Martin Adds Depth To Canes' Crease

RALEIGH, NC. - The Carolina Hurricanes claimed goaltender Spencer Martin off of waivers on Friday afternoon from the Columbus Blue Jackets.

Coming to Raleigh, the 28-year-old netminder may just be the perfect fit for the team's situation.

Antti Raanta has been adequate as of late, 3-1-1 with a .909 save percentage since the holiday break. However, the earlier months of the season were challenging for the veteran, landing him on waivers in mid-December.

The team's de facto number one option, Raanta has rookie Yaniv Perets currently riding shotgun with him. Just nine months ago the 23-year-old was playing at the NCAA level, and before making his NHL debut on Monday, he had played in just 15 pro games - all at the ECHL level.

Management and Rod Brind'Amour alike have said that they're comfortable with Perets, but ideally, it's best for his long-term trajectory to not be rushed into regular NHL play. Incredibly atypical for any player to jump from the ECHL to the best league in the world, Perets has been needed out of necessity though.

Frederik Andersen hasn't skated yet due to his blood clotting issue and Pyotr Kochetkov is sidelined without a timetable for return due to a concussion. Beyond that, there had been no other options on the depth chart.

Enter Martin.

When he joins the club, he provides a stopgap between Raanta and Perets.

Perhaps a stopgap is an inappropriate way to put it though. What if the fresh opportunity is a situation Martin can take advantage of?

It's a low-risk, high-reward situation.

If Kochetkov is good to go in a week or two and Raanta continues playing as he has since returning from the American Hockey League, Martin can be placed on waivers again at any time. Or, because he makes a very budget-friendly $762,500, perhaps he'll be kept around as a third option while Perets gets more seasoning.

Should Andersen eventually return, more decisions will have to be made then, but as it stands right now, that's a situation to be figured out later.

Martin played 13 games with Columbus this season after being claimed off of waivers from the Vancouver Canucks in September.

With Elvis Merzlikins and Daniil Tarasov finally healthy at the same time, the Blue Jackets were hoping to assign the Oakville, Ontario-born backstop to the American Hockey League.  But, in came the Canes.

Last year Martin played a career-high 29 games with the current Western Conference leaders after previously appearing in just nine NHL games since 2016.

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