When I was asked to write the flagship station’s Top 10 Preds Moments of the Decade, I was honored to do so. You see, I’ve covered this Nashville Predators team for 10 years now — 12 if you count my two years as an unaccredited blogger when section303.com was in it’s infancy — and that just so happens to means from the start of the 2010-2011 campaign. I’m walking away after in June so, while the season is far from over, this could be seen as a recap to my 10 years as a member of the broadcast media as well.
But you’re not here to read about me. I just wanted to provide some context as to why I wrote this and the emotions surrounding that.
Without further ado, here are the Top 10 Moments for the Nashville Predators organization between January 1, 2010 and December 26, 2019.
(Don’t worry. If Filip Forsberg scores nine goals against the Pittsburgh Penguins on Saturday, I’ll update the list.)
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#10
The PK Subban/Shea Weber trade (June 29, 2016)
In what was called “the biggest one-for-one trade in National Hockey League history,” Nashville Predators captain Shea Weber was shipped to the Montreal Canadiens for 2013 Norris Trophy winner PK Subban. Subban’s larger-than-life personality was a little too much for the old fashioned Montreal market but was a perfect fit in Music City. Weber, 29 at the time, was just four years into a 14-year deal that saw him making $110 million over the life of the contract.
It was one of those rare hockey trades that worked out well for both sides. Subban was arguably Nashville’s best player during the 2017 Stanley Cup Playoffs and Weber eventually became the 30th captain in the long, storied history of the Habs organization and looks well on his way to another Norris nom (one he might actually win this time given the market he now plays in).
#9
Winter Classic invite (January 25, 2019)
Hockey fans everywhere had been begging the NHL to give somebody other than the Chicago Blackhawks an outdoor game for years. Predators fans, of course, thought they specifically deserved a shot at either the Winter Classic or a Stadium Series tilt and were even willing to be the road team. Earlier this year, they finally got their wish as they are scheduled to play the Dallas Stars at Cotton Bowl Stadium on New Years’ Day 2020. So while the game itself will count towards the next decade’s Top 10 list, the long-awaited (and, really, overdue) announcement that Nashville was finally invited to dance with the big boys finally provided the Preds faithful with some validation.
#8
David Poile inducted into the US Hockey Hall of Fame (December 12, 2018)
The winningest General Manager in the history of the NHL has had a grand total of two GM gigs in his 31-year tenure. He led the Washington Capitals to a 594-454-124 record in his 15 years there before taking the job in Nashville where he’s been at the helm for every game of the franchise’s 804-619-60-159 all-time record (record through December 23). Last year, he was inducted into the US Hockey Hall of Fame and, to add to the recognition, the ceremony and festivities were held at the JW Marriott in Nashville.
(photo: Jeremy K. Gover)
#7
Martin Erat requests a trade (April 3, 2013)
One of the all-time franchise leaders in scoring, winger Martin Erat asked David Poile for a trade and, on deadline day, the Washington Capitals (who were looking for a veteran winger to help bolster their Stanley Cup hopes) became his eventual destination. Poile was able to package Erat with Milwaukee Admirals forward Michael Latta in exchange for highly-touted prospect Filip Forsberg. Forsberg, now 25, is a superstar in the making and one of the most exciting players to watch in the NHL. Erat went onto score 13 more goals over two and half years after leaving Nashville before heading back to his native Czech Republic to finish out his professional career.
Erat is third on the franchise’s all-time goals list with 163. Forsberg is just four away from that number (and he’s played 298 less games). It’s incredible to think where this organization would be without Erat asking for that trade back in 2013.
#6
Pekka Rinne wins the Vezina Trophy (June 20, 2018)
After a dominating 2017-18 season that saw him post a ridiculous record of 42-13-4, Predators goaltender Pekka Rinne was finally recognized as the Vezina Trophy winner, given annually to the League’s best goaltender. The Kempele, Finland native had finished third in the voting once and then as the runner-up two other times before finally taking the stage in Las Vegas to accept an accolade only 55 other men in the 100+ year history of the NHL had ever won.
#5
Mike Fisher’s triple-overtime winner (May 6, 2016)
It was 1:04 am and there was a hockey game going on at 501 Broadway. The game had started on May 5 but the moment came on May 6 when Mattias Ekholm kept the puck in with an innocent shot from the blueline toward the net. The fatigued Sharks skaters crowded the slot where Ekholm and James Neal were, leaving Mike Fisher and Colin Wilson all alone in front of San Jose netminder Martin Jones. Fisher collected the rebound, deposited it into the back of the net and ended the longest game in franchise history, giving the 17,188 in attendance a moment they’ll never forget.
