Raanta’s style should look familiar to Coyotes fans

CHICAGO — Tracing Antti Raanta’s progression as a goaltender offers a deep dive into the NHL’s interconnected goaltending community. While Raanta knows little more about Arizona than its infamous summer heat, elements of his style can be traced as far back as the Coyotes’ fourth season in Arizona.

That’s when the then-Phoenix Coyotes hired goalie coach Benoit Allaire after just one season as the Montreal Canadiens’ goaltending instructor, and six seasons as a goaltending instructor in the QMJHL.

Allaire sparked Sean Burke’s renaissance by convincing Burke to play deeper in his crease and employ an economy of under-control movements. When Burke became the Coyotes goalie coach, he employed the same fundamentals to bring out the best in goalies Ilya Bryzgalov, Mike Smith, Thomas Greiss and even Devan Dubnyk, in Dubnyk’s short time in Arizona.

Raanta struggled in his first NHL season in Chicago, posting a .897 save percentage (.896 at even strength) in 25 appearances. That led the Blackhawks to trim his appearances to 14 the following season, and even demote him to Rockford of the AHL for nearly two months while Scott Darling rose as Chicago’s backup.

When Chicago traded Raanta to New York in June 2015, Raanta came under Allaire’s wing. Allaire had already been with the Rangers for 10 seasons and his work with Henrik Lundqvist had cemented his status as one of the game’s great goaltending coaches.

Raanta played an aggressive style he felt was necessary because of his 6-foot, 193-pound frame, which is small by today’s goaltending standards. He liked to come out of his crease and challenge shooters, relying on his athleticism to recover ground when necessary.

Allaire didn’t rein in Raanta as much as he did the 6-foot-4 Burke, or Burke did with the 6-foot-4 Smith, but he convinced Raanta to slide a couple inches inside the blue paint and that tweak has led to a steady rise in Raanta’s game.

“I think it helps every goaltender,” said Coyotes goalie coach Jon Elkin. “Having a conservative position always allows you a chance to put yourself in position to make saves.

“At the same time, I think Benoit Allaire has encouraged his goalies to be a little more aggressive in recent years, in certain situations, than he did when he was with the Coyotes. Shooters now are so much better and more aware of what goaltenders are doing. Back then, if you’d ask a shooter what a goalie is doing they had no clue. Now, because of better coaching and video and all that, they know how goalies hug posts, how they move in the crease and what their tendencies are so you have to adapt.”

Raanta’s greatest adaptation awaits as he moves from a backup spot he manned in his first four NHL seasons to the presumed starter in Arizona. While Louis Domingue won’t be conceding anything, Raanta was brought to Arizona to replace Smith in the starter’s role.

“There’s a large grouping of good goalies [in the] UFA market, trade market,” Coyotes general manager John Chayka said. “Having said that, he was at the top of our list. He was literally the No. 1. It wasn’t like he was in the top five. In our analysis, he was the No. 1 guy we were going after and when we got a chance to get him we wanted to make sure we got him.

“We’ve looked at it from every angle, quantitatively, qualitatively, and it just keeps circling back to of all the goalies that weren’t elite starters last year, we think that this is a guy that can do that.”

Raanta had the privilege of playing understudy to two of the NHL’s better goalies in Chicago’s Corey Crawford and Lundqvist.

“They were different kinds of goalies, but both star goalies,” Raanta said. “Corey is kind of a laid back guy. He wasn’t too stressed out; just played the game. Henrik is a little bit different. He’s kind of working by himself even though it’s a team sport. He takes the team success on in such a big way. Henrik is kind of special.”

Raanta took what he could from each player. He posted save percentages of .920 and .936 at even strength the past two seasons, he absorbed more of Allaire’s teachings and he served, for stretches, as New York’s starter with Lundqvist either in a funk or injured.

Raanta believes he is ready for a larger role.

“It’s been kind of like a step-by-step process for me,” he said. “Last year, I kind of felt that my game was finding the right way and my confidence level was getting better and better all the time. I felt like I was giving the team the chance to win every night.

“I feel I’m ready to take one more step and be playing more and get the No. 1 spot.”

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