Coyotes’ Antti Raanta honors Shane Doan with Kachina goalie mask

The Arizona Coyotes will wear throwback Kachina jerseys for Saturday home games this season. Antti Raanta is taking part in the unique style with his gear in the goal crease.

Raanta’s Kachina goalie pads caught some attention around the world wide web when they were revealed on social media last month, but his goalie mask for Kachina games might be even better. They honor the Coyotes’ former captain, Shane Doan, who played for the franchise from 1995 to 2017: the entirety of his career.

Interestingly, Raanta and Doan were never teammates on the Coyotes. The goaltender’s first season with Arizona was the one following Doan’s last.

Here’s a look at the helmet:

Antti Raanta will pay tribute to Shane Doan on his new Kachina helmet. 💜

We’re not crying, you’re crying. pic.twitter.com/zwknxEBvbk

— Arizona Coyotes (@ArizonaCoyotes) October 5, 2018

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It is always so exciting to paint for my friend Antti Raanta, and when it was time to paint his new Kachina mask I totally fell in love with the awesome idea Antti had for it💪🏻. He wanted the Kachina mask to be a tribute to the one and only, mr Coyotes hockey; Shane Doan🌵. Brilliant idea of Antti🤗. We brainstormed together and came up with a design plan. A painting in old school vintage style🎨, built on the awesome Kachina logos, with sketched drawing of Shane on each sides✍🏻. A true Storyteller bucket…👀📕🔍 Thanks Antti! 😊🙏🏻 #anttiraanta @arizonacoyotes @nhl #kachina @daveart #DaveArtTheCradleOfCreativity

A post shared by David Gunnarsson (@daveart) on Oct 5, 2018 at 3:24pm PDT

The Coyotes wore the original black Kachina jerseys for all road games from 1996 to 2003.

Raanta, 29, is in his second season with the Coyotes. Last year, he appeared in only 47 games but recorded a .930 save percentage with a 2.24 GAA.

The Coyotes face the Anaheim Ducks on Saturday for their home opener, the first game this year that Arizona will wear the new (old) jerseys. That game gets underway at 6 p.m., and you can hear the action on ESPN 620 AM.