No, general manager Don Waddell isn’t guilty of malpractice for failing to trade for a goalie this season. Sitting atop the Carolina Hurricanes front office, he’s the easiest target for fans who are scared of what the future holds for their team and are looking for someone to blame.
This isn’t to say that the Hurricanes front office doesn’t deserve some blame for the situation they find themselves in. It’s clear now that we’re living through the worst goalie situation. Frederik Andersen is out indefinitely with blood clotting issues and veteran backup Antti Raanta recently returned from a confidence-building stint in the American Hockey League (AHL). Now, goalie of the future Pytor Kochetkov is sidelined for an uncertain amount of time as he works his way through concussion protocol.
There is no sugarcoating this situation. Less than halfway through the season, the Hurricanes find themselves without a stud in the blue paint. No one between the red steel pipes currently can steal a game if the team performs poorly in front of them.
Fans in Raleigh, throughout the Carolinas, and around the hockey world are asking a seemingly simple question: How did this happen and why isn’t the team working out a solution?
The Hurricane’s Offseason
There’s an old saying about planning for your future. Man plans and God laughs; whether you’re spiritual or not, you can understand the frustration that comes with planning for your future just for everything to unfold differently than you envisioned. From the outside looking in, this is exactly what’s happened to the Hurricanes’ front office.
Waddell and his staff decided to double down on their three-headed monster between the pipes. Twenty-four-year-old Pytor Kochetkov and 23-year-old Yaniv Perets were the only goalies under contract when NHL free agency opened on July 1. Andersen and Antti Raanta both tested the open market and the accepted wisdom at the time was that only one of the two would return. Either Kochetkov would serve in a backup role behind Andersen as he continued to develop for the starting job, or if the team had confidence in the Russian netminder, Rannta would serve as his backup.
Most thought they had their answer when Raanta re-signed for another season. Then Andersen re-signed for two more years and fans and commentators found themselves splashing around in a pool of confusion. In the eyes of the Hurricanes’ front office, there was no need to change what wasn’t broken. In years past, the duo of Andersen and Raanta carried the team to division titles. Even when one of them spent time out of the lineup, Kochetkov provided short-term assistance while putting on a spectacular show.
This decision wasn’t made in the absence of knowledge. The front office knew that Andersen was prone to injury. He missed long stints in his previous two sessions. Raanta was incapable of managing an NHL starter’s workload. Even if the team wanted to roll the dice on Kochetkov being ready for the lead role, they’d still be taking a gamble. Whether you agree with the choice or not, you can understand why it was an interesting option for the Hurricanes. Why would you rock the boat when you can just double down on what’s worked in the past?
Carolina Hurricanes Stumble Out of the Gate
Before kicking off any season, commentators and journalists from around the hockey world attempt to predict that season’s Stanley Cup. It’s a fun and easy way to help fans reengage before the start of the preseason with the added benefit of letting media members work off the rust from their offseasons. The results of these predictions are meaningless and accomplish nothing more than a mural post for whichever team is crowned ‘Cup favorites.’
For the first time in franchise history, the Hurricanes found themselves as the bell of the ball to start the 2023-24 season. On the other side of their 2018 rebuild, the organization had proven itself to be more than a flash-in-the-pan playoff team. Five straight playoff appearances, only one of which ended in the first round, created substantial playoff expectations for head coach Brind’Amour’s group.
With these hefty expectations, the Hurricanes opened the season firing blanks. A lot of time was spent pointing to every area of the team’s performance, which left fans scratching their heads. So much time was spent on the subject that I feel it would be a waste of time to repeat it here. But I will provide highlights on the goalie front. While the netminders weren’t the sole reason for the team’s struggles, they also didn’t support the struggling roster from within the crease.
Things do not look good in the Hurricanes’ crease. As it stands, they have the worst team SV% in the league (.867) and have a combined goals saved above expected of -13.2. That is not ideal and it’s going to be hard to contend with that level of play in the net. It is time to make a move in what is an important season for the Hurricanes.
Hurricanes Goaltending Plaguing Team Despite Strong Blue Line (12/1/23) – Tommy Bennett
Concern filled the corridors of PNC Arena as the team struggled to plan its next steps without Andersen who had been out of the lineup for a month. With Raanta and Kochetkov fighting their own crisis of confidence, where could the Hurricanes turn to maintain their contender status?
Calling All Goalies!
After announcing Andersen’s medical issue, the front office kicked into action, signing 32-year-old Jaroslav Halak to a Professional Tryout (PTO). The 18-year veteran played in 25 games for the New York Rangers last season. Expectations of his ability to earn a contract were low but not nonexistent. For two weeks, he regularly practiced with the team and made inroads at returning to the league in hopes of reaching 300 career wins. Ultimately, it didn’t work out. When the tryout ended, he went back home to the Boston area to be with his family.
“I think it was more on his side,” Brind’Amour said to Ryan Henkel of The Hockey News. “It was a mutual kind of thing, but I think it was a tough spot for him to be and I think he realized that. It’s tough at the end of the road to make those decisions with family and everything.”
In mid-December, the Hurricanes’ front office made the hard choice to waive Raanta. The choice didn’t come from a lack of faith in the Finnish netminder. Rather, it was forced by the lack of confidence he had in himself. Bolstered by the knowledge that almost no one has cap space to take on his contract, the Hurricanes hoped to get him games in the AHL.
