Juuse Saros

Juuse Saros grew up in Forssa, Finland, and played his entire youth career and first three professional seasons with his hometown club, HPK of the Liiga, before the Nashville Predators selected him in the fourth round — 99th overall — of the 2013 NHL Entry Draft. He was 18 years old when drafted, and his path to the NHL ran first through the American Hockey League, where he joined the Predators' affiliate, the Milwaukee Admirals, after the 2014–15 season concluded. With Milwaukee, Saros earned a spot on the AHL All-Rookie Team and was selected to the AHL All-Star Game.

His NHL debut came in 2015–16, a single game that ended in a loss with a 3.10 goals-against average and a .870 save percentage. Over the next two seasons, Saros appeared in 21 and 26 games respectively, splitting duties behind Pekka Rinne — and each of those campaigns produced a GAA under 2.50 and a save percentage above .920: 2.35/.923 in 2016–17, and 2.45/.925 in 2017–18. When Rinne was injured, Saros took over as the full-time starter, finishing 2018–19 with a 17–10 record, a 2.62 GAA, and a .915 save percentage in 31 games. From Rinne, Saros also picked up at least one habit: he told InGoal Magazine he learned to wear a Footjoy golf glove inside his trapper for games from his veteran predecessor ^[1].

The 2019–20 season brought 40 starts and a 2.70 GAA/.914 save percentage before the pandemic-shortened 2020–21 campaign saw Saros post his best single-season numbers to that point — 21 wins, a 2.28 GAA, and a .927 save percentage in 36 games. The 2021–22 season extended that run: 67 games, 38 wins, a 2.64 GAA, and a .918 save percentage, accompanied by four shutouts. That workload and those numbers positioned Saros as a Vezina Trophy finalist.

The 2022–23 season added further statistical weight to that stretch. Saros posted a 2.69 GAA and a .919 save percentage across 64 games, and according to InGoal's 2023 coverage, he had saved 27.06 goals above expected that season — a total surpassed only by Linus Ullmark of the Boston Bruins at the time of publication ^[1]. That piece also noted something few observers had spotted: Saros wears gloves beneath both his blocker and trapper in practice, using two versions of the GoaliePro padded glove — one with fingers cut out and extra padding around the thumb for his blocker hand — and the golf glove from Rinne's influence inside his catcher for games. InGoal Magazine has covered Juuse Saros in two InGoal articles.

The 2023–24 season produced 64 games, 35 wins, a 2.86 GAA, and a .906 save percentage with three shutouts. Then 2024–25 saw Nashville's record fall to 20–31 for Saros, with a 2.98 GAA and .896 save percentage over 58 appearances, though he recorded four shutouts. InGoal's January 2026 mid-season analysis, drawing on Clear Sight Analytics data, noted that Saros had heated up in the second half of the previous season before falling off, and that early in 2025–26 a similar pattern was developing ^[2].

Through the 2025–26 season — still ongoing — Saros has appeared in 59 games, going 28–22 with a 3.16 GAA and .894 save percentage. InGoal's mid-season awards piece flagged that since December 1 of that season, Saros ranked fourth in goals saved above expected at plus 8.01 and seventh in adjusted save percentage at plus 1.8 percent, with the observation that "any reports of his demise have been greatly exaggerated" ^[2].

Across his NHL career, Saros has appeared in 467 games, all with Nashville, compiling 230 wins, a 2.74 career GAA, a .912 career save percentage, and 27 shutouts. His international record includes a gold medal at the 2014 World Junior Ice Hockey Championships, silver medals at the 2014 and 2016 IIHF World Championships, and a bronze medal at the 2026 Winter Olympics, all representing Finland. During the 2013 IIHF World U18 Championships, he was named the tournament's Best Goaltender.