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The good news for Juuse Saros is he's still got some hockey left in him before his summer vacation begins.
The bad news for Juuse Saros is that he won't be doing it for the Nashville Predators, who failed to make the playoffs for the second time in three years. Instead, he will suit up for Finland in the IIHF World Championship beginning in early May.
The ugly news — well, that was Saros', and by extension, the Predators' 2024-25 season, which concluded April 16 in a 5-1 victory against the Dallas Stars.
The end of the worst 82-game campaign — points-wise and otherwise — since the franchise's inaugural 1998-99 season saw the team finish 30-44-8 with 68 points. Only the Chicago Blackhawks and San Jose Sharks were worse.
While it would be unfair and illogical to stack all of the blame on Saros' shoulders, his performance is hardly above reproach.
His .895 save percentage was by far the worst of his 10-year career. Same with his 2.98 goals-against average. And his 31 losses. And the minus-7.8 goals saved above average, the 3.20 goals adjusted against average and .483 quality starts percentage.
Heck, he was even benched in favor of his former backup, Kevin Lankinen, during the 4 Nations Face-Off in February.
"It's more about how you play the game," said Saros, who lost four straight to start the season, and had losing streaks of eight and five games. "In the long run, the stats will follow your team's."
Saros' numbers hardly matched those of the man who finished in the top five in Vezina Trophy voting the previous three seasons. Of the man who led the league in games each of those years. Of the man who faced and stopped the most shots in the NHL the past two.
His 2024-25 numbers also hardly match those of the man whose eight-year, $61.92 million contract extension — which carries an annual cap hit of $7.7 million — kicks in next season, when he will be 30 years old.
"You want to be a big part of leading this team," he said. "You want to be that guy that is the solution."
THE BAD, THE UGLY: Nashville Predators forward Steven Stamkos on this season: 'Sucked into the negativity'
Pressure?
"I don't really think about that," he said.
"I always want to keep myself at a high standard. I'm always finding ways to (try to) get better and keep myself accountable."
Even after the playoffs became an afterthought.
"It doesn't matter if it's Game 10 or Game 81, I can't really think about that," Saros said. "I'm just trying to focus on that game and do as well as I can."
Predators coach Andrew Brunette, who said the great expectations leading into what turned out to be a lost season, expectations born of spending $110-plus million on free agents Steven Stamkos, Jonathan Marchessault and Brady Skjei, may have led some players to believe things were going to be "easier" than they thought.
"I think you see the signings and I think we thought that chemistry was kind of easy, that we're playing fantasy hockey and we could put whoever together and we're going to have big results," Brunette said.
The goals never came. The Predators were dead last in the league in that category.
The goalie Saros was in the past wasn't as present, either.
"I thought he was really good early," Brunette said. "I thought he dipped a little bit for a stretch . . . It was that kind of year where it seemed if we plugged one hole, one slipped.
"I thought he finished really strong. He was a byproduct of our game. In front of him we were way too loose. We developed bad habits. He was the guy that had to bail us out a lot of nights."
Paul Skrbina is a sports enterprise reporter covering the Predators, Titans, Nashville SC, local colleges and local sports for The Tennessean. Reach him at [email protected] and on the X platform (formerly known as Twitter) @paulskrbina. Follow his work here.
DUE FOR A TUNE-UP? Nashville Predators' Steven Stamkos on if changes need to be made to Brunette's system
BACK TO THE FUTURE: What Andrew Brunette said about his future as Nashville Predators coach
ESTES: Good riddance to this Nashville Predators season, humbling failure that it was
This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Predators goalie Juuse Saros talks about forgettable 2024-25 season
Continue reading...
The bad news for Juuse Saros is that he won't be doing it for the Nashville Predators, who failed to make the playoffs for the second time in three years. Instead, he will suit up for Finland in the IIHF World Championship beginning in early May.
The ugly news — well, that was Saros', and by extension, the Predators' 2024-25 season, which concluded April 16 in a 5-1 victory against the Dallas Stars.
The end of the worst 82-game campaign — points-wise and otherwise — since the franchise's inaugural 1998-99 season saw the team finish 30-44-8 with 68 points. Only the Chicago Blackhawks and San Jose Sharks were worse.
While it would be unfair and illogical to stack all of the blame on Saros' shoulders, his performance is hardly above reproach.
His .895 save percentage was by far the worst of his 10-year career. Same with his 2.98 goals-against average. And his 31 losses. And the minus-7.8 goals saved above average, the 3.20 goals adjusted against average and .483 quality starts percentage.
Heck, he was even benched in favor of his former backup, Kevin Lankinen, during the 4 Nations Face-Off in February.
"It's more about how you play the game," said Saros, who lost four straight to start the season, and had losing streaks of eight and five games. "In the long run, the stats will follow your team's."
'You want to be the solution'
Saros' numbers hardly matched those of the man who finished in the top five in Vezina Trophy voting the previous three seasons. Of the man who led the league in games each of those years. Of the man who faced and stopped the most shots in the NHL the past two.
His 2024-25 numbers also hardly match those of the man whose eight-year, $61.92 million contract extension — which carries an annual cap hit of $7.7 million — kicks in next season, when he will be 30 years old.
"You want to be a big part of leading this team," he said. "You want to be that guy that is the solution."
THE BAD, THE UGLY: Nashville Predators forward Steven Stamkos on this season: 'Sucked into the negativity'
Pressure?
"I don't really think about that," he said.
"I always want to keep myself at a high standard. I'm always finding ways to (try to) get better and keep myself accountable."
Even after the playoffs became an afterthought.
"It doesn't matter if it's Game 10 or Game 81, I can't really think about that," Saros said. "I'm just trying to focus on that game and do as well as I can."
Andrew Brunette on Juuse Saros: 'He dipped a little bit'
Predators coach Andrew Brunette, who said the great expectations leading into what turned out to be a lost season, expectations born of spending $110-plus million on free agents Steven Stamkos, Jonathan Marchessault and Brady Skjei, may have led some players to believe things were going to be "easier" than they thought.
"I think you see the signings and I think we thought that chemistry was kind of easy, that we're playing fantasy hockey and we could put whoever together and we're going to have big results," Brunette said.
The goals never came. The Predators were dead last in the league in that category.
The goalie Saros was in the past wasn't as present, either.
"I thought he was really good early," Brunette said. "I thought he dipped a little bit for a stretch . . . It was that kind of year where it seemed if we plugged one hole, one slipped.
"I thought he finished really strong. He was a byproduct of our game. In front of him we were way too loose. We developed bad habits. He was the guy that had to bail us out a lot of nights."
Paul Skrbina is a sports enterprise reporter covering the Predators, Titans, Nashville SC, local colleges and local sports for The Tennessean. Reach him at [email protected] and on the X platform (formerly known as Twitter) @paulskrbina. Follow his work here.
DUE FOR A TUNE-UP? Nashville Predators' Steven Stamkos on if changes need to be made to Brunette's system
BACK TO THE FUTURE: What Andrew Brunette said about his future as Nashville Predators coach
ESTES: Good riddance to this Nashville Predators season, humbling failure that it was
This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Predators goalie Juuse Saros talks about forgettable 2024-25 season
Continue reading...
