In one of the Edmonton Oilers’ final signings on July 1, it was announced that Stanley Cup–winning netminder Frederik Andersen was coming to Oil Country on a one-year deal with an average annual value (AAV) of $2.8 million.

I previously shared some interesting tidbits about Andersen, such as how head coach Mike Babcock helped him overcome mental hurdles during their time together with the Toronto Maple Leafs. Now, consider this Part Deux, as we uncover some more interesting things you may not have known about the Oilers’ new goaltender.

The love for hockey runs throughout the Andersen family.

Frederik Andersen was the first Danish goaltender to ever play in the NHL, meaning he didn’t have any Danish NHL netminders to look up to while growing up. He did, however, have his father, Ernst Andersen, to model his game after.

Ernst enjoyed a successful career as a goaltender, playing in Denmark’s top division for 17 seasons before later moving into a goaltending coaching role at both the local and national levels for 20 seasons. Most recently, he served as an assistant coach for Denmark’s U16 team last season.

Naturally, you’d think that because Frederik’s father was a netminder, he would have followed in his footsteps from the start, but that wasn’t the case. Ernst didn’t intend for his son to be a goalie at first; he simply wanted him to learn how to skate and learn other positions in hockey.

But whenever Frederik played with his friends, he kept drifting back between the pipes. It was Frederik who insisted that he wanted to play goal, saying in an NHL.com article from 2021, “I kept begging him until I think I was nine or 10 and he finally said okay, you can go try and play it.”

But the Andersen family’s hockey ties don’t stop with Frederik and Ernst.

NHL.com also mentioned that Frederik’s mother also played hockey as a forward. His brother, Sebastian, and sister, Amalie, both play defence, with the latter having spent four seasons playing for the University of Maine.

Also, his younger brother, Valdemar, is a goaltender as well, playing with the Minnesota Wilderness of the NAHL last season. Moreover, Frederik’s cousin, Emma-Sofie Norstrom, continues the family’s goaltending tradition, having represented Denmark on numerous occasions, playing for St. Lawrence University over the last four seasons, and was recently drafted by Hamilton in the PWHL.

With one pick remaining in the 2010 NHL Draft, the Carolina Hurricanes decided to take a chance on a young Danish goaltender who stood 6-foot-4 and weighed 220 pounds.

As Chip Alexander mentioned, Andersen had caught the eye of Hurricanes scouts while playing with Denmark’s national team because of his size, mobility, and instincts, and the Hurricanes selected him with the 187th overall pick in 2010.

While the netminder attended the Hurricanes’ prospect development camp that followed, he did not sign a contract with the team. Because after looking at the club’s depth chart in net, with Cam Ward as the starter at the time, Andersen didn’t see a clear path for himself in Carolina.

Thereafter, the netminder returned to the Danish league for one more season before playing a year in the Swedish Elite League (SEL). His strong play overseas caught the attention of the Anaheim Ducks, who selected him with the 87th overall pick in the 2012 NHL Draft, two years after he was first selected in the draft.

After three years with the Ducks, the netminder was traded to the Toronto Maple Leafs, where he played for five seasons. Then, in an almost full-circle moment, Andersen signed with the Hurricanes in 2021, nearly 11 years after they originally selected him with the 187th pick.

Andersen’s NHL debut came during the 2013–14 season with the Ducks, where he posted a stellar rookie record of 20-5-0, along with a 2.29 goals-against average (GAA) and a .923 save percentage (SV%).

The following season, netminder Jonas Hiller left in free agency, and Andersen shared the crease with John Gibson before gradually taking over the starter’s role. That said, on March 3, 2015, in just his 68th NHL game, Andersen recorded his 50th career NHL win.

In the process, he tied Montreal Canadiens Hall of Fame goaltender Bill Durnan’s 1944 record as the fastest goaltender to reach the 50-victory mark in NHL history. Also, as Scott Burnside noted in 2017, in a fun gesture to reward his teammates for their help, the Danish netminder had Bang & Olufsen audio products placed in each of his teammates’ stalls by the training staff.

There’s a long list of legendary netminders who have recorded 300 or more NHL career wins, including Patrick Roy, Martin Brodeur, Jacques Plante, and Terry Sawchuk, just to name a few.

But did you know Andersen was the second-fastest goaltender in NHL history to reach 300 career wins?

On January 24, 2025, Andersen made 22 stops for the Hurricanes in a 7-3 victory, earning his 300th career win. In doing so, he became just the 42nd goaltender in NHL history to achieve the milestone, reaching 300 wins in the second-fastest time at 501 games, with Andrei Vasilevskiy the only netminder to do it faster at 490 games.

Andersen currently sits 32nd all-time on the NHL goaltender wins list with 324 career victories. Next season, he has the opportunity to pass several notable netminders on the wins list, including Harry Lumley, Gump Worsley, and Nikolai Khabibulin, and move into the top 30 all-time.

Before Frederik Andersen built an impressive NHL career, he was just like many other Danish children growing up — playing with Lego and developing a love for the iconic toy.

Founded in 1932 in Billund, Denmark, Lego became a staple of childhood for generations of Danish children. For Andersen, who grew up in Herning, Denmark, about a 45-minute drive from where Lego was created, playing with Lego sets was a big part of his childhood, and that passion eventually carried over into his NHL journey.

Not only did Andersen visit Legoland with the Stanley Cup during his Day with the Cup, as Michael Menzies recently wrote, but the netminder has also showcased his love of Lego throughout his NHL career by featuring Lego characters on his goalie masks with each NHL team he has played for.

In 2014–15, Andersen’s mask with the Ducks featured a Lego figure wearing a goalie mask while building a brick wall, and the following season, he added multiple Lego Batman figures to his mask.

With the Maple Leafs, he had a mask featuring a blue Lego Batman figure overlooking the Toronto skyline, followed by another with a Matrix-inspired Lego figure. He carried the tradition over with the Hurricanes, placing a Lego figure on the side of his mask.

Now, the big question Oilers fans must be wondering is what type of Lego character he will feature on his Oilers-style mask. Perhaps a Lego figure climbing the Talus Balls? A Lego foodie enjoying some donairs? Or a Lego hockey player going for a skate at the West Edmonton Mall Ice Palace? The possibilities are endless.

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