The Nashville Predators have signed goaltender Kevin Lankinen to a one-year, $2 million contract.
Lankinen, 27, has a 6-5-1 record as a backup to Juuse Saros this season. Before this year, he spent two years with the Chicago Blackhawks, posting a 17-14-5 record as a rookie in 2020-21 before backing up Marc-Andre Fleury last season.
The Predators brought him over to act as a veteran backup, and he has posted a respectable .922 save percentage for the bubble playoff squad. The one-year deal is inexpensive and moveable at the 2024 NHL trade deadline if Yaroslav Askarov ends up pushing himself into the backup role.
Askarov’s emergence as one of the best backup goaltenders in the league is important, given his status as a first-round pick in 2020. Askarov, 20, is considered to be the goaltender of the future, but only just came to North America this year after three seasons of rarely getting much playing time. The Predators could elect to keep him in the AHL to start the season and see if he pushes up the ranks farther, while Lankinen holds down the fort in the backup spot in the meantime.
The Predators are currently on the outside looking in, sitting fourth in the wild-card race with 66 points. Edmonton (74) and Winnipeg (72) currently hold the two spots, while Colorado has the final Central Division spot with 73 points. The Predators have 13 picks in the 2023 NHL Draft, including four in the first two rounds.
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