GDT: Preseason game 5: Coyotes @ Oilers - 6PM

[Ebb]

hmmm, perhaps we can carry 3 goalies (since we have the depth) while Raanta shakes off the rust. I guess that would depend on how solid the forwards/d end up being. Start with Kuemper and switch in Hill/Raanta as needed. If Hill pulls ahead, we could possibly move Raanta to a team that has another fragile goalie (*cough* Montreal).

 

[Jakey53]

hmmm, perhaps we can carry 3 goalies (since we have the depth) while Raanta shakes off the rust. I guess that would depend on how solid the forwards/d end up being. Start with Kuemper and switch in Hill/Raanta as needed. If Hill pulls ahead, we could possibly move Raanta to a team that has another fragile goalie (*cough* Montreal).

No one will want Raanta if it is true that he is injured.

 

[Jakey53]

Raanta might be Hanzal like.

If he is, that will be one strike on Chayka signing him to that contract. At least DVO and Chick are playing.

 

[_Del_]

I think Tocchet likes him a lot - really, Bunting/Chaput/Pederson, as he's rolled with them in multiple preseason games. That said, his goal last night was thanks chiefly to Adam Larsson's stupendously bad turnover, so unless he has himself a really big game or two before the season starts, he'll probably be in Tucson.

When they trade or demote Fischer, Bunting will take his place.

 

[Ebb]

No one will want Raanta if it is true that he is injured.

Some teams might be willing to take him (we may have to retain) if they move him back to BU. Technically, we could do that as well, but we have enough depth at G that we probably don't need to hold onto him. Price tends to get injured for long stretches, so that might be tempting (this may be a move sometime during the season if a goalie goes down with a serious/longer term injury and the team doesn't have a consistent enough bu for long-term service.

Hopefully Raanta gets some more pre-season time and this is a moot point

 

[Ebb]

If he is, that will be one strike on Chayka signing him to that contract. At least DVO and Chick are playing.

I disagree (that it could be considered a strike). As good as Chayka might be at looking towards (predicting) the future, there's no way to know if someone who mostly played as a bu would be injury-prone. Risky, yes, but strike? Not in my mind.

Slightly off-topic, but more than likely at least one of the recent "big" (longer-term) contracts Chayka doled out will probably end up with an injured or concussed (especially with our current diminutive roster) player. I think he's playing the odds a bit. Getting a semi-reasonable price on a young player for a longer term. While not a "traditional" approach, I think it's kind of how smaller market teams need to play it going forward.