It appears it will be a new goaltending tandem in Carolina this season. Already linked to Frederik Andersen, the Hurricanes are also set to sign veteran Antti Raanta, ESPN’s Kevin Weekes reports (Twitter link). Pierre LeBrun of TSN and The Athletic reports (via Twitter) that the two-year contract will be worth $2MM per season.
Raanta has spent the past four seasons with Arizona in somewhat of a roller coaster ride. At times, he has played well enough to be a legitimate starting goalie while at others, he has struggled considerably. In between, he has had frequent stints on injured reserve, including last season, where he was only able to play in a dozen games where he posted a 3.36 GAA with a .905 SV%, numbers that were much worse than his career averages.
Still, Raanta’s track record is strong enough to make him a viable buy-low candidate for Carolina. His career .919 SV% is well above-average and if he can come somewhat close to that, he will provide solid value for the Hurricanes. However, with both Raanta and Andersen having some injury trouble last year, it’s also a risk for GM Don Waddell; accordingly, he would be wise to look for a veteran third-stringer with all of their AHL goaltenders being 23 or younger with no NHL experience.
Meanwhile, Arizona may need to add a goalie of their own. Adin Hill was moved to San Jose to avoid losing him in expansion so there is no proven option behind starter Darcy Kuemper. Ivan Prosvetov and Josef Korenar are among the internal options they have but a more proven backup would give them some insurance, especially with Kuemper being limited to just 27 games last season and the fact he’s about to enter the final year of his contract.