Vokoun Season Ends Unexpectedly

One of the up-comming teams in the NHL this year is the Nashville Predators. They went out and bolstered their roster with free agents expecting the playoff window to stay open for a while.

But those hopes were dashed by the shocking news that their goaltender Tomas Vokoun was diagnosed with bloodclots. He is expected to make a full recovery, but the timetable is such that he won't be available for the remaining regular season games and the playoffs.

The underlying story to this is how many teams that suffer injuries to their starting goaltender don't have reliable backups that secure confidence for the long playoff haul.

That leaves the Predators leaning on Chris Mason, who is 8-5-1 with a 2.80 goals against average. His backup is Pekka Rinne, who has appeared in only two NHL games.

[Via: Rogers Sportsnet]