Latest news with #AnttiRaanta
Yahoo
23-05-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
Ex-Oiler, Finnish Olympian Returns Home
Finnish forward Teemu Hartikainen, 35, with KalPa, the reigning Liiga champion announced on Friday. KalPa is the club Kuopio-born Hartikainen grew up playing for, but hasn't played there since 2010. 'It feels good to be here,' said Hartikainen. 'We have been able to settle down with our family in peace, and after the summer we won't have to go out into the world anymore. After all, we've been waiting for this for the past few years, to be able to settle down at home with our family again.' Hartikainen was chosen in the sixth round, 163rd overall, by the Edmonton Oilers in the 2008 NHL Entry Draft. Between 2010 and 2013, he split three seasons between the Oilers and the AHL's Oklahoma City Barons. In 52 NHL games, he recorded six goals, seven assists and 16 penalty minutes for the Oilers. Hartikainen then spent nine seasons playing in the KHL for Salavat Yulaev Ufa. In 2018-19, he made the KHL First All-Star Team and led the playoffs in points and plus/minus. In 2020-21, he had 64 points in 53 regular-season games, which led all non-Russian players in the league. Hartikainen spent the last three seasons in Switzerland playing for Genève-Servette, where he amassed 136 points in 161 National League regular-season and playoff games. In 2022-23, he helped the team win its first-ever national title and the following season Genève-Servette won the Champions Hockey League. Hartikainen was one of numerous Finns on the Genève-Servette team; most of whom have since returned home. Finnish teammates of Hartikainen in Switzerland included goaltender Antti Raanta, defenseman Sami Vatanen and forwards Valtteri Filppula and Markus Granlund. Confirmed: Sami Vatanen Returns To Hometown Club It had been rumored since early last season and now it's official. Finnish defenseman Sami Vatanen, 33, has signed a two-year contract to play with his hometown club JYP, the Liiga club announced in a press conference on Tuesday. Internationally, Hartikainen represented Finland at three IIHF World Championships and one Winter Olympics, winning gold in each three months apart in 2022. Hartikainen represents the only KalPa player under contract for 2025-16 that has any NHL, Olympic or World Championship experience, but he's nonetheless confident about the club's continued success. 'The club is growing year by year and there is a way of doing things here in the long term,' he said. 'It has been great to see how many of our own young people have grown up here to become Liiga players and under their leadership we are able to win the Finnish championship. It's great to be a part of this.' Photo © Anne-Marie Sorvin-Imagn Images Antti Raanta Signs With Hometown Finnish Team Antti Raanta is finally going home. On Monday, Liiga club Lukko, located in Raanta's hometown of Rauma, on Finland's west coast, announced that the 36-year-old goaltender had signed a one-year contract.
Yahoo
14-05-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
Antti Raanta Signs With Hometown Finnish Team
Antti Raanta is finally going home. On Monday, Liiga club Lukko, located in Raanta's hometown of Rauma, on Finland's west coast, announced that the 36-year-old goaltender had signed a one-year contract. 'There's a little boyish enthusiasm, Raanta smiled in a press conference. 'Of course, I feel a little nervous about returning home, but at the same time I'm really excited and have found some peace – now I know where I'm going and I'll have the opportunity to play in Rauma again.' 'It's a great thing that Antti is coming home,' said Lukko sports director Kalle Sahlsted. ''Ana' has, of course, had a great career so far and now he was quite mature and a return to Lukko was possible. We strongly believe that he will be one of the top players in the league next season.' Sahlstedt continued, 'The best thing about this is that we get a boy from our own village back home.' Raanta had considered signing with Lukko last year summer when he decided to end his NHL career and return to play in Europe. However, he learned that, according to Finnish tax laws, if he signed a professional contract in Finland in 2024, he would be taxed by the Finnish government for all of his income during that calendar year, which included a half-season's NHL salary and proceeds from the sale of his house in North Carolina. Instead, he played in Switzerland for Genève-Servette, where he posted a goals-against average of 2.74, a save percentage of .902 and one shutout in 24 National League games. He also played in five Champions Hockey League games, where he backstopped his team to the semifinals with a goals-against average of 1.80, a save percentage of .944 and two shutouts. Raanta was one of the pan-European competition's five MVP finalists. Antti Raanta Won't Return To Geneva – Finland Next? Antti Raanta's first season back in Europe after ending his NHL career had its ups and downs. Raanta grew up and turned pro with Lukko until 2011. He also played two Liiga seasons for Ässät before going to North America in 2013. Over the next 11 seasons, he played 277 NHL regular-season games and 24 playoff games for the Chicago Blackhawks, New York Rangers, Arizona Coyotes and Carolina Hurricanes. Last season, Lukko finished first in the Liiga standings and was eliminated in the semifinals by SaiPa Lappeenranta. 'We've got a chance to win here,' said Raanta. 'The team here has been built in such a way that we are very close to that ultimate goal and a championship. I have also heard a lot of good things about the entire organization and how things are handled here.' Raanta is one of eight players that Lukko has under contract for next season. Among the others is Canadian defenseman Éric Gélinas, who signed a one-year contract extension in March. Ex-NHL D-Man Will Return To Finnish Team Next Year Canadian defenseman Éric Gélinas, 33, has agreed to a one-year contract extension with Lukko Rauma, the Finnish Liiga club announced on Monday.
