Skip navigation
Favorites
Sign up to follow your favorites on all your devices.
Sign up

‘Hawks deny that Raanta’s remarks kept his name off Cup

2015 NHL Stanley Cup Final - Game Six

2015 NHL Stanley Cup Final - Game Six

Getty Images

From ESPN:

The negative comments Antti Raanta made about the Chicago Blackhawks in a publication were not the reason he was excluded from the team’s 2014-15 season Stanley Cup engravings, a Blackhawks spokesperson said Wednesday.

The Blackhawks submitted to the Hockey Hall of Fame their list of 52 names to be engraved on the Stanley Cup before Raanta’s comments were published, the team spokesperson said. The spokesperson said “there is zero truth” of Raanta being left off because of published comments. ... Players are automatically included on the Stanley Cup if they appear in half of the team’s regular-season games or in one Stanley Cup finals game.

If you’re just catching up on this story, click here.

While many felt it was suspicious that Raanta’s name was left off, he did only appear in 14 regular-season games and then wasn’t used at all in the playoffs, as Corey Crawford was backed up by Scott Darling (who, you’ll recall, played almost 300 minutes of the first round).

Of course, as the Sun-Times notes, the Blackhawks “did petition, successfully, to have forwards Daniel Carcillo and Joakim Nordstrom engraved on the Cup, even though they came up just short of the required 41 games.” And while Raanta only played in 14 games during the regular season, he “dressed in more than the required 41.”

So you can decide for yourself if Raanta’s comments kept the ‘Hawks from petitioning on his behalf.

The club will deny it, though.