Nashville Predators Franchise History: #1 Forward

[King Weber]

Idea taken from @Elvs from the Ducks board. Here's the premise:

As we're waiting for hockey to return, I'm making a longer series of polls. The rules are simple. Vote for the best player in franchise history. How you determine who the best player is (peak, longevity, importance, PR value etc) is entirely up to you.

This series, if I stay on schedule, will take 36 days to conclude. Every day there will be a forwards poll. Every second day there will be a forwards/defensemen poll, and every sixth day there will be a forwards/defenseman/goaltender poll.

In total, we'll be ranking the 36 best forwards, the 18 best defensemen and the 6 best goaltenders in franchise history. Because those are the numbers needed to fill three full line ups.
When you're voting, just vote for the best player available and don't mind the lineups, as the top three forwards won't necessarily all be on the first line etc. The lineups are just there for fun, and I'll move players around based on what lines I think makes sense.

Oh, and I should mention the criteria for players to be included in the rankings. Skaters must have played at least 120 games in a Ducks jersey. For goalies it's 50 games.

The games played criteria unfortunately means that some notable players like Matt Duchene, Peter Forsberg, Hal Gill etc don't meet the criteria and hence won't be eligible.

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Team A

X - X - X
X - X - X
X - X - X
X - X - X

X - X
X - X
X - X

X
X

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Team B

X - X - X
X - X - X
X - X - X
X - X - X

X - X
X - X
X - X

X
X

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Team C

X - X - X
X - X - X
X - X - X
X - X - X

X - X
X - X
X - X

X
X

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Here's everyone who meets the criteria (ordered by games played):


Forwards:

1. David Legwand (956)
2. Martin Erat (723)
3. Craig Smith (661)
4. Greg Johnson (502)
5. Colin Wilson (502)
6. Scott Hartnell (498)
7. Jerred Smithson (497)
8. Jordin Tootoo (486)
9. Calle Jarnkrok (459)
10. Filip Forsberg (458)
11. Mike Fisher (429)
12. Scott Walker (410)
13. J-P Dumont (388)
14. Patric Hörnqvist (363)
15. Ryan Johansen (351)
16. Vitali Yachmenyov (338)
17. Viktor Arvidsson (335)
18. Vernon Fiddler (325)
19. Colton Sissons (322)
20. Steve Sullivan (317)
21. Tom Fitzgerald (307)
22. Austin Watson (306)
23. Cliff Ronning (301)
24. Nick Spaling (297)
25. Jason Arnott (275)
26. Denis Arkhipov (273)
27. Paul Gaustad (248)
28. Patric Kjellberg (246)
29. Gabriel Bourque (242)
30. Vladimir Orszagh (239)
31. Adam Hall (234)
32. Joel Ward (230)
33. James Neal (219)
34. Nick Bonino (219)
35. Mike Ribeiro (209)
36. Scott Nichol (209)
37. Kevin Fiala (204)
38. Sergei Kostitsyn (198)
39. Eric Nystrom (185)
40. Kyle Turris (182)
41. Darcy Hordichuk (172)
42. Miikka Salomaki (167)
43. Paul Kariya (164)
44. Rob Valicevic (159)
45. Alexander Radulov (154)
46. Sebastien Bordeleau (146)
47. Radek Bonk (145)
48. Matt Cullen (139)
49. Matt Halischuk (136)
50. Sergei Krivokrasov (133)
51. Randy Robitaille (131)
52. Marcel Goc (124)


Defensemen

1. Shea Weber (763)
2. Roman Josi (632)
3. Dan Hamhuis (600)
4. Kimmo Timonen (573)
5. Ryan Suter (542)
6. Mattias Ekholm (538)
7. Ryan Ellis (527)
8. Kevin Klein (403)
9. Marek Zidlicky (307)
10. Karlis Skrastins (307)
11. Bill Houlder (302)
12. Mark Eaton (286)
13. Greg Zanon (230)
14. Cale Hulse (225)
15. Yannick Weber (223)
16. Drake Berehowsky (219)
17. PK Subban (211)
18. Seth Jones (199)
19. Francis Bouillon (195)
20. Matt Irwin (195)
21. Cody Franson (164)
22. Greg de Vries (154)
23. Andy Delmore (144)
24. Jason York (141)
25. Bob Boughner (141)


Goalies

1. Pekka Rinne (659)
2. Tomas Vokoun (383)
3. Mike Dunham (217)
4. Chris Mason (146)
5. Juuse Saros (119)
6. Dan Ellis (110)
7. Carter Hutton (75)


Voting closes in 24 hours.

