The Nashville Predators head to Las Vegas this week, where they will select their newest crop of rookies in the 2024 NHL Draft.
This year, the team has one selection in the first round — at No. 22 overall — which will be the 27th first-round selection in franchise history.
How have the Predators' first-round selections panned out over the years? Here's a look at the 10 best first-round draft picks, ranked by on-ice production (for their entire NHL career, not just with Nashville), longevity and award recognition.
10. Scottie Upshall (2002)
Taken sixth overall, Scottie Upshall played only 77 games with the Predators, scoring 11 goals. In 2007, he was traded to the Philadelphia Flyers, along with first-round pick Ryan Parent, for Peter Forsberg in a huge trade deadline deal for Nashville.
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Upshall carved out a decent bottom-six role for five teams. He finished with 284 points in 759 games and retired in 2020.
9. Colin Wilson (2008)
The Predators' seventh overall selection out of Boston University, Colin Wilson arrived in Nashville with high expectations. Hailed as a top-six center, Wilson ended up playing mostly wing. His best season came in 2014-15, when he scored 20 goals and put up 42 points. Most will remember his playoff performances, but "Playoff" Colin Wilson — the title that followed him around for a number of years — was somewhat of a myth: He had only 24 points in 47 playoff games for the Predators.
He was traded to the Colorado Avalanche in summer 2017 and retired in 2021.
8. Alexander Radulov (2004)
Alexander Radulov has the second-highest career points per game (.70) among Predators first-round picks. An electric goal scoring winger, he was a catalyst for Nashville's playoff runs in 2007 and 2008. But it was short-lived: He returned to Russia in 2008, playing in the KHL until 2016 except for a brief return to Nashville in 2012.
He played for Montreal and Dallas, which lost to the Tampa Bay Lightning in the 2020 Stanley Cup Final. The 37-year-old is back in the KHL, under contract with Lokomotiv Yaroslavl.
7. Seth Jones (2013)
Drafted fourth overall out of the Western Hockey League's Portland Winterhawks, Seth Jones stepped into a starting role as a 19-year-old with the Predators in 2013. He became a top-four defenseman almost immediately, but general manager David Poile traded him to the Columbus Blue Jackets for Ryan Johansen in 2016.
Jones has played in 797 games for the Predators, Blue Jackets and Chicago Blackhawks, scoring 405 points and averaging more than 23 minutes per game.
6. Ryan Ellis (2009)
Drafted No. 11 overall from the Windsor Spitfires of the Ontario Hockey League, Ryan Ellis was a big part of the Predators' peak years from 2014 to 2019. His puck-moving and shooting ability made him an offensive threat at all times, and he was a smart and talented defender in his own zone.
Ellis was traded to the Philadelphia Flyers in 2021, after which he suffered a major injury that has since derailed his career. He has 275 points in 566 career games, adding 38 points in 74 playoff games.
5. Kevin Fiala (2014)
Drafted No. 11 overall in 2014, Kevin Fiala marinated in Milwaukee for a few years before breaking through in 2017. His overtime game-winning goal in Game 3 against Chicago fueled his 2017-18 season, when he finished with 23 goals and 25 assists.
After a slow start in 2018, Fiala was traded to the Minnesota Wild for Mikael Granlund. Fiala's career took off with the Wild, then he signed a seven-year, $55 million contract with the Los Angeles Kings in 2022.
4. Dan Hamhuis (2001)
Dan Hamhuis' 16-year NHL career started as the Predators' No. 12 overall selection in 2001. A workhorse defenseman, he averaged more than 21 minutes per game for the Predators, Vancouver Canucks and Dallas Stars.
Offense was never his strong suit — he scored only 59 goals in his career — but he was a mainstay on the back end for 1,148 NHL games. He retired in 2020 after playing out a two-year "welcome back" deal with Nashville.
3. David Legwand (1998)
The Predators' first-ever draft pick finished as the team's all-time leader in goals (210) and assists (356). Though those marks were eventually passed by Filip Forsberg and Roman Josi, David Legwand helped lay the foundation for the team's identity and attitude on the ice, an impact that still can be seen today. He was traded to Detroit in 2013, then played in Ottawa and Buffalo before retiring in 2016.
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2. Ryan Suter (2003)
Ryan Suter is the best — and perhaps most controversial — defenseman drafted by the Predators in the first round, taken seventh overall out of the University of Wisconsin. Still active at 43 years old, he has played in 1,444 games for the Predators, Wild and currently the Stars. He has earned All-Star votes in 11 of his 19 seasons and finished as the Norris Trophy runner-up in 2013.
Suter's impact in Nashville set the stage for a number of successful defensem*n, including Josi, his eventual replacement.
1. Scott Hartnell (2000)
Scott Hartnell is the youngest player to debut for the Predators, doing so on Oct. 6, 2000, at 18 years and 171 days old. The team's sixth overall selection, Hartnell established himself as a force on the ice with heavy hits, excellent puck skills and playmaking ability. That, accompanied by his entertaining personality, made him the perfect player for an expansion team like Nashville.
Traded to Philadelphia in 2007, Hartnell soon added more dynamic goal scoring to his repertoire. After a three-year stint with Columbus, he signed a one-year deal with Nashville in 2017 before retiring in 2018.
Hartnell's 327 career goals and 707 career points are the most by any Predators draft pick in any round.
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