Things get more concerning for Frederik Andersen after Game 5

Things continue to get more complicated for Frederik Andersen as we saw in Game 5 of the Stanley Cup Final.

For a second straight game, it was Brandon Bussi who took the start in net for the Carolina Hurricanes on Thursday night, while Pyotr Kochetkov remained in the backup role. Ahead of puck drop, the team also brought in Amir Miftakhov, who had been summoned from AHL practice earlier in the day and arrived in Raleigh shortly before 7 p.m.

With Miftakhov joining the roster, Carolina effectively carried three goaltenders for the game, leaving Andersen once again out of the lineup entirely.

The Hurricanes have maintained that all goaltenders, including Andersen, remain available. However, the structure of the roster showed he did not even dress for Game 5.

This follows a similar situation in Game 4, when Andersen was listed as the emergency goaltender in a 5–3 Carolina win over Vegas on Tuesday.

After that game, head coach Rod Brind’Amour was asked about the decision and kept his explanation brief.

“Let him rest,” Brind’Amour said. “Give him as many days here as we can.”

The team has not indicated any injury, and officially continues to frame the situation as rest-related as the series intensifies. Some pundits online went on to speculate about whether Andersen has been struggling ever since his agent, and friends for close to two decades, Claude Lemieux passed away earlier this month.

NHL insider Elliotte Friedman said ahead of Game 5 about Andersen on Fan 590: “There’s times you dig into stuff and there’s times you just say let’s just let this sit and breathe. And that’s kind of the way I look at this one. The guy’s been through an awful lot. Just let him breathe.”

Still, the lack of detail has fueled conversation outside the organization. Online speculation has filled the void, with fans questioning whether Andersen’s absence is strictly physical management or part of a broader situation unfolding behind the scenes.

For now, Carolina continues to rotate its crease options as the Stanley Cup Final moves deeper, with the Hurricanes just one win awy from the ultimate prize, but Andersen’s role in it has become increasingly unclear.