Rinne extends in Nashville

All you teams with goalie worries can rub Pekke Rinne's name off your wishlist. Rinne today signed a 7 year deal worth $49million. A solid signing for probably the best goalie in the league. I think both sides of the deal did well here. Rinne gets a long term big money deal, whilst the Predators lock up their biggest talent.

http://www.nhl.com/ice/news.htm?id=598716

If the Preds can get Weber and Suter to re-sign things will be looking good in Nashville for the foreseeable future!

Crickey that is a high hit! I thought with the current trend of getting goaltenders on the cheap (Bryzgalov being the exception) we would see less of these deals. Whilst I am a HUGE admirer of Rinne I think that in the current cap climate that is a lot of money to sink into your netminder.

Crazy.....Rinne is a great goalie but not sure I would say he is 'highest paid in the league' great just yet.

Nashville won't have any money left after keeping Rinne, Weber and Suter they are gonna need to play 60 mins a night each

You have to wonder how Nashville's cheapskate owners think they can afford the deal - Weber will be $8m and Suter $6m, giving them a three-player core at $23m. Madness!

Still, Peks is a brilliant netminder. Great deal for him.

The thing that makes that crazy is all that money and it doesn't even include a goal scorer. 3 great players no doubt but it does make you wonder if they will ever be able to build a serious contender around them.

Biggest deal ever for a goalie if I am correct. Obviously a great goaltender and believing in your goalie is massive. Look at the Stars (apart from last night) who relied on Lehtonen and allowed their game plan to make them liable to 40 odd shots a game on him. To have a goalie between the pipes you can rely on is a huge factor in splitting up the good and the great teams.

However....

A goalie is only as good as his last season - look at Thomas. Vezina one season, crap the next, Stanley Cup winning backstopper the year after. And where are Boston now? Or Halak - Montreals great playoff run goalie, went to St Louis as their great hope between the pipes, now a also ran. Gustavsson - the answer to TOs problems. Now backup and fans are calling for him to be Marlie bound. So and thus, while on paper this is a $7m per year cap hit, it could be a $14m per good year cap hit. Don't get me wrong, I'm a big admirer of Rinne, but locking up him, Suter and Weber at the expense of a top forward (lets face it, Fisher is only there while the missus is making money) could be a recipe for disaster. I'm a Maple Leafs fan, I know disasters....

I'd trade Halak for a tube of smarties at the moment...Thank God for Elliott

leafygiraffe wrote:However....

A goalie is only as good as his last season - look at Thomas. Vezina one season, crap the next, Stanley Cup winning backstopper the year after. And where are Boston now ....

Timmy and Tyler say hi.

Bad luck Leafs fans, let's take a look at what you could have won...

http://t.co/8ykqpHBu