The Nashville Predators are the holders of three draft picks in the 2025 NHL Draft's first round. They could affect serious change in the organization if they make all three.
Today we're looking at a player who should be a target for the final Predators pick, originally belonging to the Las Vegas Golden Knights which they received in a trade with the San Jose Sharks for Yaroslav Askarov.
This pick projects to be a late first rounder, but if the Predators play their hand effectively they could acquire a defensive stalwart who mans the blue line for years to come. Today we're looking at Blake Fiddler.
A Tall Physical, Right Handed Defenseman - Exactly What Every Team Needs
Blake Fiddler is a 6'4 210 pound right handed defenseman who currently stars for the Edmonton Oil Kings in the WHL. The NHL Central Scouting service ranked him 24th overall amonst all North American skaters during the midterm rankings. Bob McKenzie had him ranked 21st in his midterm rankings, but fell down to 37th in Craig Buttons January ranks. Despite the disparity the consensus is the Fiddler is a guy who deserves to be considered amongst the best defenders in the draft.
Now that you've seen his name a few times, Preds fans in the know will have thought about Vernon Fiddler, a veteran of 877 NHL games, and 325 games as a Nashville Predator. Yes, it's his son, and yes, Blake Fiddler was born here, during the 2007 offseason. We've mentioned before and we'll say it again, but genetics are big in the minds of scouts and GMs, and decent predictors for future athletic success.
Fiddler to his own credit has preformed well at every level, and used his dual citizenship to represent both Team USA and Team Canada in international play. He also has stepped up the high expectations. Fiddler was the No. 1 pick by the Edmonton Oil Kings in the 2022 WHL U.S. prospects draft while starring for the Dallas Stars Elite under-14 team in the Tier 1 Elite Hockey League, and has lived up to expectations.
Fiddler also competed in the Canadian Hockey League in the inaugural CHL USA Prospects Challenge in London and Oshawa, Ontario. He was the only United States-born player on the CHL roster, and was the alternate captain for the team. He's got all of the cred to be a first round pick.
Skills, Size, and Skating
A player like Fiddler is always going to be in vogue. The physical attritbutes aside, there are players who don't ever learn how to use it. Fiddler is one who has. He's become an adept checker who plays positionally sound, and uses his size and skating ability to close gaps and get physical with opponents.
He's raised his game offensively. Per HockeyDB he's gone from 15 points (5 goals 10 assists) in his first year to 33 points (10 goals, 23 assists) in his 2nd year with the Oil Kings. He also turned his plus/minus around from -31 to a +6, helping the Oil Kings make the playoffs. He also skated 20 or more minutes on most nights. He isn't offensively flashy, but with another year in juniors he could work extensively on developing that part of his game. He was still effective, and looks as though he'll be able to improve that area of his game.
A long time NHL scout told the Edmonton Journal “He’ll play in the NHL, probably as a support player to a No. 3, a second-pairing guy. He really defends well, plays within himself. Yeah, he’s going in the first round I would say,”
Now that isn't the most ringing endorsement, but it also sounds a bit like an undersell. Here is a game breakdown video, and we'll let you decide how you feel.
No matter what, if he's there, it is going to be hard to pass up on the hometown kid.