Erik Karlsson (2008, 1st Round)
This one stings as well, but what lessens the sting somewhat is the Predators have always been really good at building up their defensive stockpile. With that said, this one still is painful to revisit and could’ve been catastrophic if not for a pick that saved them later on.
Erik Karlsson went 15th-overall to the Ottawa Senators in 2008 and ended up becoming one of the NHL’s most elite defenseman. He’s piled up over 600 points in his NHL career, has two Norris Trophies and is creeping up on 800 career games played.
The Predators took Colin Wilson at the 7th-overall pick, which wasn’t a horrendous pick by any means as we all love Colin Wilson and what he did for the Predators franchise. But in all due respect he didn’t produce 7th-overall pick type of numbers for the Predators.
Another horrible pick by the Predators came later in the first round when they took goaltender Chet Pickard, which is perhaps one of the worst picks in team history.
The Predators made up for it in a huge way and we’ll forgive them completely because they took Roman Josi in the second round, and he has the chance to eventually surpass what Karlsson has done in this league.