Oh Captain, My Captain: Nashville Predators Captains Through History
By Colin Blouin
Another product of the 1998 Expansion Draft, Scott Walker is the often forgotten captain of the Predators. Why? Well, he was only captain from January 12th – 27th in 2003, due to injury to Greg Johnson.
Still, Walker should be appreciated for what he brought to the team; like Johnson, he was a big contributor during the seasons in which the Predators made their first two playoff appearances.
Walker would later be traded to Carolina, during the same offseason which saw former captain Johnson move to Detroit.
It was an impressive seven-year run with the Predators for Walker, including the 2003-04 season when he posted 25 goals and nearly a point-per-game average with 67 points in 75 games. That was unheard of during the early days of the franchise.
While Walker may not be on the Predators’ Mount Rushmore of captains, he was a foundational piece to Smashville hockey being built to a perennial playoff team.
Following Johnson’s move to Detroit and subsequent retirement, and the trade of Scott Walker to Carolina, Kimmo Timonen wore the “C” for the Preds in the 2006-2007 season.
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What makes Timonen special is that he was one of the first Nashville Predators prospects to work is way up to captaincy. He started with the Milwaukee Admirals in the 1998-1999 season before assuming full-time NHL duties in the 1999-2000 season.
Timonen was a part of the team’s first three playoff appearances. Not counting the 2004-2005 lockout, the Predators made the playoffs three consecutive seasons (2004, 2006, and 2007) with Timonen on the roster.
After the 2006-2007 season, Timonen was traded to the Philadelphia Flyers to the dismay of many fans. This trade also included sending off another fan-favorite in Scott Hartnell for a first-round pick.
Check out the breakdown of this trade from the Hockey Writers if your memory is a little fuzzy on this deal with Philadelphia that was a major one at the time.
Timonen would go on to win a Stanley Cup with the Chicago Blackhawks (once again, gross), leaving us to wonder what might have been.