Preds 2023-24 Roster Breakdown: Goaltenders

Training Camp is just over a month away, and a new season of Preds hockey is right around the corner.

As General Manager Barry Trotz enters his first season at the helm and Head Coach Andrew Brunette enters his first behind the bench, there are plenty of reasons to be excited about the 2023-24 Nashville Predators.

The 2023 NHL trade deadline in March created a domino effect for the Preds, setting off a series of roster moves that spilled into the offseason. The result? A team that looks very different than it did this time last year. This year's training camp will serve as a clean slate of sorts for Trotz and the coaching staff, as well as for the players competing for the substantial number of roster spots that are still very much up for grabs.

Roster construction can be like a game of Tetris, maddeningly complex with a seemingly infinite number of potential moves. While no one - no, not even the Predators front office - knows for certain what the rosters for the Predators and their AHL affiliate in Milwaukee will look like on Opening Night, we can begin to break the roster down and examine the options at each position on the ice.

Trotz has said on several occasions that the foundation of a good team is good goaltending, so we'll start our positional breakdown there. The crease also happens to be the only area of the Predators roster that remains relatively unchanged from last season, at least at the NHL level. Here's a look at the key members of Nashville's goaltending core in 2023-24, featuring one new (old) face:

PROBABLE STARTERS

Juuse Saros

We can go ahead and remove the "probable" tag for Saros, who put up one of the finest seasons by a goaltender in Predators history in 2022-23. The netminder was arguably the primary reason why Nashville remained in the hunt for a playoff spot until the season's final days despite a barrage of injuries and a young, inexperienced lineup in front of him.

Saros finished the season ranked first in the league in goals saved above expected (46.7) and tied for sixth in save percentage (.919). According to MoneyPuck.com, Saros' GSAE of 46.7 (all situations) was not only the highest in the NHL last season but also the highest among all League goaltenders since the site began tracking the category in 2008-09.

Saros' 63 starts in 2022-23 were just one fewer than Connor Hellebuyck's League-leading 64 for Winnipeg. Saros turned in several stellar single-game performances, including an outing on Jan. 5 at Carolina, a 5-3 win for the Predators that saw him make 64 saves, tied for the third-most in a game in NHL history. He followed that up with a 38-save shutout on Jan. 9 at Ottawa; his 102 saves were tied for the seventh-most in two consecutive starts by the same goaltender and were the most since Byron Dafoe in 1995-96 (102).

In short, Saros is an elite goalie who consistently performs at an elite level. If the foundation of a good team is good goaltending, that's certainly not a bad place to start.

Kevin Lankinen

While much of the credit deservedly goes to Saros during a challenging 2022-23 season, Lankinen made the most of the 18 starts he was given. Lankinen, who signed with Nashville as a free agent ahead of the 2022-23 season, impressed in his first season with the team. His dependability in the No. 2 spot behind Saros earned him a one-year, $2 million contract extension through 2023-24, creating a formidable one-two punch in the Predators crease.

Lankinen finished last season with a record of 9-8-1 and a .916 save percentage, making at least 30 saves on 12 occasions. He won his first start with Nashville in the second game of the Global Series against the San Jose Sharks on October 8 in Prague. On Dec. 2 at the New York Islanders, Lankinen made a career-high 48 saves in Nashville's 4-1 victory; it was tied for the sixth-most saves in a game in Predators history.

Lankinen hit his stride in early 2023, winning five of six starts between January and mid March. His final seven games of the season were all against future playoff teams, and on April 4 he helped the Preds defeat the eventual Stanley Cup-champion Vegas Golden Knights in overtime at Bridgestone Arena.

While he won't be splitting starts evenly with Saros, Lankinen is an exceptionally hard worker entering a "prove-it" season on a one-year contract. Having previously expressed his desire to become a full-time NHL starter, Lankinen will take advantage of every opportunity he has to prove his value in 2023-24.

DOWN THE DEPTH CHART

Yaroslav Askarov

Askarov, the Predators' first-round pick (No. 19 overall) in the 2020 NHL Draft, showed plenty of promise during his first pro season in North America, finishing in the Top 20 among all AHL goaltenders in both goals-against average (2.69) and save percentage (.911). He finished the regular season with a 26-16-5 record and backstopped the Milwaukee Admirals to a Calder Cup Playoff appearance.

Askarov has generated plenty of buzz for his aggressive goaltending style and his postgame celebrations alike. The right-catch goaltender was named to the 2023 AHL All-Star Classic and became the youngest goalie to ever start a game in goal for the Predators (20 years, 210 days) on Jan. 12 at Montreal.

While he seemed to run out of steam during Milwaukee's lengthy playoff run, Askarov remains one of the top prospects in the Predators system at any position. With Saros and Lankinen tending the net in Nashville this season, Askarov has the luxury of time to continue developing at his own pace in Milwaukee without being rushed into the NHL.

Troy Grosenick

Grosenick will return to the Predators organization this season on a one-year, two-way deal worth $775,000 at the NHL level. The 33-year-old netminder spent parts of three seasons with Milwaukee from 2017-20, posting a 47-27-9 record in 86 games. In 2019-20, Grosenick finished sixth in the AHL in wins (20), eighth in save percentage (.920) and ninth in goals-against average (2.29) as he and Connor Ingram won the Harry "Hap" Holmes Memorial Award, given to the goaltenders on the team with the fewest goals-against per game during the regular season, helping lead Milwaukee to the league's best record. That same season, he was honored for his work in the Milwaukee community by being named the AHL's Man of the Year.

A Milwaukee-area native, Grosenick is entering his 11th professional season and has posted a 152-93-30 record in 294 AHL appearances to go along with a 2.51 goals-against average, 19 shutouts, one AHL All-Star Classic nod (2017) and a spot on the league's Second All-Star Team (2022). A veteran with prior NHL experience, Grosenick will serve as a solid backup and mentor for Askarov as the latter continues to develop and hone his raw talent.