when his team is down a man.
At this present moment, he has one loss since the calendar turned to December.
Impressive. Outstanding. Fantastic. There are a variety of positive adjectives that could be used to describe the start to Andersen's season.

The Evidence:

I Don't Ask For Much...
The man known as "Freddie" has just six losses this year and in examining each of them, it's almost impossible to peg any of them on him.
Point being, if the team in front of him provides offense, Andersen holds up his end of the bargain. In fact, he's never allowed more than four goals in any of his 30 outings this season. Even then, that's only happened in three of them and in one of them (Nov. 20 @ Los Angeles), the team was able to overcome that to steal a 5-4 victory.

Grand Larceny
On top the other of things, Andersen has been able to earn his team several victories this season, even when not receiving the utmost goal support.

Noted Playmaker, Frederik Andersen
In addition to ranking inside the top ten in just about every major goaltending statistical category, Andersen also paces all netminders in the league with his four assists.
Further more impressive? He did it in his first 22 games played this year.
Not only is the marker a career-high for him, but it's two more than any goaltender in the league.
How much stock do you put in it a statistic like that? That's subjective, but what it indicates is that Andersen is incredibly strong at playing the puck, which pays dividends beyond just the assists. He's made a multitude of impressive puck handling plays that have led to many breakouts for his club to get out of their own end.

What They've Said About Him:
"Just knowing you have a guy like that back there that's going to make big saves, it gives you all the confidence in the world. Hats off to Freddie, he's been phenomenal for us all year." - Vincent Trocheck on December 11 after Andersen allowed just one goal against McDavid, Draisaitl and company in Edmonton.
"Freddie's been important for us all season long. There's a reason why he is an All-Star goalie. Every single night he keeps us in the game and at the end of the day we can always rely on him." - Nino Niederreiter after Andersen's 26-save victory over Vegas on January 25.
More Andersen Fast Facts
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