The Nashville Predators announced that goaltender Pekka Rinne will miss three to five weeks, including the All Star game due to a sprained knee he suffered early in the third period of the Predators last game against the Vancouver Canucks.
Rinne was injured when Canucks forward Chris Higgins and Predators defenseman Anton Volchenkov slid into him and drove him into the end boards.
The Predators have three games remaining on their schedule before the team breaks for the all Star game. They are home Friday night against Washington, then travel to Detroit for a game on Saturday night and finish with a game at Montreal. After the All Star break, February is a busy month for the Predators with 15 games.
The Predators have recalled Marek Mazanec from their AHL affiliate in Milwaukee. Mazanec played 25 games for the Predators last season.
Carter Hutton will take over the starting netminder duties for the Predators in the absence of Rinne.
Hutton came in and stopped all 10 shots he faced in the third period of the game against the Canucks, a 5-1 Predators victory.
While you never want to see a player of Rinne's caliber out of the line up, this is a good time schedule wise. The Predators have the three games then the All Star break before a very busy February schedule. This gives Rinne time to rest and rehab while the Predators do not have a heavy workload. If the absence is on the short side (3 weeks), then Rinne will be back for most of the very busy February schedule. If it on the longer end (5 weeks), the Rinne will rejoin the team the third week in February with 7 games remaining in that month.
Here's hoping the injury isn't serious and Rinne can get back in the net quickly but fully healthy.
*photo from Chris Hanewinckel USA Today Sports
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