Antti Raanta comments about the Chicago Blackhawks
Antti Raanta has been confused in the past.
But he says that he didn’t make those comments about rooting against the Chicago Blackhawks.
Raanta signed a 1-year deal with Chicago in June of 2013 that was extended another 2 years in 2014. He had a great stretch in 2013, posting an 8-1-3 record with a shutout, while earning Rookie of the Year honors. However, by the end of the 2014-2015 season, he was demoted and it appeared that Scott Darling would remain the backup goalie. He was then traded to the New York Rangers in the offseason.
Would that be enough to make you bitter?
According to Puck Daddy, Raanta was rooting against the Blackhawks in the playoffs:
Naturally, this didn’t sit well with Raanta, and he spoke about it to Finnish paper Satakunnan Kansa with stunning candor: The Chicago Blackhawks goalie was rooting against the Chicago Blackhawks in the playoffs.
From reader Ju Pa, via Iltasanomat.fi (currently down) (ed: it appears to be up):
“I was really hoping Nashville would beat us in four games and I could get back to Finland. I was [so pissed off] about how Chicago was treating me.”
According to Raanta, Blackhawks were suffering of weak team spirit and head coach Joel Quenneville didn’t seem to like him.
“I noticed that coach didn’t like me, in that position it is pretty difficult to fight the windmills,” Raanta said
But that doesn’t appear to be the full story.
Later in the day, the Chicago Sun Times spoke to Raanta who claimed that he never said that:
Antti Raanta disputed a report in a Finnish newspaper that he was rooting against the Blackhawks in the first round of the Stanley Cup playoffs.
“I have never said anything like that,” Raanta told the Sun-Times.
And also discussed his frustration:
Raanta, as he said in April, reiterated Wednesday that he was “frustrated” at first. But he said his frustration didn’t last long.
“It only took one day,” he said. “[Because] then I came to Chicago and saw my teammates, and everybody was so happy to see me. So it was [a] big help for the first couple days.”
Image courtesy of the NHL.
