NHL: The best goalie from each franchise’s history (Updated 2023)

Best NHL goalie from each franchise: Nashville Predators – Pekka Rinne

Good things can indeed come from a very late-round draft pick to be a future franchise player. Such is the case with goalie Pekka Rinne and being a future star goalie capable of setting major franchise records and doing his part to help the Nashville Predators become contenders.

As they say, if you have a great goalie, you have a great chance to win a lot of hockey games thanks to opponents being unable to score at all. Simply put, defense wins games, and Rinne was and still is the best goalie in the history of the Predators.

He owns the franchise record for most wins and shutouts in a regular season at 43 and 8, respectively. Most importantly of all, thanks to his superb goaltending skills, Rinne did his part to bring the Predators their first-ever playoff win in franchise history. This was back in 2009 and since then, the Predators are almost always household names in the postseason.

Unfortunately, the Predators are still one of the few NHL teams that have yet to win a Stanley Cup championship. In July 2021, Rinne officially retired and the following year, the Predators retired his jersey No. 35. Rinne is the first player in franchise history to have his jersey retired by the organization.