The Predators have activated Rinne from IR 

Veteran goaltender Pekka Rinne was activated from injured reserve the Nashville Predators announced on Wednesday morning. 

Rinne was originally injured in a collision with his teammate Kevin Fiala in Calgary on October 19th. The 35-year-old netminder had a really strong start to the season before getting hurt. Rinne went 3-1-0 with a 2.10 goals against average, .929 save percentage, one shutout and a +2.89 goals saved above average. 

While Rinne was out, the Predators turned to Juuse Saros as their No.1 netminder and he played admirably in his first stint as the primary starter. Saros went 3-2-0 with a 2.62 GAA, .917 SV% and one shutout. The 23-year-old’s numbers took a hit because the Predators were extremely undisciplined in those five games. Saros had to face 22 penalty kills (4.4 per game) and gave up five goals on 36 shorthanded shots (.861 SV%). Saros was great at even-strength, turning away 112 of the 119 shots (.941 SV%) he faced. 

Rinne participated in Tuesday’s morning skate in the “starter’s crease” but ended up sitting for one more game. That suggests that Rinne should be available to start in Tampa Bay on Thursday. Rinne is a pending unrestricted free agent this summer, so he likely won’t start as much a the average No.1 because the Predators want to make sure Saros is ready to take over as soon as next year. This five-game absence was a good indicator, but Rinne should still see around 60-to-65 percent of the games when he’s healthy.