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Even on a bad Nashville Predators team, Juuse Saros is doing his part

No one is really talking about Juuse Saros' 2024-25 campaign because he's on a last place Preds team.

ByChad Minton|
Dec 17, 2024; Nashville, Tennessee, USA; Nashville Predators goaltender Juuse Saros (74) makes a glove save from the shot of New York Rangers center Vincent Trocheck (16) during the second period at Bridgestone Arena. Mandatory Credit: Steve Roberts-Imagn Images
Dec 17, 2024; Nashville, Tennessee, USA; Nashville Predators goaltender Juuse Saros (74) makes a glove save from the shot of New York Rangers center Vincent Trocheck (16) during the second period at Bridgestone Arena. Mandatory Credit: Steve Roberts-Imagn Images | Steve Roberts-Imagn Images

It's a shame that Juuse Saros is getting overlooked around the NHL for the strong season he is putting up once again, but being on a last place Nashville Predators team will do that.

Saros recorded his third shutout of the 2024-25 season on Tuesday night in a 2-0 win over the New York Rangers, which was another game where goal support was hard to come by. It's Saros' 26th shutout of his NHL career, putting him tied for 11th among active NHL goalies.

Juice is doing everything he can to keep Predators from completely sinking

The active shutouts list is led by "The Flower", Marc-Andre Fleury with 75 shutouts over 1,034 games. Among the active list of goalies ahead of Saros in shutouts, they have all played many more games than Saros.

The win over the Rangers was another example of Saros bailing his team out despite very little offensive firepower, aside from a few flashes of good play.

One play that really stands out that could've drastically shifted the momentum back to the equally troubled Rangers is when Saros denied Vincent Trocheck on a breakaway attempt while shorthanded.

At this point the game was still a slim 1-0 lead for Nashville, and you were just waiting for the Rangers to break through and put the Predators back in similar territory of choking away two points.

Saros made 25 saves for the shutout against the Rangers while the Rangers had a 3.09 Expected Goals. So even though the shot total was a little low for the Rangers, Saros worked his magic to preserve a shutout.

According to MoneyPuck's goalie analytics, Saros is up to ninth in the NHL in Goals Saved Above Expected with a season total of 7.09 above expected.

Imagine where the Predators could be if they were producing the offense they were originally thought they would be producing going into the season? I suspect those preseason predictions would be a lot closer to accurate, and the Predators would at the very least be comfortably in a playoff spot.

Saros is mostly doing his job on a nightly basis to hold down the fort until the Predators offensive woes swings back into their favor. It's almost certainly too late for a miracle run to even happen, but we shouldn't forget that Saros is putting up Vezina Trophy type of numbers yet again.

If this team does get hot down the stretch and Saros is a major factor why, even if they miss the playoffs, I wouldn't be too shocked to see "Juice" get another Vezina Trophy nomination. No matter how good he is, he won't get much consideration on a last place team, unfortunately.

This is Saros' last year on his $5-million per year deal that was signed back in 2021. His eight-year deal kicks in next season and will jump to $7.74 million per year, which still looks like it will be a major bargain a few years down the road.

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