Yes, we know that this is taking a while!

As many of you know, we at Notinhalloffame.com are slowly generating the top 50 of each major North American sports team. That being said, we have existing Top 50 lists and consistently look to update them when necessary and based on necessity. As such, we are delighted to present our post-2023-24 revision of our top 50 Nashville Predators.

As for all of our top 50 players in hockey, we look at the following:

1.  Advanced Statistics.

2.  Traditional statistics and how they finished in the National Hockey League.

3.  Playoff accomplishments.

4.  Their overall impact on the team and other intangibles that are not reflected in a stat sheet.

Last year, the Predators looked to be dead in the water.  However, they made the playoffs after going into trade mode, though they were dispatched in the first round.  Based on last season, there was one new entrant and two elevations.

As always, we present our top five, which saw some significant changes:

1. Roman Josi
2. Shea Weber
3. Pekka Rinne
4. Filip Forsberg
5. David Legwand

You can find the entire list here.

Josi was at the top of the list when last season started, and after a third-place Norris finish, he extended the gap between himself and number two.

The change in the top five came from Center Filip Forsberg who went up one spot from #5 to #4.

Goalie Juuse Saros, who was a top-five finisher in Vezina voting, advanced to #7 from #14.

The lone new entrant was Defenseman Alexandre Carrier, who debuts at #42.

We thank you for your continued support of our lists on Notinhalloffame.com.

A lockdown Defenseman, Alexandre Carrier has thus far played his entire career with Nashville, where his blocking and clearing ability has been an asset to the Predators.

A physical player can be used when needed, and Carrier can be used on offense, especially on power play.  Carrier has twice scored 20 Points, was an All-Rookie player in 2021-22, and has 62 and a +39 Plus/Minus entering this season.

Yes, we know that this is taking a while!

As many of you know, we here at Notinhalloffame.com are slowly generating the 50 of each major North American sports team.  That being said, we have existing Top 50 lists out and we always consistently look to update them when we can and based on necessity.  As such, we are very happy to present our post 2022/23 revision of our top 50 Nashville Predators.

As for all of our top 50 players in hockey we look at the following:

1.  Advanced Statistics.

2.  Traditional statistics and how they finished in the National Hockey League.

3.  Playoff accomplishments.

4.  Their overall impact on the team and other intangibles not reflected in a stat sheet.

Last year, Nashville did not make the playoffs but they still, had several new entry and multiple elevations.

As always, we present our top five, which saw a change:

1. Roman Josi

2. Shea Weber

3. Pekka Rinne

4. Filip Forsberg

5. David Legwand

You can find the entire list here.

Josi is still active, and the former Norris Trophy winner is putting more distance between himself and all others who played in Nashville.

Forsberg moved up one spot, overtaking Legwand for #4.

Defenseman, Matias Ekholm, who was traded to the Edmonton Oilers late last year did enough to move up one spot to claim the #9 spot.

Goalie, Jusse Saros, climbed two spots to #14.

Center, Ryan Johansen, who is now with the Colorado Avalanche, inched up one rank to #16.

Another Center, Matt Duchene, debuts on the list at #31.

A third Center, Colton Sissons, went from #35 to #33, and in keeping with Centers, Mikael Granlund, who is now a Pittsburgh Penguin made it to #45 from #48.

We welcome your input and comments and as always, we thank you for your support.

Matt Duchesne signed with Nashville in 2019 following ten seasons with Colorado, Ottawa and Columbus. 

Bringing a veteran presence at Center spent four seasons with the Predators, peaking with a career-best in Goals (43), Points (86) and Shots (229).  Duchene scored 56 Points in 2022/23, his last in a Predators uniform as he signed with Dallas the year after.

Duchene had 197 Points in 249 Games as a Predator.

From Toronto, P.K. Subban won two Gold Medals in World Junior Hockey action before he joined the team that drafted him in the second round in 2007, Montreal.  Subban was an All-Rookie in 2010-11, and two years later, in the strike-shortened 2012-13 campaign, he won the Norris Trophy on the strength of 38 Points in 42 Games.  With the Habs, Subban was a First Team All-Star not only in his Norris year but also two years later.

In a shocking trade, Subban was sent to Nashville in a deal that saw the fellow defensive star, Shea Weber, go the other way.  Subban remained strong in his new environment, collecting Second Team All-Star honors in 2018, a year after he propelled the Predators to their first Stanley Cup appearance.  The charismatic superstar concluded his career with two seasons in New Jersey, where he won the King Clancy Award in his now final year.

In addition to his two Golds as a Junior, Subban won Gold for Canada in the 2014 Olympics and back-to-back Golds in the 2008 and 2009 World Juniors.

Yes, we know that this is taking a while!

As many of you know, we here at Notinhalloffame.com are slowly generating the 50 of each major North American sports team.  That being said, we have existing Top 50 lists out and we always consistently look to update them when we can and based on necessity.  As such, we are very happy to present our post 2021/22 revision of our top Los Angeles Kings.

