Nashville's expansion draft.

[BigFatCat999]

I became a fan of this team in 2002 so I missed this, BUT for the original fans I have a question; who were you most excited for and who SHOULD you have been excited for?

For refference: 1998 NHL Expansion Draft - Wikipedia

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[triggrman]

I was so sure Ville Peltonen was going to be a star, but man, Cliff Ronning I thought was going to really get back to that Vancouver level Ronning. Outside of that, Blair Atcheynum, and Greg Johnson. And no one predicted Krivokrasov becoming the favorite that he did. Not all those were true expansion draft players, but trades around the draft brought them here.

 

[BigFatCat999]

I was so sure Ville Peltonen was going to be a star, but man, Cliff Ronning I thought was going to really get back to that Vancouver level Ronning. Outside of that, Blair Atcheynum, and Greg Johnson. And no one predicted Krivokrasov becoming the favorite that he did. Not all those were true expansion draft players, but trades around the draft brought them here.

Walker and Kimmo and Vokoun

 

[triggrman]

Walker and Kimmo and Vokoun

While those guys ended up as some of the best players, they weren't hyped. No one knew who Kimmo was, and Vokoun was a throw away player, and back up goalie, at the time. Hell, Berehowsky was probably our highest rated defenseman prior to the 1998 season. Walker was converted from a defenseman in juniors.

 

[predhead1]

There was a fair amount of excitement around Dunham because he was viewed as a talented player that was overshadowed/stuck behind by Brodeur in NJ. He never approached Brodeur's level, but he was pretty solid for us, particularly without much defensive support.

 

[Olderfan]

This is hard! We got a franchise but not a “team”. Doug Brown was the one I remember discussed a lot but he sorta refused to come.

 

[BigFatCat999]

This is hard! We got a franchise but not a “team”. Doug Brown was the one I remember discussed a lot but he sorta refused to come.

Hard! I went down a rabbit hole and stats say the 2003 draft might not be the best draft.

 

[adsfan]

I became a fan of this team in 2002 so I missed this, BUT for the original fans I have a question; who were you most excited for and who SHOULD you have been excited for?

For refference: 1998 NHL Expansion Draft - Wikipedia

A few of those players had ties to Milwaukee. Shtalenkov played 47 games for the Admirals during the 1992-93 season.

Tony Hrkac played in Milwaukee from 1994 to 1997. He came back in 2003-04 for the Ads Calder Cup win and stayed one more season. He was the 1987 Hobey Baker winner and was with the Dallas Stars for their 1999 Stanley Cup victory.

Craig Darby played 81 games for the Ads in 1998-99.

None of the above three players played a single game for Nashville.


John Slaney was sent down for 7 games in Milwaukee during the Inaugural Season for the Predators.

Jeff Daniels played 62 games in Milwaukee and 9 for Nashville in 1998-99.

Denny Lambert finished his career playing 39 games in Milwaukee with 24 points and 139 PIMs in 2002-03.

 

[maplepred]

When we had one expansion draft completed I remember the players I was most excited about were boughner, peltonen, krivokrasov, Greg Johnson, daigneault, berehowsky and fichaud in net.
Specifically krivo peltonen and fichaud. I assumed them as our young stars in the making lol, all three had some good hype to them.

That’s just straight expansion guys we drafted. Not including any trades or anything because at the time guys like timonen and vokoun were nothing but meh prospects. They developed with us as preds and became who they were that way.

I remember getting Ronning fairly early in our first season. I was so psyched when that happened!

 

[predhead1]

I remember getting Ronning fairly early in our first season. I was so psyched when that happened!

I remember the arena pro shop only carried Dunham and Fitzgerald jerseys at first, but one day I saw a lone Ronning jersey in there and snapped it up. Still wear it on occasion.

 

[triggrman]

Ronning was traded along with Richard Lintner. Remember him? That dude got hit harder every game than anyone on the ice he was like Timex.

 

[predhead1]

Wow, that's a name that has been buried deep in the memory

 

[Legionnaire11]

Dunham and Fitzgerald were the most hyped from what I can remember. I think they really wanted Dunham to be the face of the franchise in those first years but he never took it to that level. Thankfully he was quickly overshadowed by Vokoun.

I was most excited for Darren Turcotte who we got in an expansion draft trade, but he was just too injured to be effective.

 

[originalpredfan]

My wife, I, and about 50 others attended the very first Predator practice at what is now Bridgestone Arena, and I have been at every initial on ice practice since. What an amazing difference not only in shear number of players and quality from then to now. The size, speed, and skill of today's players is extremely impressive as one would expect. That first season was fun to watch and I have many great memories of watching a group of underdogs give it their all. To me Krivo was the most exciting to watch. Patrick Cote was a hoot as an outclassed enforcer. The funny part was that he was such a poor skater it was difficult for him to catch up to guys in order to fight them.

