Nashville Predators Top 15 First Round Draft Picks

Dan Hamhuis, D, 2001, #12 Pick in the First Round

The Nashville Predators made a nice choice of Dan Hamhuis in 2001.  Of the 289 players chosen that year, not one of them has played as many as Hamhuis 872 NHL games.  He played 483 of those games for the Nashville Predators.

In his rookie season with the Preds in 2004, he played in the Young Stars game at the All-Star game and helped lead the Predators to their first playoffs against the Detroit Redwings. He was a solid two-way defenseman and played behind Shea Weber and Ryan Suter.

After six years with the Preds, his time was diminished as was his scoring with the increased play of Suter and Weber.  He couldn’t come to terms with the Predators and his rights were traded to Philadelphia for Ryan Parent.  He ended up not signing with them or the Pittsburgh Pens who also traded for him.

He signed with the Vancouver Canucks as an UFA for six years and had several successful seasons with them. He helped lead them to two President’s trophies and was a +29 Plus/Minus two years in a row. In 2011-12 he had 37 points and was 10th in the Norris Trophy voting.

He is now a 33-year old Unrestricted Free Agent and will definitely get some interest this summer. A very solid pick but he only played six seasons for the Predators.

Next: #8, A Bit of Controversy