Da Tradez Have ComeGet Dat Goaler Out Of Da Town

by Gatekeeper

Shortly after the draft wrapped up yesterday afternoon the Blackhawks finally announced a trade. Unfortunately for the fanbase, it was nowhere near the one they were expecting.

The #Blackhawks have acquired forward Ryan Haggerty from the Rangers in exchange for goaltender Antti Raanta. Info: http://t.co/ARg59eM6ae

— Chicago Blackhawks (@NHLBlackhawks) June 27, 2015

Not exactly the thrilling move that we all expected, but a bit of a surprising development. I thought the Blackhawks would hang onto Raanta in case of an injury to Crawford or Darling. He has a year left on his contract, at a low cap hit. Raanta's waiver status had expired and he would have to pass through waivers, if he was called up. This could have been a big reason for the move.

The Blackhawks now have no goalies signed, beyond Crawford and Darling. Mac Carruth is a restricted free agent, and will probably be qualified. Swedish netminder Anders Nilsson, acquired in the Nick Leddy trade, is in the KHL but it has been reported that he is uninterested in playing any further in the AHL. The Blackhawks also have the rights to Russian Goalie Ivan Nalimov, but he has a year remaining on his KHL deal. Ohio State Goalie, and 2012 7th round draft pick Matt Tomkins doesn't seem to figure in the mix, and is still unsigned.

This means the Blackhawks will have to make a move, or two, to sign a goaltender. Previously, the Blackhawks signed low risk and "under-the-radar" players like Raants, Antti Niemi, Carter Hutton, Michael Leighton, Scott Darling, and Ray Emery. All of which have worked out in some capacity.

In the deal, the Blackhawks acquired forward Ryan Haggerty. Haggerty is a 22 year old, 6'0" 200 lb, righthanded, Right Wing. He was signed as a college free agent in 2014, and played last season with the Rangers AHL affiliate, Hartford. These are his career stats:


Not bad for a first year player in the AHL. Could be some depth in Rockford to take the place of the players moving up to the Blackhawks. Honestly, he sounds a lot like Kyle Baun to me.

Here is a college highlight reel of some of his goals. Enjoy:

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Tin Foil Hats, Creationism, Anti-Vax Truthers, and Goaler Problems.

Ya, know...

I have a problem, and it needs and intervention. I'm an addict. I get sucked into more internet idiocy than a sane 40 year old man should. Instead of just letting the meatballs off themselves by natural selection, I get into pointless debates over utterly stupid ideas. Following yesterday's game with the Bruins, the insanity hit a head. Actually, the insanity started in the third period. Let me calmly, and hopefully thoughtfully, go over a couple of things. Even though, I am fully aware that meatballs aren't capable of being saved, I still try.


The initial knee jerk reaction of the meatball coalition was to blame Corey Crawford for the loss to the Bruins yesterday. I will fully agree that he certainly didn't help, there were many other factors that led to this embarrassing loss. The first three goals were as much the fault of the defenders, as they were Corey Crawford.

• First goal was a backdoor goal, which is 50/50 for a goalie. Most backdoor saves are luck. It's hard to ensure a backdoor save if the puck isn't low, and even that isn't a sure thing.
  
• Second goal was a redirect of a puck that was going three feet wide, two feet in front of Crawford.
  
• Third goal was Milan Lucic walking right through FIVE defenders. FIVE DEFENDERS. Against one player. Not only did he get a decent shot off on the initial shot, which Crawford saved, but the rebound.
  
• Fourth goal was bad, but the entire team had shit their collective pants at that point. I'll give the meatballs this one, though. Soft.
  

Antti Raanta, the goalie that SOME meatballs want to turn the crease over to, didn't fare any better.

• Fifth goal was a long shot that had decent coverage and just flat out beat Raanta badly.
  
• Sixth goal was brutal, and you can tell by Raanta's expression after. Long distance, he had all the space and time to make an easy save.
  

