The Nashville Predators have hired former goaltender Pekka Rinne as a European goaltending coach and development scout.
Rinne joins his former head coach Barry Trotz in the Predators' front office in this role. While the responsibilities of the position haven’t been specified, it will likely see him work with and help develop the Preds' European goalie prospects and maybe provide scouting information on potential picks at the draft.
Right now, the Predators’ European goalie prospects both signed and on their reserve list include Yaroslav Askarov, Tomas Vomacka, and Konstantin Volkov, with the former two currently playing in North America for the AHL and ECHL, respectively. Who Rinne works with right now will likely depend on whether he will work out of Europe or North America.
Rinne’s only previous experience in a team staff role to this point was working with the U20 Finnish national team as a goaltending coach. That team finished second in Group B with a 2-0-1-1 record and was eliminated in the quarterfinals after a 3-2 loss to Sweden.
Rinne was a longtime goaltender for the Predators, playing 683 games over the course of 15 seasons from 2005 to 2021. He finished his career with a 369-213-75 record, a .917 save percentage, and 60 shutouts, with his 369 wins ranking 20th all-time and his 60 shutouts ranking 19th, both being franchise records for the Predators. He also won a Vezina trophy in 2017-18, where he had a 42-13-4 record, a .927 save percentage, and eight shutouts as the Preds won their first Presidents’ Trophy.
Rinne is the latest hire of Trotz as he starts to impose his vision for the club in his new role as general manager. He takes over the position this season after longtime GM David Poile announced his retirement and that Trotz would be taking his place. The two spent 15 seasons together as the GM and head coach of the Predators from their inaugural season in 1998 until Trotz was fired in 2014.
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