RALEIGH — “It’s been kind of a long process to get here.”
Brandon Bussi was just discussing the signing of his three-year , $5.7 million extension with the Hurricanes on Monday, but he might as well have been talking about his career.
The 27-year-old has won 23 of his first 27 NHL games, making the new deal look like a bargain for the Hurricanes. But his path to putting pen to paper was anything but traditional.
Bussi went undrafted and was 21 when he played his first of three seasons at Western Michigan. He played well enough with the Broncos — 46-25-5 — to earn a contract with the Bruins.
He played on three consecutive one-year deals with Boston, but the Bruins’ goaltending duo was locked in during that time, offering no opportunity for Bussi to get an NHL shot. He signed with the Panthers on July 1 but was again relegated to No. 3 duty, this time behind Sergei Bobrovsky and Daniil Tarasov.
But the fate that never came calling for Bussi earlier in his career did in early October.
The Hurricanes claimed Bussi as an insurance policy when they placed their No. 3, Cayden Primeau, on waivers for assignment to the AHL. Primeau was claimed by the Maple Leafs, Pyotr Kochetkov suffered an injury, and suddenly Bussi was Carolina’s No. 2 goalie.
“It’s difficult to break into the league,” Bussi said during a video call with media on Monday. “Sometimes different opportunities pop up in different ways, and mine happened in a way that doesn’t happen for a lot of people.
“There are a lot of good hockey players out there, and things happen for a reason. That’s kind of been my motto, and I’m very fortunate it gets to happen here for longer.”
It didn’t take the Hurricanes long to know they wanted to keep Bussi around. Carolina’s front office first approached Bussi’s representation about an extension in October. There was one problem: Since the goaltender was on a one-year contract, he couldn’t be signed to an extension until after Jan. 1.
Meanwhile, Bussi kept piling up wins. By the time the calendar flipped to 2026, Bussi was 13-1-1 with a minuscule 2.08 goals-against average and .912 save percentage.
The Olympic break proved to be the right time to get Bussi — now the Hurricanes’ unquestioned No. 1 goalie with a record-setting 23-3-1 start to his NHL career — under contract beyond the year.
The result was a deal that will cost $1.9 million annually against the salary cap through the 2028-29 season. The first multiyear contract of Bussi’s career will pay him $1 million next year, $1.85 million in 2027-28 and $2.85 million in the final season, according to PuckPedia.com. A total of $2.85M of the full contract is in signing bonuses, and it also includes a partial no-trade clause in Year 3.
“It’s crazy,” Bussi said of the last four months. “If you told me back in October, I would have been like, ‘Yeah, sure, I bet that’ll happen.’ The hockey world can work in mysterious ways. I’m fortunate I got an opportunity, and Carolina sees me the same way I see myself being here, so I’m very happy I get to be here for more time.”
Carolina will resume practicing Tuesday while the team waits on its five Olympians to return from Italy. The Hurricanes enter the stretch run with a healthy eight-point cushion over Pittsburgh atop the Metropolitan Division and neck and neck with Tampa Bay — the team they’ll play next Thursday in their first game after the break — for the top spot in the Eastern Conference.
Chances are, it will be Bussi — with his newly minted contract and the affirmation that it was all worth the wait — in Carolina’s net that first game back.
“It’s great to have stability and feel like I have a home for a few years,” Bussi said, “but it’s still up to me to prove myself every day.”