As for all of our top 50 players in hockey we look at the following: 

1.  Advanced Statistics.

2.  Traditional statistics and how they finished in the National Hockey League. 

3.  Playoff accomplishments.

4.  Their overall impact on the team and other intangibles not reflected in a stat sheet.

Last year, Nashville made the playoffs but were bounced in the first round.  There were multiple active Predators on the list, leading to some significant elevations, including a new number one.  There was also one new entry.

As always, we present our top five:

1. Roman Josi

2. Shea Weber

3. Pekka Rinne

4. David Legwand

5. Filip Forsberg

You can find the entire list here.

Josi, who was the runner-up for the Norris last year, takes over at number one, overtaking Weber and Rinne.  Forsberg, who is currently a top Forward for the Predators, moves into the top five, taking over the spot from Kimmo Timonen.  He advanced from #9.

Defenseman, Mattias Ekholm, inched up one spot to #9.

Goalie, Juuse Saros, went up from #20 to 14.

Center, Ryan Johansen, climbed to #17 from #21.

Another Center, Colton Sissons advanced five spots to #35.

The new entrant is Forward, Mikael Granlund, who debuts at #49.  He knocks Austin Watson off the list.

We welcome your input and comments and as always, we thank you for your support.

Mikael Granlund had a good seven-years-and-change with the Minnesota Wild before he was traded during the 2018-19 Season to Nashville, but the Center got off to a rocky start with the Preds, scoring only one Goal in 16 Games.  This lowered his stock, and the then Free Agent’s stock fell. Granlund accepted a low offer from Nashville to stay.

Over the 2019-20 and 2020-21 Seasons, Granlund scored 57 Points, a disappointing amount, but he rebounded in 2021/22 with 64 Points, his first 60-Point year since 2017-18 and third overall.  Nashville struggled in 2022/23, leading to the team dealing Granlund to Pittsburgh at the trade deadline.  WIth Nashville, Granlund accumulated 162 Points in 268 Games.

Yes, we know that this is taking a while!

As many of you know, we here at Notinhalloffame.com are slowly generating the 50 of each major North American sports team.  We have a new one to unveil today, that of the Nashville Predators. 

The Predators made their debut in 1998, bringing hockey to the Volunteer State.

As a new team, the Predators have not yet won a Stanley Cup, but they did make it to the Finals in 2017 and have one of the more dedicated fan bases in American hockey.

Our Top 50 lists in hockey look at the following:

1.  Advanced Statistics.

2.  Traditional statistics and how they finished in the National Hockey League.

3.  Playoff accomplishments.

4.  Their overall impact on the team and other intangibles not reflected in a stat sheet.

Remember, this is ONLY based on what a player does on that particular team and not what he accomplished elsewhere and also note that we have placed an increased importance on the first two categories.

This list is updated up until the end of the 2020/2021 Season.

The complete list can be found here, but as always, we announce our top five in this article.  They are:

1. Shea Weber

2. Pekka Rinne

3. Roman Josi

4. David Legwand

5. Kimmo Timonen

We will continue our adjustments on our existing lists and will continue developing our new lists.  

Look for our more material coming soon!

As always, we thank you for your support.

Regular visitors of Notinhalloffame.com know that we are slowly working on the top 50 of every major team in the NHL, NBA, NFL and MLB.  Once that is done, we intend to look at how each team honor their past players, coaches and executives.  As such, it is news to us that the Nashville Predators have announced that former Goalie, Pekka Rinne, will have his number 35 retired, making him the first former Predator to earn this honor.

The ceremony will take place on February 24, 2022, during their home game against the Dallas Stars.

From Finland, Rinne played his entire NHL career with Nashville, where he is the all-time franchise leader in Wins (369), Goals Against Average (2.43), Shutouts (60).  In 2017, Rinne led the Predators to what is to date their only Stanley Cup Finals.  He won the Vezina the following year, and he was a four-time All-Star.  Rinne, who is also a two-time post-season All-Star won the King Clancy Memorial Trophy in his final season.

We here at Notinhalloffame.com would like to congratulate Pekka Rinne for his impending honor.

Jordin Tootoo was not the most skilled hockey player, but he had toughness and grit, which allowed him to carve out a long career in the NHL, most of which were spent with the Predators.

Making history as the first player of Inuit descent to play in the NHL, Tootoo had four three-digit PIM seasons and scored 30 Points in 2011/12, his best in hockey.  Tootoo played his eight years for Nashville, joining Detroit as a Free Agent in 2012.

Tootoo would accumulate 125 Points for Nashville, but he is best known now for giving back to the Indigenous communities of Canada and his overall philanthropy.  

Greg Zanon was drafted by the Ottawa Senators in 2000, but he was not signed by the team and instead grew his skills with Nebraska-Omaha in the NCAA.  

Zanon signed with the Nashville Predators as a Free Agent in 2004 and made their roster two years later.  A lockdown Defenseman, Zanon only scored 26 Points over his 230 Games in Nashville, but he was a known shot-blocker, and would have a Plus/Minus of +19, a good number for a team that was not good at the time.

