When the Nashville Predators were formed, they knew they needed a backstop to work from their end out, and Czech Goalie Tomas Vokoun proved to be the correct building block to build on.

In 2004-05, Vokoun had only played one game in the NHL, as he was mainly in the minors, but he was ready to show his skills with Nashville.  Before long, Vokoun was the prime backstop for the Predators, and he would earn Vezina votes in both the 2002-03 and 2003-04 Season.

After the lockout in 2004-05, Vokoun had his best professional season, achieving a 36-18-7 record and a 2.67 GAA.  He was fourth for the Vezina, the best he ever finished, and Vokoun was a large part of Nashville’s early success.

Vokoun was traded to Florida in 2007, and he left with a 161-159-46 record.

Ryan Ellis played his first ten years in the National Hockey League with the Nashville Predators, the team that selected him 11^th Overall in 1999,

The Defenseman was somewhat of an enigma, as he had a physical style of play, despite not having an imposing size nor logging significant penalty minutes.  From 2013-14 to 2019-20, Ellis scored at least 20 Points, with a pair of 10-Goal campaigns.  

Ellis had 270 Points for the Preds over 562 Games.

A late round pick by the Los Angeles Kings in 1993, Kimmo Timonen continued to play in his native Finland for a few years, but when he decided to try his luck in the NHL it was with the Nashville Predators, who traded for his rights.

The Defenseman split his first North American year between Nashville and its AHL affiliate, Milwaukee, but Timonen proved a commodity worth keeping at the top level of pro hockey.  After a pair of respectable seasons, Timonen put forth three consecutive 40 Points seasons, culminating with his first All-Star Game in 2004.

The NHL locked out its players in the 2004-05 season due to a labor disagreement, but Timonen’s skills continued to improve.  When play resumed, Timonen had his first 50-Point Season, which he followed up with what would be his career-best 55 Points in 2006-07.  Timonen would go to his second All-Star Game, and was fifth in Norris voting.

Timonen’s stay in Nashville ended when the Preds traded him and Scott Hartnell for a 2007 First Round Pick, who turned out to be Jonathon Blum, who never played a game in the NHL.  In 2015, his final NHL year, Timonen aided Chicago in winning a Stanley Cup.

As a Predator, Timonen scored 301 Points in 579 Games.

In 1998, the Nashville Predators made David Legwand the first-ever Draft Pick in team history, and in terms of longevity and character, it was an A+ all around.

The American-born Center spent his first year in the minors (save for one Game), and while he never had the skills to be a first-line Center in the NHL, he was a workhorse who provided consistency to Nashville for years.  Legwand was a regular in his second pro year, and while his peak scoring year was a respectable 63 (2006-07), he had seven other seasons where he achieved at least 40 Points in a year while wearing a Predators uniform.  He would also appear on the penalty kill often.

The Preds only made the playoffs four times while Legwand played there, but considering they were an expansion team, this was no reflection on Legwand.  He was traded to Detroit during the 2013-14 Season, and he is still the all-time franchise leader in Games Played (956).