Juuse Saros appeared to have a firm grip on the Nashville Predators starting goalie role before the NHL season was paused, but head coach John Hynes said there will be a competition for the No. 1 role when the team begins training camp next month.

Starting in February, Saros made 14 starts while veteran Pekka Rinne made just six, being pulled twice. For the season, Saros posted a 17-12-4 record with a .914 save percentage and a 2.70 goals-against average, while Rinne went 18-14-4 with a .895 save percentage and a 3.17 GAA.

"I would say this, prior to the pause, Saros was hot," Hynes told ESPN 102.5 The Game. "Pekka didn't play as much, but to be very honest, it wasn't so much that Pekka wasn't playing well, it was that Saros was playing so well that it didn't make ... everyone saw it. Pekka saw it, the team saw it, and [Saros] was in such a groove that it only made sense to be able to continue to play him. He was finding ways to win games.

"We've talked to [Rinne and Saros] over this break, and I think both players have to come back with the mindset that they want to have the starting job. I don't think it's probably smart or fair going into training camp to say that one guy is ahead of the other only because we don't know how they're going to come back. Are they going to be ready? Is one guy going to be playing really well and one guy is not? We believe both guys can help us win, but it's going to be a bit of a competition."

With a 6-3-1 record in their final 10 games before the season was paused, the Predators rose into the second wild-card spot in the Western Conference. Based on points percentage, they will be the No. 6 seed in the NHL's Return to Play plan and face the Arizona Coyotes in a best-of-five play-in series. 

Hynes, who was hired in January to replace Peter Laviolette, said he believes the play-in series could come down to which team has better goaltending. 

"I think the team that gets goaltending right away [has an advantage]," Hynes said. "It'll be four months off before a training camp and maybe an exhibition game, maybe two, we don't know. It's going to be a little bit of hyperactivity, a lot of intensity. The team that gets goaltending early in this to allow their team to get up and running, get some confidence, and get the team better to battle, is going to be really important."

Rinne, 37, has started 89 playoff games for the Predators in his career, posting a 45-44 record. Saros has appeared in relief of Rinne seven times in the postseason but has never started a playoff game.