Nashville Predators: Top-10 Rookie Seasons in Franchise History

Filip Forsberg, 2014-15

Rookie Numbers: 82 games, 26 goals, 37 assists, 63 points, 6 game-winning goals, 4th in Calder

First off, the fact that Filip Forsberg played all 82 games as a rookie is incredible on its own. He seized the opportunity almost instantly by putting up two assists during his technical rookie season.

Forsberg did appear in 18 NHL games for the Predators prior to the 2014-15 season, putting up six points. But he really took off during his rookie season to one of the most prolific offensive forwards the Predators had really ever had outside outside veterans who were brought in like Paul Kariya and a couple others.

I’m not sure if Forsberg’s franchise rookie record for points will be broken anytime soon. Possibly Philip Tomasino will have something to say about that, but the way Forsberg took off to amass 63 points for a team that never really had dynamic offensive forwards was amazing to see at the time.

Forsberg finished fourth in the Calder Trophy voting that season among some rather elite company ahead of him; Johnny Gaudreau, Mark Stone and Aaron Ekblad.

Honorable Mention:

Core players of the Nashville Predators franchise that you would expect to be on this list never really broke out until after their rookie seasons:

• Ryan Ellis
• Shea Weber
• Viktor Arvidsson
• Roman Josi

Other Predators rookies who had commendable rookie seasons, but I left off were:

• Ander Lindback
• Colin Wilson
• Cody Franson
• Kevin Fiala

This list took me a while to compile, but it was fun going back in history on the Predators franchise to find some of the best rookie seasons. I think they have more coming down the pipeline that will change this list including Philip Tomasino, David Farrance, Egor Afanasyev and Irasolav Askarov.

The Predators prospect pool has been steadily improving over the past couple drafts, so expect more rookies to make their marks in the coming years.