Legendary Nashville Predators Goalie Named to 2026 NHL Hall of Fame Class
The Nashville Predators have their first goalie in the Hockey Hall of Fame as of Monday afternoon.
Per an announcement from the Hockey Hall of Fame, former Predators goaltender Pekka Rinne has been named as one of five players a part of this year’s Hall of Fame class. Rinne is one of two goalies in the class that will be inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame, joining former Montreal Canadiens goalie Carey Price in the honor.
Rinne is just the second Predators player ever to be named to the Hockey Hall of Fame. In 2024, former Predators defenseman Shea Weber was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame. That year, David Poile also was inducted into the Hall of Fame for his role in managing the Predators organization.
“The honor represents me and all of the members of the Nashville Predators organization. It’s surreal to think I will be joining my teammate Shea Weber in the Hockey Hall of Fame,” Rinne said of his induction via a media release.
Rinne spent his entire career as a Nashville Predator. He first made an appearance for the Preds in the 2005-2006 season where he appeared in just two games. But over time, Rinne quickly became the franchise goalie that stuck with the franchise all the way through his final season during the 2020-2021 season.
Rinne held a career goals-against average of 2.43 and made 19,225 saves throughout his career. He had a career save percentage of .917 and posted 60 shutouts in his career. He finished his career with a record of 369-213.
As the team’s primary starter in net, he led the Predators to the playoffs 10 different times. But, of course, no season was better than the run Rinne led the Predators on during the 2016-2017 season. That year, Rinne was a stalwart in goal and played a leading role to the Predators only trip to the Stanley Cup Finals in franchise history.
Even though the Predators lost to the Penguins in six games in the finals that year, the performance Rinne and the rest of the team put on to get there is something that will never be forgotten in Nashville.
Rinne is far and away the best goalie in the franchise’s history and he will seemingly stay at the top of the list for quite a while into the future. When the Predators selected him 258th in the 2004 NHL Draft, they found a prospect they believed in. Little did the organization know it at the time, but they had drafted one of the most important players in the history of the team. Now, his achievements have been vindicated.
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Graham Baakko writes for both Nashville Predators On SI and Vanderbilt Commodores On SI, primarily covering football, basketball and baseball. Graham graduated from the University of Alabama, where he wrote for The Crimson White, WVUA-FM, WVUA 23 as he covered a variety of Crimson Tide sports. He also covered South Carolina athletics as an intern for GamecockCentral.