Nashville Predators on The Hockey News

Ranking the Nashville Predators’ First-Round Picks of the Past 10 Years

By Rob Couch,

2024-05-14

The Nashville Predators have their first-round pick in 2024 and have a chance to add to an already strong system. The team is known for their great drafting of defense and goaltending, but just two defensemen have been selected in the first round over the past 10 years.

Over that span, the Predators have drafted 10 players in the first round, but that is while not having a first-round pick in 2015 or 2018. This is a look back at how good these draft choices by Nashville were in comparison to one another.

10. Dante Fabbro

Dante Fabbro comes in as the lowest ranked first-round draft pick by the Predators of the past 10 years for a couple of reasons. Drafted in 2016 at 17th overall, he was supposed to be one of the defensemen to help keep the team at the top.

Fabbro has played 309 regular season games and his offense isn't much of a factor, but in year five his role and impact on the team dropped again. The 25-year-old was a healthy scratch a fair bit this season, playing 56 games, and was not the top-four defenseman the Predators had early on. He has struggled, but the situation and lack of use hasn't helped him recover from the level he was at early on in his career.

9. Fedor Svechkov

Fedor Svechkov went from playing quite a bit in the KHL in 2022-23 to a full-time member of the Milwaukee Admirals of the AHL this season in which he played well. The 21-year-old was drafted 19th overall in 2021 and has yet to play a game in the NHL, but projects to.

His ceiling is around a middle-six player once he gets going in the NHL, but as it is always unpredictable, that could be low-balling his capabilities or overestimating him. Svechkov has a solid all-around ability on the ice and scored 16 goals and 39 points as a rookie in the AHL in 57 games.

8. Philip Tomasino

Philip Tomasino's talent level is certainly there, but consistency isn't. He has been up and down over the past two seasons in Nashville after playing a full rookie season in 2021-22. Overall, the young forward doesn't have issues scoring as he has 23 goals and 70 points in 148 career games and is only 22 years old. He was taken 24th overall in 2019.

Exit Interview: Barry Trotz & Andrew Brunette (39:55)

During his only two seasons in the AHL, Tomasino is nearly a point-per-game player. More so than a lack of talent holding him back, it is his drive. That needs to improve in order for Tomasino to be as successful as he can. Despite the backlash and many fans wanting him to be given a real chance, general manager Barry Trotz wants the young player to prove himself first.

7. Eeli Tolvanen

Eeli Tolvanen is the one that got away. The Predators weren't patient and it now seems like Nashville was just not the right spot for him considering he took off as soon as he got to the Seattle Kraken off of waivers. It seemed like an immediately horrible decision after the Predators lost their 30th overall pick in 2017 for nothing.

Tolvanen is a power forward who does a lot when on the ice. His physical play and ability to score keeps him as a great middle-six option. He's pretty streaky, but also put up 16 goals and 41 points in 81 games this season while delivering 210 hits. There's still room to grow at 25 years old, but not a lot unless something drastically and unexpected happens.

6. Zachary L'Heureux

Zachary L'Heureux is going to be a solid NHL talent when he arrives. He has a pest mentality and will battle, plus he is more than capable of producing offensively. He is nearing the end of his rookie season in the AHL and has five goals and nine points in five playoff games.

L'Heureux scored 19 goals and 48 points in 66 games in the regular season as well and projects to not only be a top-six player in the NHL, but a big piece of the future for the Predators. He is versatile and can play in all situations at a high level. This is a prospect who could arguably even be higher on this list and may be as soon as next season. He was drafted 27th overall in 2021, the second first-round pick that year for Nashville.

5. Matthew Wood

Matthew Wood didn't have a stellar year for the University of Connecticut, but he still put up strong numbers. In terms of top prospects in the organization, he is thought of as a top-2 alongside Yaroslav Askarov. That may be recency bias and he is a talented young player, but he didn't make a lot of noise for his season in 2023-24.

Wood was drafted 15th overall in 2023 and has great size (6'5, 202 lbs). He uses his size well and can score goals. He also projects to be a top-six player for the Predators and his great hands and hockey IQ will help with that. Wood finished up his NCAA season with 16 goals and 28 points in 35 games.

4. Tanner Molendyk

Tanner Molendyk seems like one of those many great defensemen drafted by the Predators that are going to have a huge impact on the team for a long time. He was selected 24th overall in 2023 and has great speed and puck-moving ability to back that up.

Molendyk's vision and strong overall play has him always matched up against the opponents' top lines. He plays physically and has great stickhandling as well. He went back and played another year in the WHL, putting up 10 goals and 56 points in 50 games. He has the potential to be a top pairing defenseman and a sure-fire top-four d-man in the NHL.

3. Joakim Kemell

Joakim Kemell is definitely a prospect in the Predators' system to get excited about. He has a great shot and creates offense himself by any means. His entry to the AHL last season was stellar and with a larger sample size in 2023-24, still showed that he can snipe and produce offensively.

Among all of the Predators' prospects, Kemell is one of the best and is only 20 years old. Given a bit more time, he will be making an impact on Nashville and scoring goals like he has done at every level. Kemell was drafted 17th overall in 2022 and scored 16 goals and 41 points in 67 games this season for Milwaukee.

2. Yaroslav Askarov

When you think of the top prospect and the future in net for the Predators, it's Yaroslav Askarov. Even goalies drafted in the first round are a bit unpredictable and it may take a number of years until the Predators see him as a starter, but the talent is there.

Askarov was drafted 11th overall in 2020 and put up good numbers in the AHL this season, his second since turning pro. His SV% was .911 over 44 games and he got into two in the NHL, posting a .943 SV%. Though that is a very small sample size, he can hold his own already and is projected to not only be the starter of the future for the Predators, but an elite netminder.

1. Kevin Fiala

Stars are hard to come by in the NHL and even though offense is on the rise, it's not common for there to be point-per-game players still. Kevin Fiala did so twice in the past three seasons and has recorded at least 22 goals and 73 points in all of them.

Drafted 11th overall in 2014, Fiala looked to be on a similar trajectory as some of the forwards on this list when looking at the numbers. The difference is he just continued to get better and more impactful, especially right after the Predators traded him to the Minnesota Wild. Fiala has 176 goals and 428 points in 570 career games.

The Predators have and continue to do great work drafting in the first round. The team pumps out NHL talent every season and there are a lot of good things to be excited for in the system right now as well.