Chalk this one up as being a surprise to me, but former Nashville Predators backup goalie Kevin Lankinen remains unsigned as an unrestricted free agent.
You can argue that Lankinen was one of the better backup goalies in the NHL last season, and even mirrored Juuse Saros' primary stats throughout the season, albeit in much fewer games.
The Predators knew that Lankinen would seek a starter's role somewhere else, so they had to let the solid backup to Saros walk in free agency. After all, Lankinen had earned it, and the overwhelming thought was that someone would give him a shot as a starter.
How in the world has Kevin Lankinen not been signed yet?
While time isn't out for Lankinen to find a team, it seems like at the very best he'll be once again brought in as a backup somewhere or added in an emergency scenario if a team suffers a bad injury to their top goalie.
Lankinen had a better save percentage than such mainstay starting goalies as Jake Oettinger, Jacob Markstrom and even Juuse Saros. His GAA of 2.82, while not spectacular, was better than Andrei Vasilevskiy, Jordan Binnington, Alexander Georgiev and Ilya Sorokin.
The point is, how is Lankinen not signed yet? It just baffles me, and if the Predators front office had a time machine, maybe they could've enticed Lankinen to stay in his cushy backup role to Saros.
Lankinen also proved he can play in difficult situations and in intense road atmospheres. He had road wins at Edmonton, at Carolina, at Dallas twice, at Vegas and at the eventual Stanley Cup champion Florida Panthers in shutout fashion.
Although I think Scott Wedgewood will be a fine backup to Saros this upcoming season, I do think he's also a slight downgrade to Lankinen. But he's also cheaper at $1.5 million per year as compared to Lankinen's $2 million, which he would've gotten some type of raise if he stayed. So in that regard, the Predators had to save some money there and can't be paying backups more than $2 million.
Other UFA goalies currently still available alongside Lankinen are Antti Raanta, Carter Hart and Martin Jones. A short list, and these three guys will probably be waiting into the season to find a new team. Perhaps Lankinen can get a phone call from a new team after training camp starts if an organization decides they don't really like their goalie situation.
Lankinen is only 29-years-old. He clearly has plenty of good hockey left in him and can benefit a team eventually. Expect him to reemerge on a one-year deal and once again be in an auditioning role to get a starting role. I just can't believe it hasn't happened yet.
A young and rebuilding team without proven goaltending should probably consider signing Lankinen to at the very least be a veteran backstop to their unproven starter. Some of these teams have an enormous amount of cap space to easily sign Lankinen, like the Sharks and Blue Jackets. Two teams that have also been linked to a Yaroslav Askarov trade possibility.
Another Predators UFA that the front office decided not to re-sign also still sits available on the open market, and that's Tyson Barrie. Rumblings have been going on that teams are showing mild interest in the veteran to be eventually added as a 7th defenseman.