Also, here was Pete Weber’s legendary call of Fisher’s game-winner:
#4
Nashville hosts NHL All-Star Weekend (January 30-31, 2016)
Let’s see, there was Matt Duchene joining Lee Brice on stage, there was PK Subban doing his best Jaromir Jagr impression, we saw country music star Dierks Bentley skate in with James Neal 2-on-0, there was the way the city turned out for the festivities, there was the outdoor rink and there was Pekka Rinne with an acoustic guitar as a goalie stick. All of those moments were great but the biggest takeaway from Nashville’s hosting of the 2016 NHL All-Star Weekend was John Scott emerging as the MVP and truly capitalizing on what started out as a way to mock the annual event.
Scott, who scored a grand total of five goals in his NHL career — with seven different teams, by the way — was voted into the Game as a farce. Instead of embarrass the sport, Scott made the most of it and the Nashville faithful rose to the occasion by celebrating the novelty that was Scott in any All-Star Game at any level. Not only did they chant “MVP!” when he spoke with NBC’s Pierre McGuire on the ice after the tournament but the fans, themselves, forced the League to name him the MVP by ignoring the pre-determined nominees on the jumbotron and texting in Scott’s name instead.
Lost in all of this was the fact that Nashville was the first experiment of the division vs. division, 3-on-3 tournament style All-Star Game.
#3
Preds sweep Blackhawks (April 20, 2017)
The Chicago Blackhawks were so heavily favored, they were the unanimous favorite among national experts and insiders. Matter of fact, only a “homer” would’ve picked the Preds to advance out of the best-of-seven series. But that’s why the games are played on the ice and not on paper. Not only did the Predators sweep the top-seeded Chicago Blackhawks, Pekka Rinne didn’t allow a single goal in the city of Chicago, beating the Hawks by a combined score of 6-0 in Games 1 and 2. The series shifted to Music City for Game 3 and saw the home team win in overtime to take a commanding 3-0 series lead. Then, a couple nights later, it was all gold in the 4-1 victory to complete the sweep.
#2
David Legwand’s empty net goal to win first playoff series (April 24, 2011)
“There are fans near us in tears here.”
– TSN play-by-play man Chris Cuthbert
Through the early years, the Preds were underdogs going into some playoffs (2004, 2008) and favorites heading into others (2006, 2007) but were never able to advance out of the first round. In 2011, however, they drew the Anaheim Ducks as their first round opponent and changed all that. After six games that birthed a rivalry, Head Coach Barry Trotz and the boys would advance in the Stanley Cup Playoffs for the first time in their 13-year history. But, before they did, the franchise’s first ever draft pick (second overall, 1998) David Legwand sealed the victory with an empty net goal.
The city of Nashville hadn’t seen a hockey playoff series victory since 1995 when the ECHL’s Nashville Knights defeated the South Carolina Stingrays in the Western Conference Semifinals, 3-1. That’s an awful long time to wait.
#1
Colton Sissons hat trick lifts Preds into Final (May 22, 2017)
When Ryan Johansen (the team’s leading postseason scorer, by the way) went down with a seemingly-innocent (but in reality life-threatening) leg injury in Game 4 of the Western Conference Finals, the Predators were not in good shape. They had already lost Kevin Fiala to a broken femur in the prior round and Craig Smith was dealing with a high ankle sprain. If that wasn’t enough, it was later revealed that James Neal had broken his hand in Game 1 against Anaheim and played through the pain the rest of the way. Johansen had required emergency surgery post-game and would be on the shelf for two-three months. As it turns out, fellow center Mike Fisher was unable to finish that same contest due to a concussion and would, eventually miss the rest of the series.
So with Neal hurt and Fiala, Johansen and Fisher all out, things looked bleak for the Preds in their quest to make the Stanley Cup Final for the first time in franchise history. All of the injuries were at the forward position so with that came some serious line juggling by Head Coach Peter Laviolette and his staff. Sissons found himself as the top line center for Game 6 in Music City and began to write an incredible story.
Austin Watson got things going less than two minutes in but it was Sissons who gave Nashville a commanding 2-0 lead at 8:47 of the opening frame. Anaheim tried to answer in the second with a goal by Ondrej Kase but Sissons found the back of the net again early in the third to re-take the two goal lead in the must-win game for the visitors.
