Veteran goaltender retires from NHL hockey

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Graham Montgomery
September 14, 2024 (7:41 PM)

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Former Carolina Hurricanes goaltender Antti Raanta revealed today that he will never play in the NHL again.

Raanta put up a good career as a backup netminder in the NHL, appearing in nearly 300 games across 11 seasons. He spent time with the Arizona Coyotes, Carolina Hurricanes, Chicago Blackhawks, and New York Rangers. Last season was the worst of his career though as Carolina goalie Pyotr Kochetkov started to replace him as the team's backup. Raanta put up a .872 save percentage and 2.99 goals-against-average last season in 24 appearances. Now it appears as though that will be his last NHL campaign.

"One of the remaining veteran free agent goaltenders is Antti Raanta but don't expect his name to be added to the list of players accepting PTOs. The veteran told Ilta-Sanomat's Sami Hoffren that he has decided that his playing days in North America have come to an end."

With that being said, Raanta has indicated to a source in Finland that he intends to continue his career in Europe, however, as of today, he is not listed as being under contract with any team according to Elite Prospects.

Despite the fact that Raanta remains unsigned this late in the offseason, he likely will not have any problem earning a contract in Europe. After all, former NHLers are very common in European leagues as players return home after their time in the NHL. Furthermore, the Liiga is a far more defensively minded league than the NHL so it should be easier for Raanta to start putting up good numbers again at that level.

Most fans would probably assume that Raanta would want to play in his home country of Finland, but actually he is reportedly more interested in options in Germany, Czechia, and Switzerland, according to Finish reporter Simo Frigole.

Regardless of where Raanta ends up, we are all wishing him the best in the twilight years of his career.