Revisiting The Granlund/Fiala Trade & Top-25 Predators Continued
Welcome to the THW Nashville Predators Substack newsletter, with all the latest from our team of Predators writers.
In today’s edition, we return to author Alex Wauthy’s top 25 players in Predators’ history, highlighting the importance of two defensemen who stuck around in Nashville for a combined 21 years, and we re-visit the Mikael Granlund/Kevin Fiala trade and see which team ended up winning the exchange.
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Now on to the good stuff…
Predators: Revisiting the Mikael Granlund/Kevin Fiala Trade
August 17, 2023 by Alex Wauthy
When winger Mikael Granlund was traded to the Nashville Predators from the Minnesota Wild in exchange for Kevin Fiala at the 2018-19 trade deadline, there was a clear winner in the trade: the Predators. They secured a 27-year-old, top-line winger in Granlund, who still had another season remaining under contract at $5.75 million. In return, they traded away Fiala, a young and promising winger who was selected 11th overall in 2014 by the Predators and was in the last season of his entry-level contract.
Granlund was coming over from Minnesota, where he had just posted 49 points in 63 games and seemed poised to enter his prime with the arrow pointing straight up. While a promising prospect, Fiala was completing the final year in his rookie season deal and had scored 32 points in 64 games by last’s season’s deadline.
Predators’ Top 25 Players of All-Time: Ryan Ellis
October 2, 2023 by Alex Wauthy
Drafted 11th overall in the 2009 NHL Entry Draft, Ellis spent two seasons in juniors before making his NHL debut. During the 2011-12 and 2012-13 seasons, he would split time between the Predators and their American Hockey League affiliate, the Milwaukee Admirals. Finally, during the 2013-14 season, Ellis became a full-time NHLer. He scored 27 points in 80 games in his first full season, flashing his two-way ability and slick playmaking skills.
Ellis became reliable for 30-plus points as he entered his prime. He scored a career-high of 16 goals in the 2016-17, the same season where he helped the Predators reach the Stanley Cup Final. Ellis reached the 30-assist mark two times in his career, 20 assists six times, and finished with a double-digit goal count twice, both occurring in back-to-back seasons—2015-16 and 2016-17.
Predators’ Top 25 Players of All-Time: Mattias Ekholm
October 1, 2023 by Alex Wauthy
The Predators drafted Ekholm in the fourth round of the 2009 NHL Entry Draft. The 6-foot-4, smooth-skating Swede took his time to break into the NHL, which is expected for a defenseman selected in the fourth round. He made his NHL debut in the 2011-12 season, appearing in two games. He played a single game in 2012-13 while mainly spending time with the Predators American Hockey League (AHL) affiliate, the Milwaukee Admirals.
Finally, in the 2013-14 season, Ehkolm carved out a role on the Predators blue line. He played 62 games, scoring nine points and providing stout defense. He blocked 55 shots, threw 42 hits, and began earning recognition regarding his shutdown ability.