Pekka Rinne was the backbone of the Nashville Predators' run in the Stanley Cup Playoffs, and he might have felt the impact of losing more than anyone.
Like pitcher in baseball, quarterback in football and many other positions in sport, so much rides on goaltenders in hockey that it can often weigh on them a little bit more. With the impact of losing in the Stanley Cup Final, we’re sure everyone on the team was upset, but this Players’ Tribune article from Rinne shows just how much it impacted him in the moment.
Rinne talks about the emptiness he felt the moment that Pittsburgh iced the game, but he also spoke about the lead up and fall out of that moment.
So much of Nashville’s season had to do with P.K. Subban and Nashville’s acquisition of the star defenceman, and in the biggest moments of the year, Rinne points to him as well. Rinne mentions him as the first sign of the team being great and he explains a little bit about what makes P.K. so great.
“But take another look, of course, and that [the video of Subban shortly after being traded] — that’s the best of P.K. in a nutshell: handling a tough situation like a pro, and dealing with adversity in a really positive way.
What surprised me most about P.K., as I got to know him this year, was how laid back he is. I think, just from knowing him only through the media and on social media, and stuff like that … you see him as this big celebrity, almost. This super loud guy. And I think I kind of half expected him to be that same guy in person — showtime all the time. But when you meet him, he’s just a really good dude, easy to talk to, very impressive. And somehow you always leave an interaction with him with a smile on your face. He just does his thing.
And I think that’s how P.K.’s personality — and his level of play, of course — really left its mark on our team this year in a significant way. No matter what happened, on the ice or off, good or bad, all season long — it felt like we hung in there and we kept it positive. We just did our thing.”
Subban is part of what will keep the Predators competitive for the next little while, but Rinne expects them to be more than competitive. In fact, he says that while it may not be next year or the year after, but he guarantees a Stanley Cup will come to Nashville at some point.
