Hurricanes retain veteran goaltender

Goaltender Antti Raanta will remain a Carolina Hurricane. As reported July 1 by TSN’s Darren Dreger, minutes before the unrestricted free agent market opened, Raanta has re-signed with the Hurricanes on a one-year deal at a $1.5 million AAV.

Raanta, 34, has spent the past two seasons with the Canes, going 34-8-7 with a 2.34 goals-against average, .911 save percentage and six shutouts as part of the three-headed goalie monster with Frederik Andersen and Pyotr Kochetkov.

Raanta has long carried a reputation as an injury-prone netminder, having exceeded 32 starts in his career just once, but his effectiveness has rarely if ever been in question. He has posted a SV% of .910 or better in seven of his 10 NHL seasons. Among goaltenders with 250 career games, Raanta’s .918 SV% ranks 11th in NHL history.

In keeping the pending UFA Raanta, the Canes appeared to be letting UFA Frederik Andersen walk and pairing Raanta with Kochetkov going forward, but they pivoted and re-signed Andersen as well for two years at a $3.4 million AAV. Kochetkov, 24, showed plenty of promise in his rookie NHL campaign, posting a .909 SV% across 24 appearances, and has been extended for the next four seasons at a $2 million cap hit. Blocked by the Andersen-Raanta tandem, Kochetkov, who was waiver-exempt, spent half his season with the Canes’ AHL affiliate, the Chicago Wolves. Since he remains waiver-exempt, it appears Kochetkov will be blocked again.

The Canes have plenty of work to do with their 2024 free agents, from UFAs Sebastian Aho and Brett Pesce to RFAs Seth Jarvis and Martin Necas. But in the short term, they have decent cap flexibility with Max Pacioretty’s $7 million AAV coming off the books and injured Andre Svechnikov an LTIR candidate to open next season as he recovers from a torn ACL.