The Nashville Predators' goaltender is in town on a conditioning stint with the hometown American Hockey League's Admirals after a four month layoff on the Predators' injured reserved list with a bacterial infection stemming from a surgical procedure on his hip, and the team felt he could use a couple of starts in Milwaukee before exposing him to NHL snipers.
You see, Rinne is royalty in these parts, last season being named the greatest Admiral in the team's 35-year history, earning 81 wins, a 2.54 goals against average and a .911 save percentage in the three seasons he spent in the largest city in Wisconsin, named to two AHL All Star Games and leading the Admirals to the 2006 Calder Cup finals...
...so in a city where beer is king, Rinne probably won't have to dig in his pockets to pay for one - ever.
The Predators do not have a time table for Rinne's return and don't want to push it with him after he had to endure two surgeries on the same hip in five months - one to repair an injury and one to eradicate an e-coli infection, the former to correct deterioration in the joint, which is a fairly common procedure among hockey players.
But the latter, an arthroscopic procedure to flush the infection from his body with saline and antibiotics, turned into a nightmare of being attached continuously to IV antibiotics - so really, just being free of that thing probably feels like being paroled, no matter the surroundings.
But Milwaukee it is, back where the Finnish netminder's career began on American soil - and though the itinerary is ambiguous beyond Friday and Sunday, when Rinne will be between the pipes for the Admirals, the fluid nature of the rehab due to the fact that Rinne himself will dictate when he is ready to return to Nashville.
“I feel like I’m really close to game shape,” Rinne said upon arrival in Milwaukee. “I think it’s a final couple of games before I jump on the ice with the Nashville team.”
“In practice, it’s hard to have game-like moments and drills. It’s hard to duplicate that traffic, and that game speed and intensity,” Rinne continued, then added, “For a goalie it’s all about your timing, special teams, penalty kill - which is such a big part of the game for a goalie. It’s just things like that. Getting used to it again.”
Rinne only started practicing with the team when it returned from its 10-day Olympic break on February 19th. "He’s still got game action he’s got to get into." Predator's coach Barry Trotz said earlier in the week. "He’s got to get back into Pekka Rinne form."
What better place to get into form than where it all started?
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