Raanta rooted against Blackhawks in playoffs, tees off on former club
Antti Raanta was admittedly angry with seeing his workload dwindle last season as the Chicago Blackhawks were making their bid for their third Stanley Cup title in six years.
Once seen as a threat to supplant Corey Crawford for the starting goaltender's role, Raanta had fallen behind Scott Darling on the depth chart. The 26-year-old Raanta wasn't enamored with his situation and openly told Finnish newspaper Ilta-Sanomat that he was rooting against his own team in its first-round series versus the Nashville Predators.
"I was really hoping Nashville would beat us in four games and I could get back to Finland. I was (so angry) about how Chicago was treating me," Raanta told the newspaper. The Finn also felt that coach Joel Quenneville didn't support him, saying "I noticed that Coach didn't like me, in that position it is pretty difficult to fight the windmills."
Darling helped the Blackhawks defeat the Predators in six games before Crawford took over and aided Chicago in sweeping the Minnesota Wild, outlasting the Anaheim Ducks and capturing the Stanley Cup by besting the Tampa Bay Lightning in six games on June 15. Twelve days later, Raanta learned he was traded to the New York Rangers for forward Ryan Haggerty and will likely serve as a backup to Henrik Lundqvist following Cam Talbot's trade to the Edmonton Oilers.
Antti Raanta poses with one of his biggest fans in hometown of Rauma. #stanleycup @HockeyHallFame @NHLBlackhawks pic.twitter.com/MLT26OtLB1
— Philip Pritchard (@keeperofthecup) July 23, 2015
Raanta, who openly celebrated his day with the Stanley Cup this summer, may draw some backlash from the United Center faithful when the Blackhawks open the season at home against the Rangers on Oct. 7.
Raanta posted a 13-5-4 mark in 25 appearances in 2013-14 before finding himself as the odd-man out in Chicago last season. He recorded a 7-4-1 mark with a 1.89 goals-against average and two shutouts in 14 contests.
(h/t Yahoo! Sports)
