We’re okay giving term to younger

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Antti Raanta handled injuries Womens Duncan Keith Jersey , a scorpion infestation and a minor car wreck in his first year as a starting NHL goaltender.Battling through all that earned him a three-year contract that makes him the Arizona Coyotes‘ franchise goalie for the foreseeable future. Raanta is scheduled to earn $12.75 million over the life of the deal that keeps him under contract through the 2020-21 season.The 28-year-old Raanta is 21-16-6 with a 2.24 goals-against average and .930 save percentage in 46 games after three separate injuries threatened to derail his season. In 140 career games that included backing up with the Chicago Blackhawks and New York Rangers, the Finn has a 2.30 GAA and .922 save percentage.”He stops the puck,” general manager John Chayka said on a conference call Friday. ”He just seems to, when he’s on, he’s locked in and he’s reading everything and making the game look easy. You put up his numbers both this season and over his career, he’s a high, high-end goaltender in terms of stopping the puck.”Raanta would have been an unrestricted free agent this summer. Instead, he’s glad to be in Arizona long term and hopes to earn another big contract when this one expires at age 32.”I want to be playing a lot, I want to be playing at a really good level all the time and I want to get us in the playoff picture and I want to be successful in there, also,” Raanta said. ”I think getting the three-year deal, it’s perfect for everybody right now.”With Raanta playing well and improvements under first-year coach Rick Tocchet http://www.blackhawksshoponline.com/authentic-gustav-forsling-jersey , Arizona is 16-8-2 since Feb. 12 after losing 42 of its first 55 games. Raanta is 9-1-0 with a 1.30 GAA and .959 save percentage and two shutouts in his past 10 appearances.That’s the play Chayka expected when the Coyotes acquired Raanta and center Derek Stepan from the New York Rangers last offseason in a trade that meant giving up the seventh overall pick and defensive prospect Anthony DeAngelo.Tocchet said last month that he wished Raanta came into training camp in better shape, something Chayka alluded to.”I have lots of confidence that he’s going to commit himself to being an NHL starter: taking care of your body and doing the right things to play 60-plus games,” Chayka said. ”I think this year was a great learning experience for him. I think he’s a dedicated guy. I think he’s understood what it takes now on a personal level for himself, what it’s like to be a starter.”Raanta believes he can adjust his offseason preparations to be more prepared to go next season and beyond.”I think it was kind of a growing process for me also – the first year playing a lot, being the No. 1 guy and it’s a big mental adjustment from being a backup to start playing more,” Raanta said. ”It’s going to be good for me to know what it takes to play lots of games and it’s going to be good for me to kind of see what I need to do more in the summertime, what I want to improve, and come back stronger next year.”— LAS VEGAS (AP) One year ago, the Vegas Golden Knights were in the midst of forming their first team. On Sunday, they were in the middle of the free-agent market as they look to fine-tune the roster for another run at the Stanley Cup Final.The defending Western Conference champions signed veteran forward Paul Stastny to a reported three-year, $19.5 million contract, hours after losing David Perron.Stastny totaled 53 points (16 goals John Hayden Jersey , 37 assists) in 82 games last season, appearing in 63 games with the St. Louis Blues before being acquired by the Winnipeg Jets on Feb. 26. During the 2018 Stanley Cup playoffs, the 32-year-old Quebec City native recorded a career-high 15 points (six goals, nine assists) and helped Winnipeg reach the Western Conference Final before losing to Vegas in five games.”Sometimes you gotta go with your gut feeling. Sometimes it’s just one of those things that it’s best fit hockey-wise, family-wise and everything in between,” Stastny said during a conference call Sunday. ”They always played such a high, kind of fast-paced game, aggressive, everyone involved, not just one line, all four lines involved.”During his 12-year NHL career, Stastny has 220 goals and 426 assists Authentic Jonathan Toews Jersey , with the 646 points ranking 33rd among active players.The addition of Stastny figures to take some pressure off top-line scorers William Karlsson, a restricted free agent who is expected to ink a new deal with Vegas, Jonathan Marchessault and Reilly Smith.”We have had our eye on him for quite a while, he’s a really talented, skilled guy – he’s a playmaker, and you always want playmakers,” Golden Knights general manager George McPhee said. ”We do like having centers, because you can move centers around the lineup, have centers on the wing. You can get wingers to play center … but they’re not very good.”The second-year team also locked up bruising forward Ryan Reaves, who was acquired in a trade with Pittsburgh in February and proved to be an asset during the playoffs, and came to terms with free-agent defenseman Nick Holden, who McPhee said will fit in nicely after the departure of free agent Luca Sbisa.”It basically keeps the construction of our defense intact Custom Minnesota Wild Jerseys ,” McPhee said. ”Luca has moved on, we thought (Holden) would fit really well in that spot. Everything stays the same on our defense. We have our shut down guys, we have our speed guys and we’re deep.”Both Reaves and Holden’s two-year contracts are reportedly worth a little more than $2 million per season.McPhee said the team also has signed forwards Brandon Pirri, Daniel Carr, Alex Gallant and Curtis McKenzie, defenseman Jimmy Oligny and goaltenders Maxime Lagace and Zach Fucale.Meanwhile, after turning in a career season with the Golden Knights, Perron agreed to a four-year, $16 million contract to return to the St. Louis Blues, while veteran forward James Neal, an unrestricted free agent, remained in limbo. Neal Patrick Kane Jersey , who finished with 25 goals and 44 points in 71 games at the end of his six-year, $30 million deal, is 31 years old and is looking for a longer-term contract than the Golden Knights were reportedly willing to offer.”We’re still talking to people and we’ll see how things develop,” said McPhee, who added the team is still negotiating with the 31-year-old Neal. ”We’re trying to be a little more circumspect, and it looks like the league is trying to do that. That’s why we went three years on Stastny, Reaves was two years. We’re okay giving term to younger guys but older guys you gotta be careful.”—
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