Antti Raanta’s first season back in Europe after ending his NHL career had its ups and downs.
His Genève-Servette team finished 11th in Switzerland’s 14-team National League, missing the post-season play-in round by two points. Raanta’s statistics were respectable, although a late start to the season and minor injuries limited him to 24 of the team’s 52 games – he posted a goals-against average of 2.74, a save percentage of .902 and one shutout.
Despite that modest domestic showing, Genève-Servette advanced to the Champions Hockey League semifinals and there the Finnish netminder was spectacular, with 1.80, .944 and two shutouts in five games. Raanta was one of the pan-European competition’s five MVP finalists.
Antti Raanta has his team: off to Switzerland Finnish goaltender Antti Raanta, 35, has signed a one-year contract with Genève-Servette HC,
the Swiss National League club announced on Monday.
Raanta was one of several players that the Geneva-based club announced would not be returning to the team in 2024-25, along with fellow Finnish ex-NHLers Sami Vatanen and Teemu Hartikainen. Both of those players have been heavily rumored to be headed to their hometown clubs for 2025-26, with Vatanen expected to play for JYP Jyväskylä next season and Hartikainen for KalPa Kuopio.
As for Raanta, who turns 36 in May, it looks like home might be his next stop as well. Finnish hockey website Jatkoaika has reported that talks of Raanta heading back to Lukko Rauma next season began in Finnish media in February, and that Lukko sports director Kalle Sahlstedt confirmed that talks are taking place.
“In a dream world, it would be great to play in Lukko and win the championship, but the reality could be a little harsher,” Raanta said last September when exploring his European options. “As soon as Lukko asked in the spring, I said that I could probably make it work, but it would be difficult.”
Raanta ultimately passed on the idea when he discovered that if he signed a contract to play in Finland in 2024, he would be taxed on all his income from the United States that year, which included half a season of NHL income and also profit from the sale of his house in North Carolina. But that would no longer be an issue in 2025.
Lukko is currently second in the Liiga standings with three games remaining in the 2024-25 regular season. The team’s starting goaltender this season is 28-year-old American Michigan State graduate John Lethemon, who becomes a free agent after this season.
Raanta turned pro with Rauma and also played for Ässät Pori before heading overseas in 2013 at age 24. In 11 seasons with the Chicago Blackhawks, New York Rangers, Arizona Coyotes and Carolina Hurricanes, he played 277 NHL regular-season games recording 139 wins and 20 shutouts. He also had nine wins and one shutout in 24 playoff games.
Report: Swedish National Team Coach Sam Hallam Will Move To Switzerland In 2026 According to sources in Switzerland and Sweden, current Swedish national team head coach Sam Hallam will join Genève-Servette of Switzerland’s National League in 2026, when his contract with the Swedish Ice Hockey Association expires.
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