Frederik Andersen lifting the Stanley Cup with the Carolina Hurricanes is the latest chapter in a trend Toronto Maple Leafs fans know all too well.
For five seasons in Toronto, Andersen was the workhorse. Heavy workload, big regular-season numbers, and a lot of nights where he was basically holding things together on his own. Fair or not, though, his time there always seemed to come back to the same place once April arrived. The early exits, the scrutiny, the way it all landed on the goalie regardless of what was happening in front of him.
Seeing him finally get his ring with Carolina has many Maple Leafs feeling happy for him.
Andersen gets a well-deserved Cup
His run to it was emotional in a way that’s hard to really simplify. Andersen was the backbone of Carolina’s first three rounds, finishing with a 13-2 record and a 1.89 goals-against average. He stayed steady through a heavy Eastern Conference Final stretch following the passing of his longtime agent, Claude Lemieux. Which deeply affected him and makes this moment feel even better watching as a fan.
A knee injury in Game 2 of the Final eventually pushed him out of the crease and handed things to Brandon Bussi for the rest of the series. Carolina had already leaned on him heavily to get into the playoffs.
The moment that stood out came during the celebration. After Jordan Staal raised the Cup, he skated it over to Andersen as the first handoff. Which was probably one of the more telling moments about how his teammates, both past and present, room view him.
For Maple Leafs fans who went through all the ups and downs with him, seeing him finally lift the Cup was a great moment. It didn’t happen in Toronto, unfortunately, but in the end, Andersen’s name will forever be etched into the Stanley Cup
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