Fantasy Impact: Carolina Changes Up Goaltending – Andersen and Raanta the New Duo

Dobber

2021-07-28

The Carolina Hurricanes have signed Frederik Andersen to a two-year deal worth $9M and Antti Raanta to a two-year deal worth $4M.

The Hurricanes Get: two proven goaltenders, both with a good track record and at times great. But both have struggled with injuries. Raanta in particular has trouble stringing together any meaningful length of healthy games.

Fantasy Players Impacted: With Alex Nedeljkovic traded despite being a Calder Trophy contender, and Petr Mrazek and James Reimer not re-signed, the Hurricanes were looking to start fresh. You knew that Carolina didn't think much of Nedeljkovic when they placed him on waivers in January. For some unknown reason, they still didn't like him even after his 15-5-3 run to end the season (0.932 SV%) and a 4-3-2 playoff record (0.920 SV%). That's a 19-8-2 record during crunch time…and they didn't believe in him.

Meanwhile, Raanta has played 12, 33, 12, 47, 30 and 25 games in his last six seasons. Many of those he was expected to be the starter, but just couldn't stay healthy. His injuries later on caused his team to scramble for a No.3 goalie to come in and get starts. Expect the same to happen with Carolina. In fact, I went to list here all of Raanta's injuries over the last few years and it was taking too long and taking up too much space. So I ditched that idea. But trust me – it was a long list. LONG!

Andersen was a former top goalie in this league but, for whatever reason, his play had fallen off. In his last 68 games he has the following numbers:

36-21-8, 2.84 GAA and 0.906 SV% with 45.6% Quality Starts. His Goals Saved Above Average (GSAA) was -7.204 (positive is good, negative is bad).

Behind a Rod Brind-Amour-coached team, Andersen will be much better. This style of play works for goaltenders. But will his numbers be good enough? And can he stay healthy? Last year he missed 27 games with a knee injury. The season prior he missed a few games with a neck injury and the year before that he had  knee and groin issues.

Fantasy owners should take a long look at Carolina's goalie prospects – they could be called into duty. Namely Dylan Wells, since Pyotr Kochetkov is in the KHL and Jack Lafontaine is stuck in the NCAA. Wells has been a mediocre ECHLer/AHLer so far as a pro, but he's still only 23.

📢 advertisement:

Fantasy Players This Helps, In Order:

  1. Frederik Andersen
  2. Whoever the No.3 goalie will be (for now it's Dylan Wells)

Fantasy Players this Hurts, In Order:

None

Leave A Comment

UPCOMING GAMES

May 24 - 20:05 FLA vs CAR

Starting Goalies

Top Skater Views

  Players Team
SAM BENNETT FLA
MATTHEW KNIES TOR
SAM REINHART FLA
EVAN BOUCHARD EDM
MIKAEL GRANLUND DAL

Top Goalie Profile Views

  Players Team
STUART SKINNER EDM
JAKUB DOBES MTL
JAKE OETTINGER DAL
SAM MONTEMBEAULT MTL
JOEL HOFER STL

LINE COMBOS

  Frequency DET Players
21.9 AUSTIN WATSON CRAIG SMITH TYLER MOTTE
21.3 MARCO KASPER PATRICK KANE ALEX DEBRINCAT
17.2 VLADIMIR TARASENKO MICHAEL RASMUSSEN J.T. COMPHER

DobberHockey Podcasts

Fantasy Hockey Life: Seattle Kraken with RJ Eskanos

RJ Eskanos of Emerald City Hockey is here to report on the Seattle Kraken. Jesse and Victor interview RJ about returning pros Jared McCann, Chandler Stephenson, Jaden Schwartz, Jordan Eberle, Kaapo Kakko, Shane Wright, Matty Beniers, Andre Burakovsky, Eeli Tolvanen, Jani Nyman, Vince Dunn, Brandon Montour, Ryker Evans, Joey Daccord, and Philipp Grubauer. In Cat’s […]

Keeping Karlsson: KK Leagues Report – 2025 Champs!

Derrick talks to the big winners of the various Keeping Karlsson leagues from this past season. He’s first joined by the new KKUPFL Ultimate Champion Ian and the reigning fast-track winner Alec. Then Derrick is joined by the year 1 KK Dynasty League champions Ian (different Ian), Saqib, and Brett, aka the “Good ol’ Ottawa Boys”.

Fantasy Hockey Life: Anaheim Ducks with Derek Lee

Derek Lee of the Hockey News is here to report on the Anaheim Ducks. Jesse and Victor interview him about returning pros Troy Terry, Mason McTavish, Trevor Zegras, Frank Vatrano, Leo Carlsson, Cutter Gauthier, Sam Colangelo, Jackson LaCombe, Olen Zellweger, Pavel Mintyukov, Radko Gudas, Jacob Trouba, Lukas Dostal, and John Gibson. In Cat’s Instincts, Cat […]

Fantasy Hockey Life: Fluto Shinzawa Boston Bruins Preview

Fluto Shinzawa of the New York Times joins the show to break down the Boston Bruins. Jesse and Victor ask him about David Pastrnak, Morgan Geekie, Pavel Zacha, Elias Lindholm, Casey Mittelstadt, Matthew Poitras, Fraser Minten, Charlie McAvoy, Mason Lohrei, Hampus Lindholm, Jeremy Swayman, and Joonas Korpisalo. Cat’s instincts covers prospect goalies Brandon Bussi and […]

FIND US ON FACEBOOK

📢 advertisement: