Predators Name Pekka Rinne European Development Coach & Scout

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Pekka Rinne. Photo: Courtesy of the Nashville Predators

Nashville Predators legend Pekka Rinne is rejoining the team as their European Development Coach & Scout.

Rinne, the only player in franchise history to have his number retired, transitions into his new role after spending the previous season as a Special Alumni Advisor. As European Development Coach & Scout, Rinne will work primarily with all goaltenders in the organization, including prospects overseas; scout European-based goalies for the franchise; and continue to work, learn and observe alongside Predators Goaltending Coach Ben Vanderklok. Based in Finland, he will also travel to Nashville and Milwaukee and attend team camps.

Rinne, who served as Goaltending Coach for Finland’s team at the 2023 World Junior Championship, retired in July 2021 as the franchise leader in nearly every goaltending category, including games played (683), wins (369), goals-against average (2.43), total TOI (39,413:29), shutouts (60) and saves (17,627). He sits 19th in shutouts and is tied for 20th in victories in NHL history.

Rinne won the 2018 Vezina Trophy as the NHL’s top goaltender, and was a finalist for the award three other times (2011, 2012 and 2015). He was a four-time NHL All-Star (2015, 2016, 2018 and 2019) and was twice voted to the NHL’s year-end All-Star Teams, including a First Team nod in 2017-2018. Rinne’s career goals-against average of 2.43 is tied for the fourth-best mark among goaltenders with at least 350 wins in NHL history, trailing only Dominik Hasek, Martin Brodeur and Jacques Plante. Further signifying his impact on the NHL’s record books, he is one of 12 goaltenders in league history to notch at least 350 wins and 60 shutouts, with 10 members of that group enshrined or about to be inducted in the Hockey Hall of Fame.

Off the ice, Rinne won the 2021 King Clancy Memorial Trophy, an appropriate recognition of a career spent dedicated to the Nashville and Middle Tennessee communities and the Predators Foundation.

The bulk of his life-changing work has come through the 365 Pediatric Cancer Fund presented by Twice Daily, which he launched alongside former Predators Captain Shea Weber during the 2012-2013 season. The fund’s focus is to support the Monroe Carell Jr. Children’s Hospital at Vanderbilt by raising money and awareness for cancer research. Since the establishment of the fund, donations totaling more than four million dollars have been made to the hospital and its programs.

Steven Boero
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