It is lazy to blame the goalie for every goal. Three of the six goals were legit bad. Say, for instance, the Blackhawks "terrible" goalers stopped those three bad goals. The Blackhawks still lose 3-2, and some might argue the Bruins would have tried harder on the second Blackhawks goal. Their #4 defender missed 2/3rds of the game and the other bottom two were terrible. I'm not even touching on the top three guys, who weren't stellar by any means. Where is the goal scoring from the juggernaut? Where are Patrick Sharp and Brad Richards? Open your mind, people. Tunnel vision makes for a lazy and misinformed fan. I don't claim that Crawford isn't overpaid or that the term of his contract isn't too long, but he had Bowman by the short hairs. Bowman was not going to let his Stanley Cup winning goalie walk for a second time. Crawford is a slightly above average position goalie. He's streaky and will give up awful looking goals sometimes, but he is the best goalie in the Blackhawks system, and they cannot trade for anyone cheaper or better. So knock it off, already. PERIOD. Now, let us discuss some of these silly solutions:

• Trade Crawford - Granted someone has to want to trade for him, which a couple of teams with spare cap space might. The Blackhawks would then need to somehow acquire an NHL, mid level at minimum, goalie. Raanta, Darling or any other goalie the Blackhawks have rights to are not even mid level NHL goalies, yet, but I'll touch on that later. No team is going to win the Stanley Cup, in what might be the last serious run of this stretch, after trading their #1 goalie mid season. NO ONE!
  
• Trade Patrick Sharp - Sure. What is the return? Tim Erixon? Bunch of minor leaguers? That is all the Blackhawks are going to get when the rest of the league knows you are desperate. Bowman is going to get a much better return when teams are trying to improve in the off season. Let us not forget that trading one of your assistant captains in the tight final playoff race with this group isn't exactly smart.
  
• Trade/Waive/Kill Rozsival, Rundblad and Erixon - Again, sure. Who takes ANY of them? Rozsival has a NTC and makes $2 million. Rundblad, well, if anyone wants him, they would have him. Erixon, is so bad the Blackhawks made up an injury to explain why they won't dress him.
  
• Trade Bickell - Once again, SURE. Who is taking his $4 million salary? They won't trade him to a division foe. Would someone want him in the Eastern conference? Maybe. Wouldn't it be nice to have one big body in front of the net in the playoffs though? They only have one. The last two years, he has been a beast come playoff time. The salary sucks, but he also had Bowman over the barrel. At least he isn't David Clarkson or Ryane Clowe. On top of all this, what return do you get? Slim to nothing, which is not wise if you want to keep your job.
  
• After trading Crawford for a hill of beans, turn the crease over to Raanta and, the newly extended, Scott Darling - In one word, NO! Raanta and Darling were shielded behind the Blackhawks strongest defensive play, this season. Raanta is a step down from Crawford. I like him, but he is over aggressive and slightly small. Also, based on recent events, he may be headed elsewhere. This brings us to the apex. Lemont Native Scott Darling.
  
  Did you know he was from Lemont?
  
  I can't believe I have to keep saying this. Over, and Over, and Over! Scott Darling cannot even win the outright #1 spot in Rockford. THE AHL! He plays best behind the Blackhawks defence, because they don't need much out of him, when they remove their heads from their asses. They need a big positional goalie, that can keep them close, and somewhat control rebounds. Like Corey Crawford. Once Darling gets hung out, he is big and awkward. He is still not "bad". I like him. It is a great story. BUT; if you want to willingly pin the hopes of another cup on a completely unproven backup AHL goalie, you're insane. That's chicken little stuff. Panic. No team was ever successful because of forced panic. I hope he turns into something but, currently, he is an NHL backup AT BEST.
  

Wrapping this up, Bowman needs to do something, and this is why he was moved into this position. He can either pull off a miracle, or wallow in the shit pond he and Quenneville have created. The mismanagement of the prospects and lower level players in this organization are now becoming glaring mistakes. If these two clowns can get over this cock measuring show, they might be able to pull off one last Stanley Cup with this core. Or, they could bow out in the first round and point the finger at Crawford, like the rest of the meatballs.

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The Next One To Want Out Of Chicago

With the recent saga of Jeremy Morin starting to drag out, I thought it would be the perfect time to look into the crystal ball, and think of who the next Blackhawk it could be to want out of Chicago.

Remember this past summer when Antti Raanta signed his extension and said he wanted to give Crawford a run for the starting gig? I know it was a long time ago, but fast forward to the present day and you have to wonder what the young Finnish netminder is thinking now. You would think with two separate injuries to Corey Crawford, that Raanta the "backup" goalie would be seeing regular playing time. Instead it would appear Raanta has just become a backup goalie, to Rockford call up Scott Darling.

Make no mistake about it, Raanta is a work in progress, but at the same time, how the hell is he supposed to improve when he is continually super glued to the bench? You're kidding yourself if you don't think there's some frustration starting to boil over with Raanta.

