“From Herb Fritch to Sean Henry to David Poile to every member of the staff, the Predators are led and supported by people driven to serve the city of Nashville through the game of hockey – and to grow the game in Nashville,” NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman said. “The Predators always raise their hand whenever a League event is up for bid and always say ‘Yes,’ when the NHL calls. Then, every time they are selected to play hosts, they execute at a level and welcome the hockey community in a way that makes us want to return as soon as possible.”

The first of those events – the Awards – will arrive in the Music City just 16 months after the 2022 Stadium Series game, which set a League-wide example of just how big a party Nashville could throw.

“The League has always given us an opportunity to put our own unique spin on these tentpole events, and I love the trust they have with us,” Predators President and CEO Sean Henry said. “But most importantly, I like the fact that we can work with the Nashville Convention & Visitors Corp, the CDC, the city, the state and all the stakeholders and say, ‘Here’s our opportunity to put our own unique spin on these great, incredible events.’ And then people leave here thinking ‘Oh my gosh, Nashville should host that event every year, like they did with the All-Star Game, like they did with the Draft in 2003 and like they did with the Stadium Series game.’ I love talking to my counterparts that are hosting these events after us, and they just shake their heads and say, ‘It’s going to be great here, but it won’t be as good as Nashville.'”

“I think every time we have hosted something for the NHL, we have elevated it,” Nashville Convention & Visitors Corp CEO Butch Spyridon said. “From the collaborative community effort from the Preds to the city departments… Every time we’ve elevated it and every time the NHL maybe has responded quicker to giving us the next thing. So I’m taking that as a good sign that we have finally broken through. That we’re not just a second-tier city – we are a world-class event city.”

The second of the two events – the 2023 NHL Draft – will be Nashville’s second time hosting a draft, with the city and team’s last go-round occurring nearly 20 years ago.

“When we did the 2003 Draft and we helped produce it, we all looked at each other and said ‘There’s no way that we can fill the building,'” Spyridon said. “We all got together and we pulled out every trick in our bag of tricks to fill the building up for the first round. And nobody knew anything about hockey, and nobody could pronounce any of the names, but the town responded. Now that we understand the sport and who the players are, it should not only be easier to fill the building, but it will also be much more fun.”

“Whenever an NHL event comes to a market, focusing the eyes of the sporting world on it, the host franchise experiences a boost,” Bettman said. “But the positive effects of that exposure really multiply and become long-lasting when that event is memorable and when the host franchise’s passion and professionalism are on full display both during the event and every day that follows. From a Draft to an All-Star Weekend to a Stanley Cup Final to a Stadium Series game, the Predators have repeatedly partnered with the NHL to produce memorable events that reflected so well on their franchise and shined a light on the fantastic city of Nashville.”

The astronomical growth in hockey’s footprint across Middle Tennessee over the past 20 years, combined with the League’s repeated interest in the Music City and its team, all points to an obvious conclusion: Nashville is no longer in the process of becoming a great hockey city. By every quantifiable measure, it already is one – if not the very best.

“There’s not a better hockey city in the world,” Henry said. “Smashville has completely reinvented how to put on a hockey game. I don’t care who you are, who you’re a fan of or where you grew up watching games – once you get a taste of how we celebrate this great game in Smashville, you leave and say, ‘That was the best place to go watch my team lose.’ And I always smile after I hear people say that. It’s not becoming a great hockey city. It is the best hockey town in the world.”

The best hockey town in the world will get two more shots at proving that superlative this spring, and Henry is confident the Preds organization will be able to exceed expectations once again.

“You’re going to see an incredible collision of everything that we all love about our city,” Henry said. “From some of the biggest names in music, to the biggest names in our sport, to ideally crossing over to other sports and people that we naturally think of in creating golden moments… They’ll all be coming together to just really enjoy the best in our game with the NHL Awards and the future best of the game with the Draft.”

With the Awards and the Draft also threading between what will hopefully be a long Stanley Cup Playoff run as well as CMA Fest and the city’s massive Fourth of July celebration, Nashville is poised to kick off Summer 2023 in a way the Music City has never quite experienced.

“I have never seen that level of high profile events in a 30-day window in my 30-year career,” Spyridon said. “It’s a unique opportunity, but it’s also what we feel like we’ve tried to build in terms of infrastructure – the experienced staff, volunteers, city departments, the Predators and us – it’s all kind of the dream.”

“You think about a dream scenario of what could happen,” Henry said. “And I’m always very optimistic, but the goal is very simple. And it’s to host one of the hottest, most fun Stanley Cup parades the country has ever seen. And imagine if that came together this year – following CMA Fest and before these two great events. It’s like a storybook. Right now we get to dream about it. We get to get excited about the hope and potential for that, but ultimately it will be something that all came together for so many reasons.”