By Jordan Long
The Nashville Predators start training camp on Saturday. They enter the season as the defending Western Conference Champions. One player who will not be returning is center Vernon Fiddler who announced his retirement. According to tennessean.com, Fiddler said, “The Cup run that that followed was the perfect way to finish my career. Even though we didn’t quite get the job done, it was an amazing few months. And to be honest, it was just icing on the cake — my whole career was.”
Fiddler started his NHL career with the Nashville Predators during the 2002-2003 season. He appeared in 4 games scoring 4 goals and adding 2 assists for a total of 6 points. Fiddler wouldn’t become a full time starter until 2006. He lit the lamp 8 times while adding 4 assists that season. His best year for Nashville was 2008 when Fiddler had 11 goals and 21 assists for a total of 32 points.
Fiddler was a free agent in 2009. He decided to sign with the Phoenix Coyotes for 2 years, $2.2 million. Fiddler didn’t help the Coyotes on offense with a total of 14 goals and 38 assists but was valuable on the power play kill. He was able to block shots and shoot the puck down to the other end of the ice to take time off the clock when they were a man down. Fiddler created scoring opportunities and scored 4 short-handed goals.
Once his contract was up, he decided to continue his career with the Dallas Stars. Fiddler was in a Dallas uniform for 5 years. Dallas made the playoffs twice with him and went to the 2nd round before falling to the St. Louis Blues in 7 games in 2016
Last year Fiddler began the season with the Devils, agreeing to a 1 year, $1.25 million deal on July 1st. It lasted 39 games before New Jersey traded him to Nashville on February 4th and received a 4th round pick. It was clear during the year he couldn’t play hockey at a high level anymore. Fiddler didn’t have the same speed and his offensive numbers declined with 2 goals and 2 assists for a total of 4 points. In the postseason, he suited up in 9 games, scoring 1 goal and adding 1 assist while helping Nashville go all the way to the Stanley Cup Final.
It was time for Fiddler to walk away from the game. He appeared in 877 games in the NHL, not many skaters last that long. His offensive numbers aren’t that impressive with 104 goals and 157 assists for a total of 261 points but 12 of those goals were short-handed. He may not ever reach the Hockey Hall of Fame but will be remembered as a respectable defensive center.
How will you remember Vernon Fiddler?
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