Click to read more...

 

[MrJoshua]

Everyone is going to have their own definition of "best", but with the given limitations I think it's Paul Kariya.

 

[Dadof5boys]

Leggy is my all time fav, but I’ll go Sully here

 

[Armourboy]

You know what for me it comes down to guys that were hear more than 2-3 years despite maybe not having flashy numbers. The more I though about it the more it came down to Legwand and Fisher for me. I was never one that much cared for Legwand, but the dude spent the largest bulk of his career with us and only moved on when we basically booted him out the door. He did what was asked of him and was a professional in doing so.

So in spite of me not really ever being a big fan, I'm still going with Legwand.

 

[Byrddog]

Wanted two vote Sully but the truth is Karyia. Without the Karyia signing there would have been no Arnott or Dumont the line that really legitimized this team.

 

[triggrman]

Yeah, love Legwand but Kariya for me, followed by Sullivan.
Weber barely edges Josi and of course Rinne tops goals by a lot.


The more I think about it the harder time I have giving defenseman to Weber. Josi took us to the cup final, Presidents cup and won the Norris. That's both team and idividual acculades. Weber was robbed of the Norris though.

 

[nashpreds]

Voted Legwand because of his solid play coupled with his extensive history with the team. He was with us through thick and thin and was a big part of this franchise.

It was tough not to choose Kariya though who had a big part in getting us to where we are today by signing here in the first place, but I just don’t think he was a Pred for long enough to justify it. Was he the best performing forward we’ve had? Absolutely but even Sully gets the nod over him for his consistent production for the team.

 

[NoNecksCurse]

Kariya is the correct answer. sullivan is second. after those 2, it's not that close.

 

[Legionnaire11]

It's a question of career vs peak. If the question was "who is the best forward to play for the Preds?" Then sure Kariya had the best peak, if we're looking solely at offensive production.

But it's "Who is the best forward is Preds history?" Implying their body of work for the franchise. In that case it has to be Legwand.

 

[MrJoshua]

It's a question of career vs peak. If the question was "who is the best forward to play for the Preds?" Then sure Kariya had the best peak, if we're looking solely at offensive production.

But it's "Who is the best forward is Preds history?" Implying their body of work for the franchise. In that case it has to be Legwand.

... Except that it says that how you define "best" is up to you. The only real guideline is the games-played requirement. So everyone is going to have their own definition for "best". I think Legwand, Sullivan, and Kariya are the clear top three, but which of those three is "best" is going to be completely subjective. Peak is Kariya. Longevity is Legwand. Sullivan is sort of a combination of the two - slightly lower peak than Kariya (as a Pred) with more longevity; higher peak than Legwand but with many fewer games.

 

[GoldOnGold]

IMO I would rank it Leggy, Kariya, Forsberg, Sullivan.

 

[Porter Stoutheart]

IMO I would rank it Leggy, Kariya, Forsberg, Sullivan.

I am signing up for this exact order. Although that said, the Kariya/Forsberg order is really tight to me. 2 seasons... I'm still struggling to accept that's enough to really go on, even if they are the best 2 regular seasons we've ever had. It's still just 2. And not like 2 with Hart trophies or other enormous accolades. Our best 2. But still... 2....

Add Fisher as next on the list for me, svp.

 

[Predsanddead24]

Fisher for me. He may have never been the best player on any of the teams he played on but he was pretty consistently a key contributor and most importantly has been on every team to ever win a playoff series in Predators history. He wasn’t the only driver but the acquisition of Fisher coincided with us transitioning from scrappy underdog team to a team that could actually win in the playoffs. Like others have said Kariya easily for best seasons but it’s hard to call him the best in team history for two years where we lost in the first round. Fisher has the combination of being a good player, longevity here, and playoff success that no other forward in team history can really match in my opinion.

 

[Elvs]

Cool to see that idea carried over to the Preds board. Thanks for the shout-out.

On the Ducks board, I made 120 games the criteria, as that's roughly one and a half season. I was thinking about making 100 games the limit, but no one in that 100-119 group was gonna get votes anyway. Jeff Friesen maybe makes the C team but that's it.

Nashville didn't exist quite as long as Anaheim, so there's not as many guys who played in 120 games for you guys. Of course you're allowed to tweak the rules a little if other criterias fit your franchise better. Anyway, have fun with it!

 

[King Weber]

Poll is now closed. Kariya ended up as the winner. Next poll up shortly.