9 Former (And 1 Future) Nashville Predators Suit Up In Olympics

NASHVILLE, TN -- The National Hockey League is the only major league in the world not taking a break to allow its players to participate in the Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, South Korea. It's the first time in 20 years no active NHLers will be at the games.

Nevertheless, the eight teams vying for gold are full of names familiar to North American hockey fans. Past NHL players now plying their trade elsewhere fill the rosters and nine of them have played for the Nashville Predators - and another likely will very soon.

Here's a rundown of the Olympians with connections to the Preds:

Team Canada

Derek Roy

Center Derek Roy, 34, signed the standard-issue one-year, $1 million contract general manager David Poile loves to hand out to veterans as a show-me deal before the 2014-15 season, but only played 26 games for Nashville, scoring one goal and adding nine assists. He was traded to the Edmonton Oilers Dec. 29, 2014, for, interestingly enough, Marc Arcobello, who is playing for Team U.S.A. in the Olympics. Roy never caught back on in the NHL after his stint with the Oilers and has since played in the Swiss league. He currently plays for Linköpings in the Swedish league. He is serving as one of Team Canada's alternate captains.

Czech Republic

Martin Erat

The 36-year-old Martin Erat, a winger, is easily the Olympian with the longest stretch in Nashville. After being drafted in the seventh round of the 1999 draft, Erat played 723 regular season games with Nashville, scoring 163 goals and notching 381 assists between 2001 and 2013. He's second in assists and points all-time for the Predators, and third in goals and games played. But what he's likely most remembered for is his trade demand in 2013. Erat, along with Michael Latta, went to Washington in exchange for Filip Forsberg, who, allegedly the Capitals never saw developing into a top-flight center. In fairness, Forsberg has not developed into a top-flight center, but he is among the NHL's best wingers. The trade is regarded as one of the most lopsided in NHL history. Erat, currently playing for HC Komato Brno in the Czech league is serving as the Czech captain; it is his fourth Olympics.

Switzerland

Simon Moser

Simon Moser, 28, made just six appearances for Nashville in the 2013-14 season, notching one goal and one assist. Moser, who was inexplicably nicknamed "Slaw Dog" during his brief tenure at Fifth & Broadway, made the team on a professional tryout agreement, though he ultimately spent much of his North American tenure with Nashville's minor league affiliate in Milwaukee, where he had eight goals and 18 assists in 48 games. Now playing for his hometown SC Bern in the Swiss League, this is Moser's first Olympics playing for the Eisgenossen (a direct translation would be something like "ice partners"; the nickname is a pun on Eidgenossen, or "oath sharers," a nickname for Swiss citizens).

Team U.S.A.

Bobby Butler

Forward Bobby Butler, 30, is an interesting case. He was picked up by Nashville off waivers from the New Jersey Devils in 2013 and played 20 games for the Preds with three goals and six assists. He was then traded to the Florida Panthers for T.J. Brennan. In 2015, Butler went overseas with stints in the Swedish league and Russia's Kontinental Hockey League before coming back to North America. He now plays for Nashville's American Hockey League affiliate in Milwaukee, but is on a contract with the Admirals and not the Predators, opening him up to play in the Olympics.

Jonathon Blum

Defenseman Jonathon Blum, a California native, was the Predators first-round draft pick in 2007 and played 91 regular season games for Nashville between 2010 and 2013, scoring seven goals and adding 15 assists. He also once defeated this reporter in a game of Words With Friends. Perhaps his most interesting contribution to the Preds was getting stomped on by Anaheim Ducks forward Bobby Ryan in Game 2 of the teams' 2011 first-round playoff match-up. The stomp netted Ryan a two-game suspension and the Preds ultimately won the series, a first for the franchise. Blum was not tendered a contract at the end of the 2013 season and had a short stint with the Minnesota Wild organization. He now plays for Admiral Vladivostok in the KHL.

Marc Arcobello

Forward Marc Arcobello, 29, came to Nashville in the aforementioned 2014 trade for Derek Roy. He scored one goal in four games with Nashville, before being placed on waivers and acquired by the Pittsburgh Penguins. Eventually, Arcobello played for four teams in the 2014-15 season, only the third NHL player ever to do so. He currently plays for SC Bern in the Swiss League.

Germany

Marcel Goc

A fan favorite during his two seasons in Nashville between 2009 and 2011, Marcel Goc, 34, is a mainstay of the German team and is playing in his third Olympics. Goc scored 21 goals and had 33 assists in his 124 regular season games with Nashville, though he was better known for his defensive reliability and face-off prowess. Goc became something of an Twitter meme while a Predator, as fans would regularly tweet about him using exclusively capital letters. Goc now plays for Adler Mannheim in the German league.

Sweden

Viktor Stalberg

The now-32-year-old Viktor Stalberg signed a four-year deal with Nashville in 2013 and was expected to be a scoring threat, but scored just 10 goals in 95 games across two seasons before being sent down to Milwaukee and was bought out by the Predators at the end of the 2014-15 season. He now plays for Swiss team EV Zug.

Magnus Hellberg

The 6-foot-6-inch goalie Magnus Hellberg was drafted in the second round of the 2011 draft by Nashville, expected to be the successor to the also-very-tall Pekka Rinne. Hellberg was the first person to wear the re-designed Nashville jersey, donning the new away white jersey as the Predators first draft pick that year. Hellberg spent most of his time with Milwaukee, though he appeared in one game for Nashville, allowing one goal in 12 minutes of relief work in the 2013-14 season. He was traded to the New York Rangers at the end of the 2015 season for a 2017 sixth-round draft pick, with which Nashville drafted Pavel Koltygin, in case you were wondering. Hellberg now plays for Kunlun Red Star, a KHL team based in China.

Finland

Eeli Tolvanen

Though he's yet to appear for the Predators, Eeli Tolvanen may be the best reason for Nashville fans to tune in to Olympic hockey. Considered by many a top 10 prospect headed into the 2017 draft, he fell to the Predators at the 30th pick. Tolvanen signed a two-year deal with Jokerit, a Finnish team playing in the KHL, where he was named an all-star his first year at the age of 18. He has 17 goals and 17 assists in 47 games and became the youngest player to ever record a KHL hat trick (and did so in his first game, no less). Poile said he hopes to bring the slick-skating hard-shooting teen to the Predators this season.

Photo of Magnus Hellberg at 2011 Predators development camp by Marc Torrence, Patch staff