Nashville Predators Top 15 First Round Draft Picks
Ryan Suter, LD, 2003, #7 Pick in the First Round
The Nashville Predators had a pretty good Draft on defense in 2003. In the First Round, they took Ryan Suter at number 7. In the Second Round, they picked up Kevin Klein at number 37. Also in the Second, they took some guy named Shea Weber at number 49. That’s a pretty solid “D”.
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Weber joined Suter in 2005 on the Nashville Predators and they seemed inseparable as one of the best defensive pairings in the league for the best part of seven years. At that point, Suter, who supposedly told David Poile he was resigning with the Predators joined pal
on July 4th, 2012 and signed matching 13-year $98 million contracts.
Shea Weber and Predators fans, and seemingly especially David Poile were all shocked and to this day, Ryan Suter still gets booed every time he touches the puck in Nashville. In some ways, it was a blessing in disguise for the Preds as Roman Josi has developed into an All-Star defenseman beside Weber and is much less expensive than Suter would have been.
As a matter of fact, the twin contracts for Suter and Parise have kind of cost the Wild as they have a hard time paying adequate players around them. Regardless, Ryan Suter has been an All-Star six times and a Norris Trophy candidate multiple times. Suter is now 31 and still has 9 years of his contract remaining.
He is by far, the most successful First Round Draft Pick the Nashville Predators have ever had. He actually had his best numbers this past season with 8 goals and 51 points, both career highs. He is still playing at a high level and annually ranks near the top in minutes played.
Next: Preds Right Wing, Right Guys
That is our look at the Top 15 First Round Draft Picks of all time for the Nashville Predators. It is certainly open to debate but the overall theme is that we hope they do better going forward than they have in the past.