With all the controversy around the Carolina Hurricanes crease, which saw Antti Raanta get waived and sent down to the AHL and the Canes call up ECHL goaltender Yaniv Perets, Frank Seravalli and Tyler Yaremchuk discuss what the Canes need to do to fix this colossal mess as they also near a return of Freddie Andersen between the pipes.
Tyler Yaremchuk: The crease situation in Carolina is certainly a fascinating one. Freddie Andersen is a month away from playing games it seems, he’s back skating, but what’s the latest here in Carolina while Andersen is out and Raanta is in the AHL?
Frank Seravalli: I think the hope is that Pyotr Kochetkov who has played well in his last few games, continues to tie this team over. That was the thought process for two guys in Andersen and Raanta who have significant injury histories, if one of those two guys falters then they have Kochetkov waiting in the wings to come in and play well. He signed a four-year, eight-million contract that you think would put him in a position to take over but he has struggled so mightily and the Hurricanes goaltending as a whole has struggled, they’re ranked 32nd in the NHL with a .874 save percentage as a team.
Frank Seravalli: Raanta is trying to find his game, he goes down to the AHL and GM Don Waddell has shared over the last 24 hours that Raanta had let the team know that he would not have his career end this way despite having a .854 save percentage this season. So he’s going to the AHL to try and find himself, Andersen will ramp up his skating in the next 7-10 days and I think they continue to cruise the goalie market as a whole. They’ve brought in veteran Aaron Dell on a PTO contract within the last 24 hours to see if he could be a stopgap measure until Andersen gets fully healthy. Andersen looking like a month away now that he’s been medically cleared after dealing with blood clots. I think the Canes are just looking to stabilize things and in the meantime, if Kochetkov can play well and can claw back into a playoff position, maybe that might be enough.
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