In his first NHL start Raanta turned aside 20 of 22 shots in a 3-2 third period comeback win. He will go tonight against Mike Smith and the Coyotes. Phoenix currently ranks 4th in the NHL in scoring so he is not as inviting of a spot-start tonight as he was on Wednesday against Calgary.

Raanta stopped 14 of 16 shots in his NHL debut when he relieved Corey Crawford on November 19. Wednesday will be his first NHL starts for the 24-year-old Finnish netminder. He is not expected to see many starts behind Crawford but this rare start could be spot-start worthy with the Hawks taking on the Flames.

Nikolai Khabibulin has played poorly this season and was injured on Saturday. Raanta, 24, is 7-5-0 with a 2.83 GAA and .914 SV% in 14 appearances for Rockford this season. It is his first season in North America, he spent 2007-13 playing in the SM-liiga.

Gabriel Landeskog signed a 7 year $39 million extension a few days ago with Colorado.  The 20 year old is the youngest Captain ever in the history of the NHL.  He scored 22 goals and 52 points in the 2011-2012 season winning the Calder Trophy as the best rookie in the NHL.  Last year he received a huge hit by San Jose defenseman Brad Stuart, suffered what was likely a concussion, missed 12 games and struggled when he came back, and he scored only 17 points. Landeskog plays on the left wing on Colorado's second line, but he gets lots of power play time, and we are big believers in his talent. We expect him to have a bounce-back year.  The Avalanche have already locked up center Matt Duchene with a 5 year $30 million contract, so Vice President of Operations Joe Sakic is betting the future on these two young forwards. He sees them every day, and understands what talent they have.  Expect Landeskog to have a big season with 70+ points. Antti Raanta The Chicago Blackhawks signed Finnish goaltender Antti Raanta to a one year contract in June. Raanta is 24 years old, and he was lights out in the Finnish league SM Liiga for Assat Pori.  He went 21-10-11 with a 1.85 goals against average and a .943 save percentage.  He was even better in the playoffs with a 12-4 record, a 1.33 goals against average and a .955 save percentage, and he was named the most valuable player of the regular season and the most outstanding player in the playoffs.  With Ray Emery gone to Philadelphia, Chicago brought in 40 year old Nikolai Khabibulin to be the back-up to starter Corey Crawford. Khabibulin is no longer capable of playing every day if something happened to Crawford.  When training camp opens we will see how well Raanta plays in North America, and if he can adjust quickly to the smaller ice surface.  The interesting aspect of this situation is that Crawford is an unrestricted free agent after this year.  While Raanta may start the season in the AHL, he may take over Khabibulin's back-up job, and if the Blackhawks have trouble in resigning Crawford, he may get a shot at a starting goalie job next year.  He appears to have all the skills necessary.  Watch him in training camp.

Gabriel Landeskog signed a 7 year $39 million extension a few days ago with Colorado.  The 20 year old is the youngest Captain ever in the history of the NHL.  He scored 22 goals and 52 points in the 2011-2012 season winning the Calder Trophy as the best rookie in the NHL.  Last year he received a huge hit by San Jose defenseman Brad Stuart, suffered what was likely a concussion, missed 12 games and struggled when he came back, and he scored only 17 points. Landeskog plays on the left wing on Colorado's second line, but he gets lots of power play time, and we are big believers in his talent. We expect him to have a bounce-back year.  The Avalanche have already locked up center Matt Duchene with a 5 year $30 million contract, so Vice President of Operations Joe Sakic is betting the future on these two young forwards. He sees them every day, and understands what talent they have.  Expect Landeskog to have a big season with 70+ points. Antti Raanta The Chicago Blackhawks signed Finnish goaltender Antti Raanta to a one year contract in June. Raanta is 24 years old, and he was lights out in the Finnish league SM Liiga for Assat Pori.  He went 21-10-11 with a 1.85 goals against average and a .943 save percentage.  He was even better in the playoffs with a 12-4 record, a 1.33 goals against average and a .955 save percentage, and he was named the most valuable player of the regular season and the most outstanding player in the playoffs.  With Ray Emery gone to Philadelphia, Chicago brought in 40 year old Nikolai Khabibulin to be the back-up to starter Corey Crawford. Khabibulin is no longer capable of playing every day if something happened to Crawford.  When training camp opens we will see how well Raanta plays in North America, and if he can adjust quickly to the smaller ice surface.  The interesting aspect of this situation is that Crawford is an unrestricted free agent after this year.  While Raanta may start the season in the AHL, he may take over Khabibulin's back-up job, and if the Blackhawks have trouble in resigning Crawford, he may get a shot at a starting goalie job next year.  He appears to have all the skills necessary.  Watch him in training camp.

