Pekka Rinne

Pekka Rinne was elected to the Hockey Hall of Fame as a member of the Class of 2026, joining Carey Price, Patrice Bergeron, Keith Tkachuk, Cindy Curley, and builder Brian Burke in a group that will be inducted in Toronto on November 9, 2026. For a goaltender chosen 258th overall, it is a remarkable capstone to a one-of-a-kind career.

Born November 3, 1982, in Kempele, Finland, Rinne was an eighth-round afterthought when the Nashville Predators selected him 258th overall in the 2004 NHL Draft. He developed slowly through the Finnish league and the American Hockey League before establishing himself in Nashville, and at 6'5" and 217 pounds — catching left — he became the cornerstone of the franchise between the pipes. Rinne spent all 15 of his NHL seasons with the Predators, a rarity among modern stars who played his entire career for one club.

Over 683 regular-season games he recorded 369 wins, a 2.43 goals-against average, a .917 save percentage, and 60 shutouts, retiring as the Predators' all-time leader in essentially every goaltending category, including wins, games played, and shutouts. He was named a Vezina Trophy finalist four times before winning the award as the NHL's top goaltender for the 2017–18 season. In 2020–21, his final year, he was awarded the King Clancy Memorial Trophy, given to the player who best exemplifies leadership on and off the ice and makes a significant humanitarian contribution to his community — a fitting recognition for a goaltender as respected for his character as for his play.

Rinne also authored one of the most memorable moments available to a goaltender. On January 9, 2020, he shot the puck the length of the ice into an empty net against the Chicago Blackhawks, becoming the first goaltender in Predators history — and one of only a handful in NHL history — to score a goal. InGoal explored the habits and mindset behind that play in a Pro Tips feature on how grinding through low-shot games kept him sharp.

Rinne sat down with InGoal Radio several times across his career. He first appeared alongside fellow Predators netminder Chris Mason — with longtime Nashville goaltending coach Mitch Korn also part of the conversation — and discussed how growing up playing the Finnish bat-and-ball game pesäpallo helped build his glove hand InGoal Radio Episode 43 with Pekka Rinne and Chris Mason. He returned to talk about staying "fake resistant," his vision-training work, and the props and drills he used to sharpen his reads InGoal Radio Episode 56 with Pekka Rinne. After announcing his retirement, Rinne joined the show once more to reflect on his career, his Vezina season, that goalie goal, and handing the Nashville crease to his protégé Juuse Saros InGoal Radio Episode 154 with Pekka Rinne.

Rinne announced his retirement in July 2021 after 15 seasons. On February 24, 2022, the Predators retired his No. 35 — the first number retired in franchise history — cementing his place as the face of goaltending in Nashville.