With the Canucks anxious about Thatcher Demko’s readiness for the season, they’ve made calls to free agent goalies like Antti Raanta
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Yes, the Vancouver Canucks called Antti Raanta about coming to their training camp.
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No, I’m not interested, was Raanta’s reply.
The veteran goalie told Finnish newspaper Ilta Sanomat on Saturday that he’s not interested in playing in the NHL anymore, let alone checking out an opportunity on the West Coast that was really nothing bigger than a maybe.
With the Canucks obviously worried about the status of Thatcher Demko for the start of the season, they’ve been checking out what few free agent goalie options remain as insurance options. The top-line name remains Kevin Lankinen, where the door remains open but where there is also an obvious divide over salary; Raanta is a goalie head coach Rick Tocchet knows well from when Tocchet was bench boss in Arizona, so it makes sense the Canucks would have inquired with Raanta about his interest.
Canucks Report
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In his conversation with Ilta Sanomat, Raanta reveals that his conversations with the Canucks went so far as a Zoom video call with Canucks GM Patrik Allvin and newly-minted goalie coach Marko Torenius, who is Finnish as well.
But obviously what was no offer didn’t entice Raanta, who said he’d have a few other inquiries from NHL clubs this off-season.
At 35, after a decade in the NHL — playing 277 games for the Chicago Blackhawks, New York Rangers, Arizona Coyotes and Carolina Hurricanes — he’s said he’s just not interested in what the coming season would like for him in North America. He knew there was a chance he’d end up in the AHL, no matter where he signed. He finished last season in the AHL, which he said was fun, but in the end not a life he wants to experience again.
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“I don’t have that same fire anymore, to fight tooth and nail for a spot,” he admitted. Playing for a European team, in Switzerland, Germany or Czechia, is far more appealing for him and his young family he said.
pjohnston@postmedia.com
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