Gabriel Landeskog signed a 7 year $39 million extension a few days ago with Colorado.  The 20 year old is the youngest Captain ever in the history of the NHL.  He scored 22 goals and 52 points in the 2011-2012 season winning the Calder Trophy as the best rookie in the NHL.  Last year he suffered a huge hit by San Jose defenseman Brad Stuart, suffered what was likely a concussion, missed 12 games and struggled when he came back, and he scored only 17 points. Landeskog plays on the left wing on Colorado's second line, but he gets lots of power play time, and we are big believers in his talent. We expect him to have a bounce-back year.  The Avalanche have already locked up center Matt Duchene with a 5 year $30 million contract, so Vice President of Operations Joe Sakic is betting the future on these two young forwards. He sees them every day, and understands what talent they have.  Expect Landeskog to have a big season with 70+ points. Antti Raanta The Chicago Blackhawks signed Finnish goaltender Antti Raanta to a one year contract in June. Raanta is 24 years old, and he was lights out in the Finnish league SM Liiga for Assat Pori.  He went 21-10-11 with a 1.85 goals against average and a .943 save percentage.  He was even better in the playoffs with a 12-4 record, a 1.33 goals against average and a .955 save percentage, and he was named the most valuable player of the regular season and the most outstanding player in the playoffs.  With Ray Emery gone to Philadelphia, Chicago brought in 40 year old Nikolai Khabibulin to be the back-up to starter Corey Crawford. Khabibulin is no longer capable of playing every day if something happened to Crawford.  When training camp opens we will see how well Raanta plays in North America, and if he can adjust quickly to the smaller ice surface.  The interesting aspect of this situation is that Crawford is an unrestricted free agent after this year.  While Raanta may start the season in the AHL, he may take over Khabibulin's back-up job, and if the Blackhawks have trouble in resigning Crawford, he may get a shot at a starting goalie job next year.  He appears to have all the skills necessary.  Watch him in training camp.

The Chicago Blackhawks signed Finnish goaltender Antti Raanta to a one year contract in June. Raanta is 24 years old, and he was lights out in the Finnish league SM Liiga for Assat Pori.  He went 21-10-11 with a 1.85 goals against average and a .943 save percentage.  He was even better in the playoffs with a 12-4 record, a 1.33 goals against average and a .955 save percentage, and he was named the most valuable player of the regular season and the most outstanding player in the playoffs.  With Ray Emery gone to Philadelphia, Chicago brought in 40 year old Nikolai Khabibulin to be the back-up to starter Corey Crawford. Khabibulin is no longer capable of playing every day if something happened to Crawford.  When training camp opens we will see how well Raanta plays in North America, and if he can adjust quickly to the smaller ice surface.  The interesting aspect of this situation is that Crawford is an unrestricted free agent after this year.  While Raanta may start the season in the AHL, he may take over Khabibulin's back-up job, and if the Blackhawks have trouble in resigning Crawford, he may get a shot at a starting goalie job next year.  He appears to have all the skills necessary.  Watch him in training camp.

KEEP YOUR EYE ON: Ray Emery in 2013/14. With the Chicago Blackhawks coming to terms with Finnish goalie stud Antti Raanta, Emery's time in Chicago might be up soon. Set to become an unrestricted free agent this summer, you can bet on many teams in need of upgrading their goaltending position, showing interest in locking him up to a long-term deal. With a 17-1 record, including a 1.94 GAA which was good enough for second best in the NHL, Emery has proved all his detractors wrong and could be ready to take the big stage as a starting netminder once again. read more