Zanon left the Predators as a Free Agent when he signed with Minnesota in 2009.

From Switzerland, Kevin Fiala became one of the country’s few First Round picks when Nashville selected him 11^thOverall in 2014.

Fiala made it to the Predators for six Games in his first two years in North American hockey, and the Left Wing would remain as an NHL player in 2016/17.  Fiala had a coming-out year after, scoring 48 Points that year, but was traded to Minnesota at the 2019 Trading Deadline.

As a Predator, Fiala accrued 97 Points in 204 Games.

After three years with the Los Angeles Kings, Vitali Yachmenev was traded to the Nashville Predators, the team he finished his NHL career with.

Yachmenev was an original Predator, joining them in their expansion year, though he never reached the 53-Point year he did as an NHL rookie with Los Angeles.  Nevertheless, the Russian Left Wing did score 130 Points for the Predators before returning home to play in the KHL. 

It was an incredible feat for Karlis Skrastins to have made the Predators roster in 1998, albeit for only two Games, as a player drafted in the Ninth Round is not often expected to make the NHL at all, let alone in the year they were drafted.

The Russian Defenseman would become a stalwart on the blueline and become of Nashville's better shot blockers and traditional Defensemen, and he played for the Predators for four seasons, totaling 54 Points.  Skrastins departed Nashville in the 2003 off-season when he was traded to Colorado.

Skrastins tragically died as one of the many people who perished in the Lokomotiv Yaroslavl plane crash in 2011.

Cody Franson debuted for the Nashville Predators in 2009, four years after the native of British Columbia was drafted in the Third Round.  

Franson had a very good rookie year, finishing 11^th in Calder voting, with 21 Points and a +15 Plus/Minus.  The season after, Franson scored 29 Points with a +10 Plus/Minus, and should have been a stalwart for the Predators for years to come.  Instead, Nashville dealt the Defenseman to Toronto, though years later he was sent back for Nashville’s 2015 playoff run.  Franson signed with Buffalo afterward, ending his Predators run with 54 Points.

Beginning his NHL career in 1987 with the Washington Capitals, Defenseman Bill Houlder would later play for Buffalo, Anaheim, St. Louis, and Tampa Bay, before joining Nashville early in the 1999/00 Season after being selected off of the Waiver Draft.

Houlder was in his early 30s by this time and did not have the same offensive capability, but the Defenseman was still a savvy player and still provided value to a young team.  Houlder played until the end of the 2002/03 Season, scoring 44 Points over 302 Games with the Predators.

Kostitsyn looked to be traded out, and he got it when he was sent packing to Nashville in 2010.

Kostitsyn responded well in his first year in Music City, producing what would be a career-high 50 Points and leading the NHL in Shot Percentage (24.7).  It looked like he turned it around, but it was not to be, as he slipped to 43 Points and plummeted to 15 Points in 46 Games in 2012/13.  Kostitsyn and the Predators agreed to part ways following the season's end, and he returned to Russia to play in the KHL.  Kostitsyn could have had a better and much longer career in North America, but his heart was never in it, and he was much happier in Russia, but on a team as young as Nashville, Kostitsyn is worthy of being on this list.

After playing only one Game with Dallas in the 2003/04 Season, he signed with the Nashville Predators in 2007, where he won the backup Goalie job, though he would be elevated to the primary backstop when Chris Mason struggled.  Ellis had a good year, appearing in 44 Games, and leading the NHL in Save Percentage (.924).  

He was not able to build on that year as his stats slipped, and his backup, Pekka Rinne, took over and held on to that spot for well over a decade.  Ellis played two more years in Nashville and was still decent, keeping his Save Percentage over .900.  

After the 2009-10 Season, Ellis was traded to Montreal, who promptly released him, though he went on to play five more seasons in the NHL.  Ellis had a 49-42-8 record with a 2.64 GAA as a Predator.

Undrafted in 1997, Andy Delmore signed with the Philadelphia Flyers and made the team, bouncing between the parent club and the minors for three years before he proved he belonged as an NHLer.  The Flyers dealt him to Nashville for a Third Round Pick, and Delmore responded with two surprising campaigns considering where he came from.

Delmore had 72 Points over the next two years, anchoring the Nashville power play and averaging half-a-point per game.  While the Predators were only a half-decade old, Delmore’s production placed him as the first-star offensive Defenseman in franchise history.  Perhaps, sensing a fluke, Delmore was traded for the same equity he arrived with, a Third Round Pick.

Kevin Klein played his first 403 Games in the NHL with the Nashville Predators, who selected him in the Second Round in 2003.  Klein only played 18 Games for the Predators in his first three years, spending most of his time in the AHL, but by 2008, he was never sent down again.

Klein would find his role as a lockdown defender, known for his clean play.  The blueliner’s best year in Nashville was in 2011-12, where he had 21 Points with only four Penalty Minutes and 173 Blocked Shots.

Klein was traded to the Rangers midway during the 2013-14 campaign, and with the Predators, he produced 82 Points with 716 Blocked Shots.