Nashville Predators: Top-10 Rookie Seasons in Franchise History
By Chad Minton
Martin Erat, 2001-02
Here’s another key player who helped the foundation of this franchise in the early days; Martin Erat. A skilled puck handler and an outstanding team player.
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Erat was drafted all the way back in the 7th round of the 1999 NHL Entry Draft, illustrating that you can always find franchise changing players later in the draft. He definitely did that for the Predators in his 11 seasons with Nashville.
It’s well-known that Erat was dealth for Filip Forsberg, and that the Predators completely won that trade. With that said, Erat is one of the classic great players of this franchise that old school Predators fans know all about.
Erat played in 80 games his rookie season and dealt out 24 assists, which was good for fifth on the team. The young Predators franchise was still finding its way, but Erat was such a major part of building the initial foundation of winning.