Joined: Jul. 2021
Posts: 1,085
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Raanta has done well in Carolina – he was the most consistent of their three goalies last season – but after thinking through their possible goaltending scenarios, I was surprised they brought him back.
Kochetkov’s extension is a 1-way contract, so I figured if Freddie was coming back, they’d go with him and Kochetkov and let Raanta go. If Freddie didn’t come back, I don’t think they would have been happy with a Raanta-Kochetkov tandem, so they’d try to bring in somebody else, which means Raanta would be out in that scenario too.
However, the more I think about this signing, the more it makes sense. For that amount, Raanta seems like a smart, low-risk insurance policy. Now that we know Freddie is coming back, having three NHL goalies with a total cap hit of about $7M seems like a good plan given their injury history. Kochetkov is still waivers exempt so he can get playing time in the AHL when the other two are both healthy. It worked last season, so why not try it again?