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Carolina Hurricanes Have Goaltending At A Discount

By Keith Preston

Apr 25, 2023; Raleigh, North Carolina, USA; Carolina Hurricanes goaltender Antti Raanta (32) watches a shot against the New York Islanders during the third period in game five of the first round of the 2023 Stanley Cup Playoffs at PNC Arena. Mandatory Credit: James Guillory-USA TODAY Sports
Apr 25, 2023; Raleigh, North Carolina, USA; Carolina Hurricanes goaltender Antti Raanta (32) watches a shot against the New York Islanders during the third period in game five of the first round of the 2023 Stanley Cup Playoffs at PNC Arena. Mandatory Credit: James Guillory-USA TODAY Sports /
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At the end of the 2022-2023 season, both Antti Raanta and Frederik Andersen became free agents. With Pyotr Kochetkov signing for 4 years/$8 million it was almost a foregone conclusion he is the Carolina Hurricanes goaltending solution for the future. All the Canes had to do was find a second netminder.

All three goalies for the Hurricanes played well overall for the entirety of last season. The Canes led the league in shutouts with 9. That was 5 more than the league average. Sure, the Hurricanes faced the fewest amount of shots in the league, but our goalies were huge when they had to be. Their relentless focus led the team to second best goals against average in the league That incredible goaltending is just one year after the same goalie group had the Canes first in that same category. You don’t shutout your opponents in more than 10% of your games on accident.

All three goaltenders posted a save percentage over .900, goals against average under 2.5, and a winning record. Some teams are struggling to find just two goalies with that ability, or are paying significantly more for that (we’ll touch on that in a minute).

Beyond the regular season, they were great in the postseason for the most part. Five of the Hurricanes seven postseason losses were 1 goal games, including all four Eastern Conference Finals games. Freddie in particular was unreal. His .927 save percentage giving up less than 2 goals per game gave the Hurricanes a chance in every game he started.

On the first day of free agency it was announced the Hurricanes were bringing back Antti early on. Shortly after, news broke of Freddie coming back as well. It was a surprising move considering PK signed that extension in November last season.

However, it appears that both goaltenders took a discount because they feel this is the team that can go the distance. Raanta signed for 1 year $1.5 million ($500k less than last year) immediately after posting a 19-3-3 record. His stock if anything should have gone up. Anderson signed for 2 years with an average value of $3.4 million, an AAV $1.1 million less than the contract that just expired. That $1.6 million in cap savings from their prior year contract may seem insignificant, but that was just about the amount Tony DeAngelo is signed for.

To put in perspective how much the Hurricanes are saving in the crease, they have a total cap hit of $6.9 million for their goaltending needs. That is only 14th highest in the league. There are 3 goaltenders in the NHL making more than that alone. The Canes have that many goalies they have to shuffle around, not a bad problem to have. Well done Don.

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