My suggestion to the Blackhawks is either ride Raanta as the starter while Crawford is out, or send him to Rockford to see regular playing time. When I compare Raanta to Darling, I think of Darling as the more prototypical NHL backup goalie than Raanta. With the way Finland is spitting out goalies as of late, I think there's more of an upside to Raanta than Darling. Other GMs around the league that need goaltending depth realize that. Which leads me to believe that if or when Raanta wants out of Chicago, he could hold the key to another team taking a bad contract off of the Blackhawks hands, cough, cough Bryan Bickell.

We've all seen how the Blackhawks have mismanaged their beloved prospects in the past. Remember Brandon Pirri, Jeremy Morin, Jimmy and Kevin Hayes? If the Blackhawks keep playing this game of sitting Raanta on the bench, its going to kill some of that value he has.

With the goalie status in Chicago cemented with Corey Crawford for the foreseeable future, there is no future for Raanta as a starter. If the belief is (which is what I think), that Raanta can be a starting NHL goalie, then the Blackhawks need to showcase him to the league. With the current cap situation of the Blackhawks, someone taking a bad contract off of the their hands, is the best scenario for the Hawks.

The risk the Hawks take in letting Raanta ride the bench, is the frustration that could be mounting. The last thing the Hawks need is for this situation become even more messy, and letting it get out that Raanta wants a trade. In the end, I do think Raanta will be traded at some point, but I'd much rather see him go at max value and take a bad contract with him, than just him for a 3rd or 4th round draft pick.

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Raanta-nomics

I feel like it is time to throw a bucket of water on this smoking ember before it becomes a raging inferno. There is no, nor will there be, a starting goalie change for the Chicago Blackhawks. The faster you get that through your heads, the less silly you are going to make yourself appear.

I will be completely honest, I like Antti Raanta. He is a talented guy, happy to play, and the Blackhawks are damn lucky to have him as their backup netminder. I have nothing against him; I truly don't. The problem that the Blackhawks have is that they have two GOOD goalies. Not GREAT goalies, but GOOD ones. There is a difference between the two, though, and it needs to be hammer through some thick sculls.

We have all seen that Corey Crawford can give up the aggravating soft goal, and being a similar type of goalie, I can totally understand. Silly bounces can handcuff you, and sometimes they look terrible. That is not an excuse. He needs to improve on those types of gaffes. You have goals, like the one in the Nashville game the other night. A deflected laser from one of the two hardest shooters in the NHL, from 35 feet away. He had no chance, but if you look at the stats, it looks terrible.

The difference is that Raanta will sometimes turn routine saves into circus stunts with things like lack of rebound control, and over aggressiveness. My point being that Raanta sometimes digs himself a hole that he then has to bail himself out of.

First case in point was last night. One of Raanta's early saves was a simple low shot from a tight angle. Raanta went down into the butterfly to stop, but instead of directing the puck into the corner, the puck flipped end over end, into the air because he had his stick at a poor angle. This caused an all out panic situation, almost resulting in a goal. Raanta was beat, but the puck hit the post. Shutout preserved.


This is an additional case of a routine save turning into a Chinese fire drill, because of very poor rebound control. Shutout preserved.

Second case was this play, where he was WAY too aggressive and slid completely out of position. Had Vorachek not mishandled the puck, this was a simple goal. It is not often you see Crawford slide this far out of position. Shutout preserved.

Third case is this play, which was one of the first of the second period. Raanta was indecisive, and he froze. This put him in and extremely vulnerable position which forced him to make a much more difficult save. Generally, Crawford would have intercepted that puck on the initial dump in, or kept it from coming back out over the goal line. Shutout, again, preserved.

All this being said, again, I like Antti Raanta. Just to show I'm not picking him apart, these are two VERY good saves worth noting:




When all is said and done, I'm just pointing out that Raanta made some glaring gaffes against a very bad hockey team, and got away with it. He is simply not as composed as Corey Crawford at this point in time. These are all things that are able to be fixed, and probably will be. Do you really want to burn in an inexperienced goalie, in what may be the last hurrah for this special group of players? I sure don't and neither does anyone in the Blackhawks front office. There simply isn't anything close to a problem with the current setup. Be happy with the boring, safe, occasionally awkward starter that the Blackhawks have. Be happy that they don't have Ondrej Pavelec as their starter. Corey Crawford is far from perfect, but he's the best option the team has at this point in time. Learn to accept it.

