The Nashville Predators re-signed goaltender Juuse Saros to a four-year contract with an average annual value of $5 million, reports Sportsnet's Elliotte Friedman.

The 26-year-old was a restricted free agent and had filed for arbitration.

Saros has played with the Predators for the last five seasons since being selected by the club in the fourth round of the 2013 NHL Draft. For the majority of his career, he served as the backup to Pekka Rinne but took over as the primary starter over the past two campaigns.

Last season, Saros put together a 21-11-1 record alongside an impressive .927 save percentage and 2.28 goals-against average. He ranked first among all goalies with 24.64 goals saved above average at five-on-five and ranked fourth with a .868 high-danger save percentage.

The Finland native has appeared in 161 career games, managing a .920 save percentage and 2.51 goals-against average. He's projected to be the team's starting goalie for the foreseeable future after Rinne announced his retirement early in the offseason and with top prospect Yaroslav Askarov working his way up to the NHL.

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