Juuse Saros nominated for NHL Goalkeeper of the Year: “That’s a really big deal”

Nashville Hair Saros, 27, was nominated for NHL Goalkeeper of the Year for good reason. The absolute most important player on his team started in as many as 67 matches and played more than any other goalkeeper in the league this season. The Finnish goalkeeper has played more games in the NHL for the last time in the 2011–2012 season.

Then Pekka Rinne started 72 and Miikka Kiprusoff mixed Antti Niemi 68 matches.

And Saros, who played for the first time as a starting goalkeeper in his career, was only in the trough participating. Although Nashville played closely and gave the third least dangerous goal points in the regular season, the Finn won numerous matches for his team during the season with his own bet.

In the regular season winning statistics, Saros was third with 38 entries.

Sport reached Saros from Nashville, who was recovering from injury. Nashville’s season ended early Tuesday morning with a fourth loss to Colorado in the playoffs. Saros, who has been eliminated from the playoffs due to injury, looks back on the regular season with great pleasure after all.

– I really enjoy playing and being able to play a lot. When the body and mind were still coping well, coping was not a problem either. I really liked the big role, Saros times.

In the NHL, jumping from the goalkeeper who shares responsibility with another goalkeeper to clear number one is not always painless, but Sarosta has been marinated alongside Pekka Rinte in the country town according to a long formula – this was reflected in the readiness to perform every night. Although the season was already the sixth for Saros, it was only the first as the clear one.

Saros was humble about the challenge.

– I started the season with an open mind, but such an 82-match Regular Series was a completely new challenge for me. I’ve played a lot in the SM League, but it’s a whole different thing to do the same in the NHL. I also learned a lot about myself during the season and in the middle of it all noticed how it reacts to different situations.

– The need to be able to go game by game one by one. We were barely on the playoffs all season and learned how to handle that situation. It could have been that at the end, it went from time to time to be a little overwhelmed when you knew how much each game and point mattered. You just have to focus on the game, not the end result, Saros opens.

– This kind of doctrine will help in the future.

Saros deserves praise for the homogeneity of his game, even against the background that combining goalkeeping practice with 65-70 match counts is often not a particularly easy equation. Something about the performance of the Finnish star is also shown by the fact that Saros is the only candidate this year who was in the top five in the Veskari vote of the year last season as well.

– The game load somehow felt really natural. I really like that role, so there were no problems with it. We then tried with the goalkeeper coach to look at the days when I needed rest and when I could go through my own stuff on the ice. However, there is always something out there that needs to be honored. I also learned about balancing with this.

Saros was pleasantly surprised and humbled by his own candidacy.

– That’s a really big deal. I have always looked up at those who have been nominated, Saros says.

However, this may not be the time Saros will kick the prestigious goalie trophy. The NHL regular season saw several scorers who played an excellent season, one of whom was above the others: the Russian star of the Rangers Igor Shestjorkin. Saros says he’s even a little surprised by the candidacy he gets.

– Maybe this will come as a small surprise, because there have been other good options. It is now quite certain that Shestjork will also win it, but there were other good sommelier there as a candidate. Maybe this is a little surprise through it.

On a practical level, the tribute doesn’t change anything, Saros recalls.

– These are things you might remember after your career. However, this does not affect everyday work in any way. There is fire, hunger and a desire to constantly evolve here anyway. A neat thing though, the sympathetic watchman from Hämeenlinna decides.