Brandon Bussi’s first season with the Carolina Hurricanes left plenty of numbers that are hard to shrug off. The 28-year-old goalie won 31 games, set franchise marks, and finished by helping deliver a Stanley Cup. Now, heading into 2026-27, he’s trying to show that none of it was a one-time burst.
That’s the challenge for the Sound Beach, New York native after a year that changed everything. Bussi spent four seasons in the Boston Bruins organization before landing elsewhere, with the Florida Panthers initially looking like the next stop. Then Carolina stepped in with a waiver claim, and the rest of the story turned into a breakout season.
The regular season was packed with milestones. Bussi went 31-6-2 with a 2.47 goals-against average, an .895 save percentage, and two shutouts.
Along the way, he became the fastest goalie in franchise history to reach 10, 15, and 20 wins. He also matched Cam Ward’s team record with nine straight victories, doing it twice.
The Hurricanes rewarded him in February with a three-year, $5.7 million extension that runs through the 2028-29 season. The organization now views him as the 1A in a tandem with Pyotr Kochetkov, and the expectation is that his rise keeps going.
Bussi said the season gave him plenty to build on. On May 4, after a morning skate, he told The Hockey Writers, “It was a good season overall.
The ultimate goal is to win as many games in the regular season to give yourself a chance to make the playoffs and a chance at the Stanley Cup. Overall, I thought things went really well, and obviously, it was a big learning experience.
Playing more games and more every other day with the Olympic schedule and everything was more condensed.”
The learning curve didn’t stop when the playoffs began. Frederik Andersen helped get Carolina to the Stanley Cup Final, and then Bussi took over and closed things out against the Vegas Golden Knights.
He entered in relief for Andersen in Game 3 and took the loss in double overtime, but the next three games told a different story. Bussi went 3-1-0 with a 1.60 GAA, a .931 SV%, and one shutout.
That shutout came in Game 6, when the Hurricanes beat Vegas 4-2 to win the Stanley Cup in six games.
That finish only strengthened the case that his season was no mirage. Hurricanes general manager Eric Tulsky said during his end-of-season media availability after the first night of the draft that the team is comfortable with Bussi and Kochetkov in goal, especially after Bussi repeatedly stole games during the year.
His style backed it all up. Bussi showed off elite skating, made highlight-reel saves, and never seemed overwhelmed by the moment. He also carried himself like a goalie who cared first and foremost about helping the Hurricanes win.
One of the clearest examples came on Jan. 19 in Carolina’s 2-1 win over the Buffalo Sabres. In an early afternoon Martin Luther King Day game, Bussi delivered what was described as his “Save of the Year” moment with a highway robbery stop on Tage Thompson. The play drew major attention, and former New York Rangers goalie Henrik Lundqvist said on TNT that Bussi is the real deal.
For Bussi, the next step is simple: do it again. After proving he can handle the grind, produce wins, and finish the biggest games of the year, he enters 2026-27 with the chance to show that his first NHL season was the start of something, not a fluke.
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