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When We Have Nothing Else To Complain About:The Blackhawks Goalie Controversy

Now that I have all of your attention, it is time for a little education, so lets get a few things out in the air. There is no controversy in the net, for the Chicago Blackhawks. The only controversy is firmly planted in meatball heads. The same types of meatballs that wanted Henry Burris, PT Willis, or Will Furrer to start for the Chicago Bears.

This is, in fact, what you all look and sound like:

The Chicago Blackhawks are Corey Crawford's team, and it will stay that way unless he gets more severely injured or he has an epic collapse. Crawford has done nothing for the Hawks but win a Stanley Cup, and rack up a solid record. In fact, he had the most wins of any NHL goaltender, until he hurt his groin. While Anttio Raanta's save percentage is a bit better, Corey Crawford has been far and above better in shootouts. Corey Crawford is 4-2 on Shootouts with an excellent .833 save percentage, while Raanta is 0-3 with a rather paltry .533 save percentage. This would lead any rational (and labeling some of you as rational is QUITE a stretch) person to believe that the Blackhawks defense helps cushion both goalies, but it benefits Raanta much more. When the game is solely left up to him, he's still green, as far as experience and production goes. Just a few mere games ago, Raanta only faced 12 shots and gave up 2 goals. That's FOUR shots a period. FOUR! If that was Corey Crawford, the meatball nation would be marching the streets of Chicago with pitchforks and torches. Why? Because they are meatballs.


Being slightly green goalie is not bad. Raanta has only played 29 games on the smaller US ice surfaces. His total numbers (Rockford and Chicago) are 17-6-3, with a .913 save percentage, 1 shutout, and a 2.49 GAA. These are all very admirable, but not worth pinning your hopes on, just yet. Corey Crawford, at the time of his injury, was 17-6-3 with a .907 save percentage, no shutouts, and a 2.47 GAA. Those are facts. Other than save percentage, the numbers are almost identical. For Joel Quenneville to bench his Stanley Cup winning goalie, at this point, would be absolutely ludicrous and you should all be tarred and feathered for suggesting it. Fans should be more upset if, by some miracle of science, Khabibulin comes back and Raanta is sent back to Rockford, which he would.

Stop, just STOP!

I will agree that the Hawks signing Crawford through the 2020 season was a little excessive, and I won't dispute that one bit. The chance that Crawford is going anywhere, including the bench, is highly unlikely. Basically, miniscule. The Blackhawks COULD trade him now, but would be stupid in doing so and the number of takers, with that contract, are going to be few. He's been solid in net, won them a Stanley Cup last June, his ego is not fragile, and he has done nothing to lose his job. His numbers support this argument and stack up with the top goalies in the NHL.

There are a few young back up goalies in the league putting up great numbers. The Blackhawks just saw Martin Jones from Los Angeles, who is putting up far better numbers than Jonathan Quick, Ben Scrivens, Antti Raanta OR Corey Crawford, but you're not going to see him start in the NHL, on a regular basis, over any of them at this time. When Jonathan Quick returns from injury, he will be the starter in LA and Scrivens will be the backup. Period. Martin Jones will then return to being an AHL goalie. This is because Jonathan Quick has done nothing to lose his position, and neither has Scrivens. If it isn't broken, don't fix it.

Those of you running around the intarwebz tooting your Antti Raanta vuvuzelas (look it up and learn something instead of being a dumb shit meatball), just pipe down. The Blackhawks have stumbled upon a nice backup goalie, and he will continue to be a backup goalie. Enjoy it, and relish the luxury the Blackhawks have fallen into.

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Blackhawks sign Finnish Playoffs MVP Antti Raanta

Reports flooded the intarwebz Monday that the Blackhawks signed goalie and Elite league playoff MVP Antti Raanta. Raanta is 24 years old, 6'0" tall, and 187 lbs. He looks like he plays a style closer to former Blackhawks cup winning goalie Antti Niemi, and maybe even a little Jonathan Quick. He seems to cover the low part of the net very well, and the guys at the Goalie Guild say that Raanta reminds them of the Blue Jacket's Bobrovsky. This signing seems very eerily like the May 5th 2008 signing of a certain finnish goalie named Antti Niemi. Great move by Stan Bowman.

It was speculated as soon as yesterday that the Minnesota Wild were going to sign him. Bravo to the Hawks for stealing this one out from under the Wild's nose.

Here are some highlight videos:




SOURCE: http://blackhawks.nhl.com

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