Nashville selected Dan Hamhuis with their First Round Pick (12^th Overall) in 2001, and the Predators had high hopes for the former CHL Defenseman of the Year.

Hamhuis spent his first year of professional hockey in the AHL, and in his rookie NHL year (2002-03), he scored 26 Points, including a career-high 7 Goals.  He matched his goal output in 2005-06 but had career-bests in Assists (31) and Points (38).  Hamhuis continued to be productive, but he never developed the potency expected of him, though he was undoubtedly more than a solid NHL player.

As the Predators developed Shea Weber and Ryan Suter, Hamhuis was relegated to a lower defensive pairing, becoming expendable and eventually traded to Philadelphia after the 2009-10 Season. 

Hamhuis rejoined Nashville as a Free Agent in 2018, and he played two more years before retiring in 2020.  174 of his 356 career Points were in a Predators uniform.

Far more than the husband of Country icon Carrie Underwood, Mike Fisher cut his teeth in the NHL with the Ottawa Senators, a team he played for 11 years.  Fisher was never Ottawa's best player, but he was a bona fide leader, a solid two-way player, and a key figure in their Stanley Cup Final in 2007. The Senators missed their window, and Fisher was traded to the Nashville Predators in the 2010-11 Season, where they were thrilled to gain his veteran presence.

With Nashville, Fisher approached his personal best, a 51-Point year in 2011-12, two Points shy of his best mark.  Fisher was not a player that would make an All-Star Game, but the way he left everything out there on the ice earned him the 2012 Foundation Player Award.  This unique accolade is given to the player "who applies the core values of hockey – commitment, perseverance, and teamwork to enrich the lives of people within the community."  If this wasn't a perfect honor for Fisher, we don't know what it is!

Fisher would have two 40-Point plus years with the Preds, and his presence was instrumental in their run to the Finals in 2017.  Age caught up with Fisher, who temporarily retired after the Finals but came back for one more year before calling it quits for good in 2018.

As a Predator, Fisher scored 241 Points.

From Wisconsin, Craig Smith was a high First Round Pick (9^th Overall) in 2009, but he played two years at the University of Wisconsin before signing with the Predators.  The NCAA seasoning was adequate, as he became the first Nashville Draft Pick to join the team without serving time in the AHL.

Smith had 36 Points in his rookie season but plummeted to just 12 in 44 Games in his second year.  The Center would have his first 50-plus year in 2013-14, scoring 52, which was his career-high as a Predator.  He had 51 Points in 2017-18, with another career-best of 25 Goals.  Following the 2019-20 Season, Smith signed with the Bruins as a Free Agent.

Smith had 330 Points and a Plus/Minus of +67 in 661 Games.

The more we do this, the more we view the NHL Amateur Draft as a mystery.  Constantly, there are first-round picks who never make it to the big dance, and there are mid-to-late Round Picks who have long careers, and Martin Erat fell into the latter category.

The Nashville Predators chose Erat 191^st Overall in 1999, and the Right Wing from the Czech Republic made the team two years later.  Erat’s rookie year was decent (33 Points), but he struggled as a sophomore, so much so that he was demoted to the AHL for most of the year.  With the sophomore slump in his rearview mirror, Erat was set to be an established NHL player.

Erat had 49 Points in 2003-04 and repeated that in 2005-06, the year after the NHL Lockout.  He would again replicate Point outputs, this time of 57 in 2006-07 and 2007-08, and Erat would have at least 49 Points over the next four seasons.  Erat was not a top-line player but a strong second-line player and a valuable commodity to the Predators when he played there.

After he turned 30, Erat was traded to Washington.  As a Predator, Erat accumulated 481 Points in 723 Games.