Will Pyotr Kochetkov’s injury impact the Hurricanes’ Stanley Cup chances?

The Carolina Hurricanes are likely going to be without goaltender Pyotr Kochetkov for the season, as head coach Rod Brind’Amour told the media on Monday that Kochetkov would undergo surgery to repair a lower-body issue that held him out of the start of the season and had been bothering him ever since.

With their promising young goalie out of the picture, that leaves a legitimate Stanley Cup hopeful in the Hurricanes with a struggling Frederik Andersen and surging Brandon Bussi as their two options between the pipes.

On Tuesday’s episode of Daily Faceoff LIVE, host Tyler Yaremchuk and co-host and former NHL goaltender Carter Hutton discussed the news about Kochetkov and how it might affect Carolina’s hopes of capturing the Stanley Cup.

Tyler Yaremchuk: We’ll start in Carolina where head coach Rod Brind’Amour says Pyotr Kochetkov is more than likely done for the season. He’s getting surgery to correct a lower body issue that has apparently been nagging him all season… It’s always been th e book on him and Andersen, that they can not find a way to stay healthy for the whole season. Big deal or no deal for the Canes’ Cup hopes, losing Kochetkov for the year?

Carter Hutton: I’m gonna just air on the side of big deal here a little bit. I don’t know if it is. It’s somewhere in the middle in my mind because Bussi’s been unbelievable. He’s 13-1-1… but like, is this his coming out party? Is this his Jordan Binnington run? Is this that run where we saw Cam Ward? There’s a good chance, because when I think about Freddie Andersen, that is concerning… But right now, they look very intelligent having three goalies. Is Brandon Bussi the guy? When you look in that Eastern Conference, the goalies you’re going to run into when you think about Bobrovsky. You think about Vasilevskiy when it comes down to if you do make an Eastern Conference championship, are you putting Brandon Bussi up against those guys?

You can watch the full segment and the rest of the episode here…