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Predators To Retire Their First Number…Future Hall of Famer…. Wed's Buzz |
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Back with Rumors in my nex blog, but the big news today is that the Preds have announced they will retire their first number as a franchise, with the Retirement of #35 Pekka Rinne. There may be no player more deserving of such an honor in terms if what a player has meant to their team.
In his 13 seasons as a starter Rinne won 369 regular season games….that is 45% of wins in the HISTORY of the Predators.
The Preds have been in the NHL 22 seasons. In the 13 seasons Nashville had Rinne as the starter the Predators went to the Playoffs 10 times.
When you look at the last of all-time NHL winning percentages it goes like this…
#1. Vegas 630
#2. Montreal 586
#3. Philadelphia 575
#4. Boston 563
#5. Nashville 557
Nashville has won 54 playoff games in their history. Pekka Rinne has won 45 of them.
Nashville has never made the playoffs without Pekka Rinne.
And with Rinne it goes beyond the Stats.
Goalies are usually weird. They have all kinds of superstitions. They are moody. You can’t talk to them about certain things. They can make coaches and teammates crazy. I know this. I was one.
Pekka Rinne is NONE of those things. He is even. He is upbeat. He can talk about anything even before a game. He makes his players feel comfortable and confident. Big factors in his success.
In the Nashville Community he has NEVER turned away an opportunity to help people and he always shows up even when things aren’t going well on the ice. He is the ultimate ambassador for the sport in a place that never knew how much it would embrace a game played on a frozen pond.
I have said it before, I have been to every major arena in the NHL and my favorite place to go and watch an NHL game, bar none, is Nashville Tennessee. It's become trendy to say that, but if you’ve been reading me for a while you know I’ve been saying this for 20 years now. I really can’t stress enough that you need to take your wife or your husband or your friends and spend a weekend on Broadway in Nashville…taking in the vibe and the game…
And so much of this team’s success has had to do with Pekka Rinne. In my opinion he is a Hall of Famer. No question. I know the Hall is ridiculous when it comes to goalies…Mike Richter not being in the Hall of Fame is criminal…but Rinne as a goalie, and I will even say as a builder deserves the recognition…
What say you?
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