“We still believe in the guy,” Waddell said while appearing on the team’s radio pregame show, The Storm Watch on 99.9 FM in Raleigh. “He’s been through a little of a rough patch here. So we thought the best thing to do was put him on waivers. Once he cleared I met with him.”
Related: Antti Raanta to AHL; What’s Next for Hurricanes Goaltending?
As Raanta made his way to the AHL’s Chicago Wolves, the Hurricanes inked another PTO with an aging netminder. Aaron Dell has over 130 games under his belt in the NHL but unlike Halak, he didn’t practice with the team. It wasn’t publicly known at the time, but he was named to Team Canada for the 2023 Spangler Cup, which would take priority over working with Carolina, who likely wouldn’t need him anyway.
In the meantime, the club recalled Perets from his ECHL assignment in Norlfork. There was some hope that the newly minted professional goalie would get a start against the Montreal Canadians a few days before the new year. Unfortunately for the young netminder, it wasn’t meant to be. He was informed that he’d be sent back down just before the team went on holiday break.
Believing Raanta gave the Wolves a chance to win in his two games, the Hurricanes recalled him to start against the Canadians on Dec. 28. He stopped 18 of the 21 shots on goal on the way to the Hurricanes’ 5-3 victory.
Pending Trades
There is an idea festering in the minds of some Hurricanes fans that their team’s front office has done nothing to respond to the calamity that is their goaltending at the moment. It’s a false reality. While it was the front office’s choice to double down on what they had, they haven’t been sitting on their hands as it blew up in their faces.
I’ll point to a conversation between local Raleigh radio host Adam Gold and Waddell from last month. The host didn’t shy away from the subject armchair GMs have been ranting about in mass since Andersen’s diagnosis. When asked about what the front office has been working on, Waddell said, “It’s my job to talk to every team that has goalies available. And we have certainly done that. Not just over the last few days but over the last couple of weeks.”
“We were willing to do something,” Waddell continued. “But we really believe in [Andersen and Kochetkov] long-term. So, the one thing we didn’t want to do is put ourselves in a pickle for something moving forward after this year.”
I touched on the team’s mindset in an article published shortly after Raanta was sent down to the AHL.
Kochetkov is playing in the first year of a four-year contract signed last season, while Andersen’s current contract expires at the end of next season. In the eyes of the Hurricanes front office, there’s no need to look for a long-term solution to a short-term problem. If you go out and trade for a goalie with term what are you going to do with them next year? Surely you can’t expect to send Kochetkov back down to the AHL after this.
Reading between the lines tells us that there is no blockbuster goalie trade in the works for the Hurricanes. Of course, that could change at any moment. Waddell’s words might sound like he’s closing the door on a trade but in reality, it’s just returning to its normal ajared position.
Antti Raanta to AHL; What’s Next for Hurricanes Goaltending?
Personally, I agreed with Waddell at that point. The team’s thought process made sense to me and I appreciated the idea of limiting risk by forcing an unrequired trade. According to the Hurricanes GM in the same interview, Andersen could be back in “about a month.” Kochetkov was strutting in the blue paint during the team’s six-game winning streak. It felt like everything would come together with the wide majority of the season still left to be played.
Kochetkov Enters Concussion Protocol
“I’ll know more tomorrow,” Brind’Amour said after the team’s game against the Anaheim Ducks on Jan. 11. “They’re still evaluating him a little bit. It’s an upper-body injury. That’s for sure.” After practice the next day, the head coach confirmed that Kochetkov entered concussion protocol.
Kochetkov is slow to get up and is headed to the locker room pic.twitter.com/5pmGXGPpzH
— Bally Sports: Canes (@CanesOnBally) January 12, 2024
You could hear the disappointment in Brind’Amour’s voice as he announced that Kochetkov had entered concussion protocol. Perets was recalled from Norfolk for the second time in less than a month. “Well, it will be Perets,” he said to the assembled media. “That’s all we got.”
When asked about the team’s goalie options moving forward, Brind’Amour was blunt. “That’s not a question for me. I have to deal with what we have here. That’s all I can comment on. I don’t have an answer for you.”
Known, Unknown
I’ll admit that we’re currently caught in the fog of war. We don’t know if or when Andersen will return. Even less is known about Kochetkov’s timeline. Both players could be back in a matter of weeks or out for the remainder of the season. There’s also a question about their level of play upon returning. It’s not easy to play in midseason form coming off the shelf.
We know that in the meantime the Hurricanes have no choice but to leave the reins with Raanta. If nothing changes before the team’s next back-to-back games against the Boston Bruins on Jan. 24 and the New Jersey Devils on Jan. 25, Perets will likely get his first career NHL start.
I’ve been willing to give the Hurricanes the benefit of the doubt until this point. If we truly don’t know when Andersen or Kochetkov will return, the team has no other option than to become buyers on the trade market. Yes, I know the market is low on inventory and prices are high. That’s not a reason to sit still, though. If anything, it’s a reason to pull the trigger on a trade as soon as possible.
This is one of those cases where I hope I’m overreacting. Nothing would make me happier than a swift return for both netminders. What worries me is that a drawn-out recovery process could cost the team a playoff berth.
At the time of writing this article, the Hurricanes’ front office can point to dreadful luck as the cause of their goalie calamity. No one could have predicted Andersen’s diagnosis. Raanta’s crisis of confidence was highly unlikely. Kochetkov’s concussion isn’t something you plan for. But it has all happened and it’s time to act.
There is no one to blame yet. If the Hurricanes want to keep it that way, they need to take action now!
