NEWARK, N.J. - The Carolina Hurricanes announced on Thursday that goaltender Frederik Andersen will undergo knee surgery and is expected to be out for 8-12 weeks.
Eight weeks from tomorrow's scheduled surgery is January 17, while 12 weeks takes us to February 7 - just before the team begins their 13-day Four Nations Face-Off break.
The Canes currently have Pyotr Kochetkov and Spencer Martin on the active roster at the moment, but many are now wondering how the organization will navigate the next two to three months.
We connected with General Manager Eric Tulsky to get his thoughts on the situation.
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What is your vision in net for the next 8-12 weeks with Andersen out?
Tulsky: "When people get bad news, it is natural to think about the worst-case scenario and panic. Obviously, Freddie has been great for us, and it stinks to lose him. But Pyotr has also been great for us and we are very comfortable with him and Spencer."
When Andersen first went down, Rod Brind'Amour expressed that this would be a good time for Kochetkov to show he could take the reins. What have you made of his performance over the last month?
Tulsky: "Pyotr has been playing really well. And this goes back to the point about not panicking. We are 9-2 since Freddie got hurt. Of course, we were hoping for better news with the injury, but the way things have gone since then has put us in a good position."
With Andersen out, do you envision exploring the trade market for a goaltender?
Tulsky: "Of course we are running through a lot of scenarios on what might happen over the next 8-12 weeks and we want to be prepared for whatever may happen. But we want to preserve flexibility to make sure we have the ability to address our most important needs. The way our goalies are playing right now buys us time to assess the situation and make sure we use our assets where they are needed most."
Would you be comfortable with Yaniv Perets playing NHL games if that needed to be the case?
Tulsky: "We have called him up before, and are comfortable doing it again if necessary. We also have Dustin Tokarski in Chicago right now; he has a lot of NHL experience and is playing great – he just finished up his second straight shutout there, and could be an option for us. It is hard to get too deep into the what-if game, but we do have a lot of depth at this position."
