Someone may want to perform an exorcism on the Carolina Hurricanes crease as yet another Canes net minder is set to miss multiple weeks due to injury.
Antti Raanta will be out for at least the next two weeks after suffering a lower body injury in Thursday night’s contest versus the the Colorado Avalanche. After entering the game in relief of Pyotr Kochetkov in the 2nd period, and making 9 saves, Raanta exited the contest, forcing Kochetkov back into action.
Carolina, who sit 2nd in the Metropolitan division with a 29-16-5 record, have been plagued by injuries all season long, a trend which now appears to be extending to their goaltenders as well. Frederik Andersen has been limited to just 6 games this year, while Raanta and Kochetkov have oscillated back and forth with neither being able to grab the starters role and run with it.
28 year old Spencer Martin, and 23 year old Yaniv Perets have been called upon for backup duty, even managing to appear in a few contests themselves in 2023-24. “It’s good to have guys who know how to play that position because of all the injuries that have gone on here,” Hurricanes coach Rod Brind’Amour told reporters sarcastically after news of Raanta’s injury broke.
Indeed Carolina has largely succeeded in spite of what’s taken place in their crease this season. With a high powered offence that’s scoring at the best 10th best clip in the league (3.38 goals for per contest) despite injuries to their forward group as well, the Hurricanes haven’t been able to find consistency between the pipes.
Kochetkov (.898 SV %), Raanta (.872 SV%), and Andersen (.894 SV%) have all turned in sub .900 save percentages on the season, leading many to believe that Carolina will be in the market for goaltending help at the March 8th trade deadline. One name which has popped up several times over the past few weeks has been Calgary Flames net minder Jacob Markstrom.
While a potential trade between the clubs makes sense on the surface, Markstrom’s term (2 years beyond the 2023-24 season remaining) and cap hit ($6M AAV) would require Carolina to move out some salary in any theoretical deal as well.
The Hurricanes are next in action Saturday night at 7pm ET vs. the New Jersey Devils.
Photo: Jenn G. This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 Generic license.