Calle Jarnkrok, a Draft Pick from Sweden, was traded from Detroit to Nashville before making it to the National Hockey League. As history showed, the Predators were the winners of the transaction.
Playing at Center, Jarnkrok debuted for the Predators for 12 Games in the 2013-14 Season before becoming a full-blown NHL player the year after. Working on the grinding line, Jarnkrok had five 30-Point seasons and helped Nashville reach the 2017 Stanley Cup Finals.
His run in Tennessee ended in 2021 when he was chosen by the expansion Seattle Kraken. With the Preds, Jarnkrok had 211 Points in 508 Games.
Plucked from the Vancouver Canucks in the Expansion Draft, Scott Walker entered the Predators organization with four years of NHL experience under his belt. It was in Nashville where the Right Wing found his greatest success and most time on the ice.
Walker had 40 Points in his first full year in Tennessee (1998-99), and two years later, he broke that with 54. After some injuries, Walker scored 67 Points in 2003-04, his best year in hockey. Walker did not play much more for the Preds, first because of the lockout and second due to injury, and he was dealt to the Hurricanes in 2006.
With Nashville, Walker had 247 Points.
James Neal was a First Team All-Star for Pittsburgh in 2012, and three years later, he was traded to Nashville.
Neal was not as productive in terms of Points with Nashville as he was with the Penguins, but he provided depth and leadership to a Predators squad that reached their first Stanley Cup Final in 2017, although they lost to his former team. Neal played for Nashville for three seasons, scoring 136 Points, which is a solid number.
Neal left Nashville when the Vegas Golden Knights chose him in the Expansion Draft.
Paul Kariya is best known for his time with the Ducks, but he also played for the Predators, where he spent two years as a Left Wing.
Kariya’s best days were behind him when he first suited up for Nashville, but he was still better than most other hockey players in the NHL. In Kariya’s two years in Tennessee, he had 161 Points in 164 Games, averaging .98 Points per Game. Kariya also received (although not many) Hart Trophy and Lady Byng Trophy votes in both of those years.
Kariya signed with St. Louis in 2007, and he would enter the Hockey Hall of Fame in 2017.