[key2win]

From Yahoo Sports:

The Nashville Predators signed goaltender Pekka Rinne to a seven-year, $49 million contract Thursday on his 29th birthday, the largest deal in the team’s short history.

Rinne, a native of Kempele, Finland, was second in voting for the Vezina Trophy and fourth in voting for the Hart Trophy earlier this year after helping the Predators win their first playoff series. He ranked second in the NHL with a .930 save percentage, third in goals-against average (2.12) and tied for sixth with six shutouts.

He leads the NHL with the most shutouts since 2008-09, and his 22nd last weekend against Anaheim also was his 100th career victory.

This season, Rinne became the first goalie in team history to start each of the first 11 games. He leads the NHL with 307 saves and is second in shots against (333) and third in minutes played (624:37).