- Brandon Bussi stopped all 22 shots in a 3-0 Game 6 shutout to clinch the Cup
- Carolina claimed him off waivers from Florida before the season started
- Read below for how the undrafted goalie went from the bench to a champion
Brandon Bussi started the season as a waiver claim.
He ended it with the shutout that won the Stanley Cup.
Bussi turned away all 22 shots he faced in Carolina’s 3-0 win over Vegas in Game 6 on Sunday night, closing out the franchise’s first championship since 2006. The backup nobody outside Raleigh was talking about last fall skated off as a champion.
His road to this point was not a straight line. Bussi went undrafted out of Western Michigan, spent time in the Boston organization, then signed with Florida last summer.
The Panthers waived him before the season, and Carolina put in a claim. That claim now looks like one of the smartest moves any team made all year.
The payoff came fast. Bussi went 31-6-2 in his first season with the Hurricanes, posting a 2.47 goals-against average and two shutouts. Even with those numbers, he opened the playoffs on the bench behind Frederik Andersen.
Then Andersen got hurt. The veteran tweaked his knee in Game 3 of the Final and could not work through it. David Alter reported the injury kept him out the rest of the series:
Rod Brind’Amour handed Bussi the net and never looked back. The waiver claim won three straight to close out the series, and he made history in Game 5 before saving his best for the clincher.
Andersen still gets his name on the Cup, and he earned it. He went 13-2 in the playoffs with a 1.89 goals-against average and a franchise-record three shutouts before the knee gave out. The early Conn Smythe buzz had even pointed his way.
Now Bussi owns the last word on Carolina’s title run. For a goalie who was sitting on the waiver wire before this season, that is a wild way to introduce yourself to the rest of the league.
