International Hockey Roundtable
Antti Raanta done with NHL: “Now is a good time to return to Europe with my family”
© James Guillory-Imagn Images - Antti Raanta done with NHL: “Now is a good time to return to Europe with my family”Veteran Finnish goaltender Antti Raanta doesn’t know exactly where he’s going to play this upcoming season, but he made it clear in a recent interview with Finnish media outlet Ilta-Sanomat that it won’t be in North America.
“At the end of the season and in the summer, I thought about all sorts of things, but as the summer progressed and my body felt good, Europe started to attract me more,” said Raanta.
Raanta has played the last 12 seasons in North America in the organizations of the Chicago Blackhawks, New York Rangers, Arizona Coyotes and Carolina Hurricanes. During that time he’s played 301 regular-season and playoff games in the NHL and only 34 in the AHL. However, eight of those AHL games were at the end of last season with the Chicago Wolves after being sent down by the Hurricanes in February.
Now it seems that the only NHL offers he’s getting are of the two-way variety.
“The role of second- or third-stringer and possibly playing in the AHL was on offer,” he said, expressing his lack of interest in “playing up to 60 games in the AHL at the age of 35, and just waiting for maybe someone to fail or get injured.”
The Vancouver Canucks are one of the NHL teams he’s recently spoken to. With health issues to incumbent starting goalie Thatcher Demko as well as presumptive backup Artūrs Šilovs, Raanta would have probably been nothing more than insurance in case one of them wasn’t ready to go when the season started or got injured at some point during the season.
“I turned it down right away and announced that I’ve kind of made up my mind that I won’t be going there anymore,” he said. “A few hours later and suddenly I was on a Zoom call with (goaltending coach) Marko Torenius and the GM (Patrik Allvin). It would have been more of a try-out.”
The Toronto Maple Leafs were also mentioned as a team that inquired about Raanta. According to the interview, however, his most likely destinations now seem to be either Switzerland, Germany or Czechia, although no specific clubs were named.
“I played 11 years in the NHL. Now is a good time to return to Europe with my family,” he said. “Every other day, the wife sees on Instagram, when the wife of someone playing in Switzerland has updated pictures from there, and how great it looks there.”
While considering offers, Raanta and his family remain in his hometown of Rauma, Finland. He said, “I just have to stay sharp, train and get on the ice so that if the call comes, I’ll be ready to go right away.”
Raanta also said that his local team Lukko, the one that he played with as a child and turned pro with at age 20 has expressed interest as well, but he doesn’t see that as a viable option right now for a variety of reasons – largely Finland’s tax laws.
“In a dream world, it would be great to play in Lukko and win the championship, but the reality could be a little harsher,” he said. “As soon as Lukko asked in the spring, I said that I could probably make it work, but it would be difficult.”
However, that idea was nixed when he discovered that if he signed a contract to work in Finland in 2024, he'd be taxed by the Finnish government not only on his NHL income in 2024 but also on the profit from the sale of his house in North Carolina.
“These things also have an effect. That’s why I’d prefer to go abroad to play for a season or two. We’ll see how it looks in the future.”
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