One a hot June afternoon not too long ago - I could look up the date, but I'm pretty lazy - the Arizona Coyotes acquired Derek Stepan and Antti Raanta from the New York Rangers in exchange for the seventh overall pick and Anthony DeAngelo.
It was a high price for the Coyotes to pay, as a #7 overall pick would seemingly have a great amount of value to a rebuilding team, and Anthony DeAngelo is a highly regarded prospect who has shown he can be an effective point-producer on an NHL blue line. Despite some defensive questions, he is clearly an NHL talent and, as a kicker, he's a right hander on a team whose top four defenseman all shoot left.
Despite the cost, the Coyotes had to do this trade. The NHL is too good of a league to just try and get by with talented kids and some cast offs. You have to have players of every age if you want to compete. And I don't mean compete for a Cup, I just mean if you want to show up to every game and be at all competitive on a night to night basis.
The Coyotes with the additions of Stepan, Hjalmarsson and Raanta are more equipped to do that now then they were a month ago. Whether they have a playoff team isn't really the point - they're still rebuilding, but now the team has some vets (ones who aren't part of a past losing culture in Arizona) who can make the team decent - and maybe better than that.
Maybe they're still a playoff longshot, but with Stepan, Hjalmarsson and Raanta replacing Doan, Murphy and Smith, they're a world away from where they ere. And maybe, if Raanta is really good, they're a even better.
Raanta is 28. He is from Finland. He wan't ever drafted and is about to enter his fifth NHL season. He played two each with the Hawks and Rangers.
His career stats are 47-23-9 2.33 GAA, .917 Save% with 8 shutouts.
His .922 save percentage last year was top ten among goalies with 30 games played.
His full career total games has equaled just slightly more than one season total (92 games) and he has 8 shutouts. For perspective the leader last season was Holtby with 9 in 65. Raanta never played in front of a team as good as Washington, who were the NHL's best defensive team last year.
The Rangers were actually a bad defensive team. They have been living off Lundqvist for years and last year wasn't much different. The impressive thing is that Raanta matched Lundqvist - perhaps even outplayed him.
Because of his age and past performance, there's every reason to believe that Raanta can be a quality NHL starter.
Then again, it's pretty rare for players to become stars at the age of 28. For every Jose Bautista and Tim Thomas there are hundreds of guys who never hit their potential.
But for the "paltry" sum of one-million dollars, Anti Raanta is a pretty safe bet. Worst cases scenario, he isn't up to expectation and Louis Domingue gets another crack at being a starter. The team isn't good, but everyone gets a year of experience and the search for a starting goalie continues.
The most likely scenario is that Raanta is about as effective as the Coyotes defense lets him be and that he provides solid, if unspectacular goaltending and makes the team competitive for basically no cap hit.
Then there is the dream scenario where Raanta becomes a star. But what's so great about the trade to get Raanta is that the dream scenario doesn't have to come true for this to be a good trade. Stepan alone is probably worth the price they paid as he's an effective centre good for a gauranteed 55 points.
So anything Raanta provides is a bonus. And there is at least some reason to be optimistic that he can provide a pretty big bonus.
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