After the Ducks put two quick ones on the board to tie the game at 3-3, Sissons rose to the occasion again and, with exactly six minutes remaining in regulation, completed the hat trick. He was having the game of his life when his team needed it the most. It’s a shame that his unlikely heroics could be lost in the accomplishment that the eighth-seeded Predators became one of the last two teams standing despite the laundry list of injuries.
The victory sent the state of Tennessee into a frenzy that would become very evident by the volume at Bridgestone… and in Hall of Fame Park… and on lower Broadway… over the coming weeks — but it was Sissons who put the team on his back and pushed them to the mountaintop.
(photo: John Russell)
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There were so many moments that I felt deserved to be on the list but I couldn’t, in good conscious, rank them over the 10 above. With those outliers in mind, below are the honorable mentions.
HONORABLE MENTION #1
Nashville hosts (and wins) first ever Cup Final game in Tennessee (June 3, 2017)
Just look at the images and it’s all you need to know about die-hard hockey fans coming out to support their team alongside people of all different ages becoming hockey fans for the first time.
HONORABLE MENTION #2
Ryan Suter vs. Shea Weber for gold (February 28, 2010)
Before the Predators had any playoff success, fans assembled en masse on Bleacher’s Sports Grill in Franklin to watch Shea Weber and Ryan Suter battle each other in the 2010 Olympic gold medal game in Vancouver, British Columbia. Weber would come away with the gold while Suter came away with the silver but it was one heckuva game as Canada won 3-2 in overtime. The watch party even got a shout out 0n the NBC broadcast.
HONORABLE MENTION #3
The drafting of Seth Jones (June 30, 2016)
The Predators organization had always been known as a defensemen factory. First round, second round or even later, Nashville always seemed to pump out NHL mainstay blueliners. Shea Weber, Ryan Suter, Kevin Klein, Roman Josi, Ryan Ellis, Mattias Ekholm and Dan Hamhuis had all been drafted and developed by Poile and the organization so it was no surprise when they took the draft stage for the fourth overall pick in 2013. There were four “can’t miss” players in that draft class, forwards Nathan MacKinnon, Alexander Barkov and Jonathan Drouin as well as defenseman Seth Jones. So when MacKinnon, Barkov and Drouin when 1-2-3, there was only one thing left to do.
The addition of Jones gave the Preds a bit of a surplus at that position and, therefore, a position of strength when it came to the trade front. Having never been able to hit a homerun drafting and developing a legit offensive force (Alexander Radulov in 2005 was their closest home run swing but he defected to the start-up KHL before realizing that potential in Music City) when the Columbus Blue Jackets made top line center Ryan Johansen available, there was one team who had the tradable assets to flirt with.
HONORABLE MENTION #4
Subban creates Blueline Buddies program (October 2017)
PK Subban’s charitable endeavors are one’s dreams are made of. Just ask the Montreal Children’s hospital. But, when he got to Nashville around the time Colin Kaepernick started his kneel-to-protest-racial-injustice movement in the National Football League, Subban got creative. He decided to bring together instead of further divide and, as a result, created the Blueline Buddies Program. Every home game, Subban would buy tickets and then invite inner city youth to go to a game with a member of the police department. The hope was that it would create an environment where people from both worlds could talk as equals and bridge the cultural divide that is unfortunately so rampant in our society. Athletes, public figures and celebrities talk all the time about wanting to help *insert cause here* but Subban did more than that. He took action in a very creative way that goes beyond the sport of hockey.
HONORABLE MENTION #5
Ryan Suter leaves for Minnesota (July 4, 2012)
When All-Star defenseman Ryan Suter walked away from the Predators in favor of the Minnesota Wild back in the summer of 2012, GM David Poile was extremely candid with his comments. But that’s not why this moment makes the list (although that’s enough). Suter leaving Music City makes the Honorable Mention list because it opened up a spot for Roman Josi to rise and flourish, something he’s absolutely done. Preds fans still boo every time Suter touches the puck in Bridgestone and the Cell Block often chants “Josi’s better!” which adds to the drama, of course. But the fact that Josi is now the team captain, is generally regarded as one of the best defensemen in the National Hockey League and will almost certainly be a Norris Trophy finalist at the end of the season all comes back to the fact that Suter walked away in the fashion he did.
