Rinne's Friendship with Young Fan Personifies Impact in Nashville

Ashley Daniel could see the red bracelet peeking out from under Pekka Rinne's uniform.
The accessory was detectable ever so slightly, likely invisible to the casual observer, subdued compared to the golden jersey and oversized pads donned by the goaltender.
But that small tinge of red, minuscule on a night when Rinne had just earned another win during his illustrious career, actually meant more to the Daniel family than anything else.
"You could look at it and see a little bit of a red bracelet, and that was Caleb's bracelet," Daniel said. "I don't know that anybody else knew that. We never told anybody. It was like our little happy moment for Caleb to see that, and it just sparked so much happiness and joy in this little guy.
"To Caleb, he was just a best friend who got him through the toughest of times."

Caleb Daniel was born with a congenital heart defect - hypoplastic left heart syndrome - which, according to his mother, essentially meant he only had half of a heart.
The condition meant plenty of time spent at Monroe Carell Jr. Children's Hospital at Vanderbilt for Caleb as a young boy and three open heart surgeries before most his age were ready for preschool. There were long days and trying moments, but the Daniels managed to keep their positivity through it all, and eventually, there was someone else to lean on.
Ashley doesn't recall the first time Rinne met her son, but the bond between the two seemed to come instantaneously, the star athlete drawn to the boy who still had a smile on his face despite all of the above.
"Caleb, he's a true warrior," Rinne said recently when coming across a photo of his friend.
Before long, Caleb was decked out in Predators memorabilia, including miniature goaltender equipment and plush doll made from Rinne's likeness. There was even a life-size cutout of Rinne that resided in Caleb's room, delivered by one of the nurses at the hospital who knew there was a relationship growing between the two.
As the Preds were making their run to the Stanley Cup Final in 2017, Caleb was back at Vanderbilt, waiting on a heart transplant.
And nothing gave Caleb, the youngest of five, and his family a reprieve quite like watching - and playing - hockey.
"We had decorated the room with a Predators theme, but the nurses and doctors and all the staff of the hospital would get fully on board with Caleb, watching the games on the TV and then on his iPad," Ashley said. "We would be cheering, and they'd be walking by the room to cheer along with him. It was so exciting, because they saw the joy that it brought this kid that's sitting in a bed. But to him there was nothing negative. It was all wonderful and exciting, and it was all about the way Pekka responded to this child. It was fantastic."
On Predators game days, the hallways outside of Caleb's room were figuratively transformed into a rink for the young boy to show off his skills, undoubtedly the most important thing on his mind.
"He'd be carrying around his IV pole with the medicine that was keeping his heart functioning and playing hockey up and down the halls," Ashley said. "A little girl that was in the room next to him would be standing at the door cheering for him. We would sing the national anthem, and everybody would have to stop and put their hand over their heart. It just became so much bigger than the game to him."
All the while, Caleb was still waiting for a call to come.
After the 2017 playoffs were complete, and a few days before the next season was set to begin, Rinne was back at the facility for one of his visits. Caleb, goalie gear and all, made his way down to Seacrest Studios inside the hospital to see his friend, a chance to reconnect after the offseason was complete with hockey on the horizon once more.
And then, just days after that visit, the phone rang.
A transplant followed, and after Caleb woke up from the long surgery and a difficult recovery, there was a video message from Rinne waiting for him. That was all Caleb needed to see for that smile to come right back.
"For a little guy, Pekka was just a best friend," Ashley said. "To the majority of people, he's this incredible athlete, but to Caleb, he was just a best friend."

Becoming close with doctors and nurses is inevitable after spending long periods of time under their care, and Caleb was no different. One nurse in particular - also a Predators fan - saw how much Caleb loved the team and formed a connection.
Caleb's family had been giving out those red bracelets - emblazoned with the saying, "Faith with our whole hearts" - for most of his life, including to his caregivers.
"It was our saying, and it kind of just brought us peace and joy," Ashley said. "Just the way you'd look at it and kind of say a little prayer for him, it was special."
In the fall of 2017, that nurse attended a preseason Meet the Team event and passed along her bracelet to Rinne, telling him the gift was from Caleb. The gesture seemed small, but Rinne didn't question supporting his friend.
"He wore it," Ashley said. "We would be watching on TV, and you could see every now and then, like in the interview after the game, you'd see that little red bracelet peeking out. Or like the Foundation calendar that year, you could look at it and see a little bit of a red bracelet - that was Caleb's bracelet."

Caleb is now an 8-year-old second grader who has signed up to play baseball in the spring. And yes, he still has a healthy obsession with hockey. He recently returned to in-person learning, but while being homeschooled, hockey was everywhere, like counting pucks during math class - and then getting in a quick game during break time.
That passion is all thanks to Rinne, a professional athlete who, while at the top of his game, always made time for a young boy who needed his support more than most.
But that's just Rinne - a goaltender who cared just as much for his community as he did about wins and losses. The TV cameras captured the Finn on plenty of occasions paying visits to the hospital, but he frequented those halls by himself just as much on his own accord, simply because he wanted to be there.
He had friends like Caleb to see and spend time with, doing whatever he could to take their minds off of the hardships they were facing.
And for a parent witnessing kindness and compassion with regularity? Words will never be enough.
"I hoped and prayed every time we would see him that my other children would recognize what he does," Ashley said of Rinne. "As children, they look up to these people that they see on TV. Getting to know someone and actually truly seeing their hearts, seeing that they are using their abilities to do so much more, that's so powerful. I hope my children become someone like him, because it's not the athlete, it's the human being, the really good person that he is. He just welcomed Caleb and our whole family into his heart, into his world."

On Thursday night, Rinne's No. 35 will be raised to the Bridgestone Arena rafters during a ceremony celebrating all he accomplished during a legendary 15-year career in Nashville.
The victories, the saves, the goal - they're all measurable, forever entrenched in the franchise record books and League history as the winningest Finnish netminder of all time.
But for every puck Rinne stopped over the years - 17,627 to be exact - he delivered just as many once-in-a-lifetime interactions for those who call the Music City home. For Rinne, that was just part of the daily routine as someone who fell in love with Nashville the way its residents reciprocated the admiration back to him.
Caleb no longer sees his friend as often as he once did, but he'll always have a place in Rinne's heart. One of the goalie's best stops was helping to save Caleb's.
And while the number 35 will never be worn again by a member of the Nashville Predators, Rinne's biggest fan isn't about to give it up anytime soon.
"Caleb has a little Pekka jersey, and the older boys had to go to something recently where they had to wear a jersey," Ashley said. "They tried to wear it, and Caleb's like, 'No, I'm not sharing 35.'"