Quotebook: Raanta on Signing with Carolina

RALEIGH, NC - Veteran goaltender Antti Raanta met with the media on Thursday afternoon to discuss his excitement about joining the Carolina Hurricanes. Raanta, 32, earned a 5-5-2 record and recorded a 3.36 goals-against average and .905 save percentage in 12 appearances for the Arizona Coyotes last season. He's looking forward to forming a dynamc tandem in net with Frederik Andersen.

On how he will fit in with the team and his decision to sign with the Canes:
"It's a young, talented team with lots of skill and great coaching. When I heard that Carolina was interested, it was a pretty easy decision to get the deal done. I'm grateful to get the opportunity to come to Carolina and prove that I can be a top goalie in this league. Obviously you need to have a good team in front of you, so I'm really looking forward to meeting the guys and playing behind those guys. It's going to be awesome."
On prior relationships with Hurricanes players and if he's spoken with any of his new teammates:
"Yeah, I talked with Teuvo Teravainen and then obviously Jesper Fast, who I played with in New York for a couple years, and then Jordan Martinook is also one of those guys who I played with in Arizona. I've been hearing a lot of good things and obviously Teuvo and then Sebastian also - a couple of Finns there - so hopefully that helps me to adjust to the lifestyle there."
On his workload and Carolina's tandem approach in net:
"I feel like every goalie that can play a lot of games, you can always improve when you get that next chance quickly. If you have a bad game, you just jump right in and keep playing. I think the workload and everything else - in Arizona I got a chance to play a lot of games. There was a bit too many small injuries and obviously a little bit bigger one. Hopefully I can play a lot of games. I only talked with the head coach and the goalie coach for a little bit today, so I haven't talked too much about the structure and what the plan is, but I think we will figure that out in a month or so. When things start getting rolling, if I can play at a good level, hopefully I can get in a lot of games and help the team win."
On his skillset and what he feels he does best as a goalie:
"I'm not the biggest guy in the league, so I know that. So I always try to read the plays before they happen. Reading the plays, that also helps you to react to what's going to happen. I've always been really good at moving in the crease and being a quick goalie. Obviously, I have lots of flexibility also, so I can do little splits here and there. I think it's just the small goalie package, moving well, reading the plays and here and there, maybe make some highlight reel saves - at least try those. But obviously you just try to just go with the game and just play how the game comes to you. You don't want to be over playing things and you just want to stay calm and wait for the plays to come to you and then react. So, I think that's kind of what my game's going to be. Hopefully I can bring back that old me from a couple years ago. I think the last couple years, I've been playing a little bit differently or at least it feels like that, so hopefully I can get that confidence back and trust myself and make the saves whenever I need to."
His thoughts on the Canes' defensive core:
"When you see the guys who are in front of me and all the defensive players there, and even if you have a great defense, you still need your forwards to work hard to come back and help you in your zone and I think the Hurricanes have been that kind of team for a couple years now. From what I've been seeing, everyone is working hard, everyone is coming back - there's no quit on that team. So like I said to the head coach, it's probably a goalie's dream to play behind that kind of team. So, I can't really wait to see how it feels to play behind that team. Hopefully I can help those guys also with a couple big saves here and there and be successful."
On his injury history:
"I think when I hurt my knee and got the surgery, I think after that it just felt like nothing that I was trying to do worked the way how I wanted it to. Then I started to feel some pinches and things somewhere else other than the knee and when the knee was okay then something else came out. I've felt like it's been like the snowball has been rolling in the wrong direction for a little bit now. So I've been trying every offseason to get some new stuff for me and learn from those things what happened. This offseason I've been doing a little bit different things again and hopefully just try to feel good and obviously when you're a goalie you just want to stay healthy. I mean, it doesn't really matter if you're a goalie, everyone wants to stay healthy. Nobody wants to be on the injured list. But you just try to forget that those things happened and you just try to go and get a fresh start - just go out and have fun again. I don't think too much about it. If you think about injuries all the time, you'll get hurt for sure because that's in your mind. I just try to block those memories and get a fresh new start now."
On working with veteran goaltenders in Chicago and New York and how it helped him in his career:
"The first two years in Chicago I got the chance to see what that winning culture is. Top level guys like Patrick Kane and Jonathan Toews, Corey Crawford in net. I just felt like I was so young at that time so I really didn't know how to react. I felt like everything just flew by and I was just like, 'Wow, this is crazy.' Then I got the chance to go to New York and play behind Henrik Lundqvist. Even though I'm a Finnish guy, it was kind of a cool place to go and be behind that kind of Swedish master. He is the King and it was just so much fun. His work ethic - from practice to the games, everything was just like - if we lost a game in a shootout, he'd take shootouts for a half hour the next day at practice. That just shows that he never wants to lose and he always wants to get better and sometimes I'd be done after one hour of practice and he'd just kept going and doing some drills at the other end so I was like, 'maybe I have to go to the other end and do something by myself.' It was an awesome experience in both Chicago and New York and I think that it kind of brought something new to myself. Sometimes when you have a bad day or something like that, you just try to remember those things and have a smile on your face the next day and work hard and have fun. Those are the big things for a goalie. If you're all the time in a bad mood, you're not going to make those saves either. I think you just have to keep smiling and be happy and play the game because you love this game."
On what current Canes told him about being in Raleigh and playing for the Canes and Rod Brind'Amour:
"They started with Brind'Amour. They said that he's a fair guy who wants everyone to work hard. And if you're not working hard, you're not going to be playing and that sounds like a great place. If you're building that kind of culture in the team and the organization, I think that's the best way to do it. Teuvo told me that Raleigh is a great place to live. I have two kids so that's going to be huge for me and my family also to come there and have that smaller city style of living. Marty was pretty much saying that it's a crazy place to play. The fans are crazy and after the win everyone is doing the Storm Surge. So right now, I'm just itching to get there and get things going and meet all the guys and start working hard towards the ultimate dream of winning the cup. I feel like the team is built that way. If we can take that one extra step in the playoffs, I think we're really close to the Stanley Cup. It's going to be a fun journey and I just need to keep working until I get there and be ready when camp starts and be ready to show what I can bring to the team."