That Pekka Rinne is one of the few elite goaltenders in the National Hockey League is uncontroversial.
But that’s only half of the reason why his injury is such a serious hurdle for the Nashville Predators—a team likely to be in a life-or-death battle for a spot in the playoffs this season.
The other reason is that the two goalies Nashville has as alternative options have a combined six games of NHL experience. Backup Carter Hutton played one game for Chicago last season and has five under his belt with Nashville this season, while third-stringer Magnus Hellberg’s only NHL action came in relief of Hutton against St. Louis last Saturday.
How much of a drop-off is it from Rinne to Hutton/Hellberg and is that drop-off going to kill Nashville’s playoff hopes?
The first matter at hand is the extent of Rinne’s injury. The Predators have announced that he will be out for a minimum of four weeks, which is serious but represents a relatively small portion of the NHL season.
However, a report in the Finnish magazine Urheilulehti suggests that time frame co ...
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Article written by Jonathan Willis