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Nashville Predators Mt. Rushmore and Hall of Fame Players

By Doug Praskach

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You know it’s August in Hockey Land when the talk starts coming out about the Mt. Rushmore of each teams legends or who is going to make the Hockey Hall of Fame for each team.   Well, we’ve seen a couple of those lately and wanted to join in on the fun.  Here is our take on the Nashville Predators Heroes.

It’s actually a huge shock when ESPN writes about hockey at all and here they are in August with a hockey article.  It makes a little more sense when you see it’s by SportsCenter anchor John Buccigross who used to write about hockey for ESPN until it became nearly non-existent in 2011.

Anyway, in 2009 he wrote an article giving the four players for each NHL team that would be on their Mount Rushmore (Some say Mt. Puckmore) of hockey.  He decided to update it and explain what has changed since then.  Here is the article. (Click Here)

Here is what he wrote about the Predators both back then and now:

Nashville Predators

2009 team/theory: Martin Erat, David Legwand, Kimmo Timonen and Tomas Vokoun. Not the names one normally associates with the city of Nashville.

 2015: Nashville has made the playoffs in eight of its 16 seasons, pretty good for a team that started from scratch. Shea Weber is now up on the mountain. Weber logs huge minutes and is productive at even strength and special teams. He is underrated among parochial, casual NHL fans. He’s forging a Hall of Fame career. Pekka Rinne is also now on the Preds’ Mount Rushmore. Rinne had another terrific last season, winning 41 times in 64 starts. Interestingly, Martin Erat could eventually be replaced by the man he was traded for, Filip Forsberg. With 26 goals at age 20 last season, Forsberg appears to be the real deal. Saucy mitts and a great skater. So: Erat, Legwand, Rinne, Weber.

The amazing thing is that half of our Mt. Rushmore would have to be chiseled off and replaced in only six years!  And he already explains that it may need another update soon.  Erat is the one that can be replaced someday and he played at least part of 11 of the Preds 16 seasons and scored at over 40 points eight times and at least 50 five of those.  It is going to take a youngster many years of nice production to knock him off. Who know what could happen in another six years though, especially if a Cup or two was mixed in there.

That brings us to the Hockey Hall of Fame.  Bleacher Report picked the top players from each team that has a chance for the hallowed halls. (Click Here)  Their feeling is that only Shea Weber is close to a getting in now.  A couple more years of his dominant defense will get him there.  Pekka Rinne is on the right path if he continues his amazing play for a few more years.  Of course, once again a Stanley Cup always seems to give a player a boost when voting comes up.

We can only dream at this point about players like Filip Forsberg, Roman Josi or Seth Jones.  They’ve certainly started out in the right direction for both the Hall and our Mt. Puckmore but have lots of years of great play necessary to be in that conversation.

But wait, the Predators have a couple more Hall of Fame affiliations.  The first ex-Pred to make the Hall was actually Peter Forsberg  as the Predators recently announced here.    We also have a current coach, Phil Housley that just got the call to the Hall as announced by the Predators here.

Nashville Predators assistant coach Phil Housley. Mandatory Credit: Bruce Fedyck-USA TODAY Sports

I would also say that there is one more Predator that is a shoe-in for the Hall of Fame.  That is David Poile,  who despite never having won the Stanley cup will get in through the Builders Category, considering his decades of well-respected work building competitive teams in both Washington & Nashville.  And who says that a Cup still isn’t in his future.

Oh yeah, there is one more former Pred that many folks say has a potential shot at the Hall of Fame.  Ollie Jokinen played in 48 games here last year.  If he doesn’t get in on his long-time buildup of statistics, he should at least get in for his hair!

Next: 10 Preds With Something to Prove

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