 

[Adz]

I remember the arena pro shop only carried Dunham and Fitzgerald jerseys at first, but one day I saw a lone Ronning jersey in there and snapped it up. Still wear it on occasion.

Do you remember how awful the Pro Shop was overall during the first few years? Small and very little choice unless you were really into pucks and car stickers of one sort or another.

I was a "hockey fan" back then but I just liked the game. I didn't know players yet. By the end of my first game I knew who Dunham and Fitzgerald were but it took awhile to really get a handle on the personnel.

 

[predhead1]

Do you remember how awful the Pro Shop was overall during the first few years? Small and very little choice unless you were really into pucks and car stickers of one sort or another.

I was a "hockey fan" back then but I just liked the game. I didn't know players yet. By the end of my first game I knew who Dunham and Fitzgerald were but it took awhile to really get a handle on the personnel.

Yeah, it was pretty sparse, especially compared to other venues/shops. I guess they wanted to take things slowly but it didn't scream "NHL Pro Shop" in the early years

 

[Olderfan]

Yeah, it was pretty sparse, especially compared to other venues/shops. I guess they wanted to take things slowly but it didn't scream "NHL Pro Shop" in the early years

In all fairness, they didn’t know they’d sell tickets much less merchandise. But we fooled ‘em!

 

[Adz]

In all fairness, they didn’t know they’d sell tickets much less merchandise. But we fooled ‘em!

Sure did! We fooled them ALL.

I still get warm fuzzies when I see other people with Preds swag on or a Pred Head on their car. But it's more frequent now!

 

[Olderfan]

I’ll never forget this; that first year I’m in New Orleans on a business trip and I’m walking down that River Walk thing at night, pass a sporting goods store and in the front window is a Predator jersey. That was so cool and I thought, “Man, who would have believed this?”.

 

[Viqsi]

I still get warm fuzzies when I see other people with Preds swag on or a Pred Head on their car. But it's more frequent now!

I get the same thing with Jackets stuff up here (and Preds stuff when I'm stopping by or passing through, naturally). It's just awesome.

 

[ILikeItILoveIt]

Forget the players, the initial crowd warmup was hilarious. They taught us the "Get Bit" chant to coincide with the Get Bit ticket purchase marketing them. Prior to the face-off, they'd have half the arena chant "Get" followed by the other half chanting "bit". Back and forth, then faster, followed by general screaming.

It was so lame and never caught on.

Hockey 101 classes taught by Pete and Terry. What's Icing again?

Had to sell 12K full season tickets to get the franchise so that first year attendance was really good (16,194 on a capacity of 17,113). Everybody came, but it took a while for the crowd to react appropriately to what was going on.

It was an innocent and wonderful time.

 

[adsfan]

Yeah, it was pretty sparse, especially compared to other venues/shops. I guess they wanted to take things slowly but it didn't scream "NHL Pro Shop" in the early years

I was in Nashville in October of 2001. I remember the National Guard at the airport carrying M-16s because of 9-11. It was my first trip down there. I was staying at the Opryland Hotel for a professional society meeting.

I went into some sporting goods store downtown and looked around for a Predators jersey. They had a few T-shirts but no jerseys. When I told the guy working there what I wanted, he looked at me like I had two heads. "Are you SURE that you don't want a Titan's jersey?". "Yes, I am sure!". Then I walked out. Things sure have changed in the last 22 years.

Maybe the whole city of Nashville just slowly warmed up to hockey?

The only other place that I remembering going to was the Wild Horse Saloon. I bought a USA flag lapel pin. I wore it in Toronto during the summer of 2002.

 

[Armourboy]

Nashville started to get better as a hockey market when we started making the playoffs, although it almost got completely derailed by the ownership change. Liarplod was in such a dang hurry but everyone could see it was getting bigger. Really all it needed was for the Titans to slide back so that people weren't as interested in throwing every dollar at them.

By the time we hit the SCF run everyone around was ready for a winner, Titans, Preds, didn't matter. It hit at the perfect time for the organization as the Titans were still trying to get things together.

I'm glad its stable, and I'm glad it has grown into something we can sit back and more or less be proud of, just wish I could still afford to go.

 

[Legionnaire11]

just wish I could still afford to go.

That's a big part of it, but I'd also probably be able to "find" more ticket money if it weren't so frustrating to drive into town and park too. Still, it's better than not having a team!

 

[ShagDaddy]

My wife signed up for something (not sure what it’s called) and she gets text messages from the organization Lily two days before a game for highly discounted ticket opportunities. It’s short notice so you can’t really plan but I got to go to 4 games in the lower bowl for about half price.