Nashville Predators Team History

In May 1998 the Nashville Predators were unveiled as the 27th NHL franchise. The logo created for the Predators was actually created before the team name was even chosen.

The saber tooth tiger logo was made because of the discovery of a fossilized skeleton of the beast during the construction of the First American building in downtown Nashville in 1971. The name Predators was chosen by fans in a city wide vote.

In October of that year the puck was dropped for the Preds inaugural season, draped in the colours of navy blue, yellow, silver and white. The home jerseys were predominantly navy blue with a yellow tail stripe, a silver neck yoke with yellow piping and white on the bottom half of the sleeves.

On the away jersey the navy blue was replaced with white but not everywhere. The white is stretched out to the sides but only goes as far as the neck yoke and to the armpits where a section of navy blue is positioned.

The logo is of a side view of the sabre tooth tiger head with its teeth showing and mouth agape, but on the away jersey there is an upside down navy blue triangle on which the logo sits.

In 2001, a new mustard yellow third jersey joins the pack. The mustard colour dominates the jersey but there are sections of navy blue and silver on the jersey. Navy blue underarm gussets and a navy blue, silver and white tail stripe and navy blue and silver streaked sleeves make up the jersey. The logo also changed showing a more head on view of the “tiger” also sitting on top of the navy blue upside down triangle.

In 2007 the Reebok Edge jersey is introduced but not many changes were made, but in 2009 a new third was introduced. Scrapping the mustard yellow, the Predators went 2 tone using white and blue as its main colours. The logo used is the same as the original home and away’s but the double tail stripe has a black and blue checker pattern running through it and the same pattern was used near the bottom of the sleeves as well.

All Time Esteemed Predators
- David Legwand C, 1998 -
- Martin Erat LW 2001 -
- Kimmo Timonen D 1999 - 2007
- Scott Walker RW 1999-2006
- Cliff Ronning C 1999-2002
- Scott Hartnell LW 2000-2007
- J.P. Dumont C 2006 -
- Steve Sullivan LW 2003 -
- Jason Arnott C 2006 –
- Tomas Vokoun, 2000-2007

Current Esteemed Predators
- Jason Arnott 2006 –
- Wade Belak 2008 –
- J. P. Dumont 2006 –
- Martin Erat 1999 –
- David Legwand 1998 –
- Steve Sullivan 2004 –
- Shea Weber 2003 –
- Jordin Tootoo 2001 –

Recent Draft Picks
- 2009 Ryan Ellis D (OHL Windsor)
- 2008 Colin Wilson C (Boston University)
- 2007 Jonathon Blum D (WHL Vancouver)

Affiliate Teams
Milwaukee Admirals (AHL)
New Mexico Scorpions (CHL)
Cincinnati Cyclones (ECHL)