Former team captain Mike Fisher has announced that he will return to the Nashville Predators.
According to ESPN, Fisher signed a professional tryout contract in order to start working out with the team again. The Predators hope to sign him before the postseason roster deadlines are due.
Fisher, now 37 years old, captained the Predators for the 2016-2017 after former captain Shea Weber was traded to the Montreal Canadians in the summer of 2016. Fisher was acquired in a trade from the Ottawa Senators during the 2010-2011 season. He spent most of his tenure in Nashville serving as an alternate captain.
While he never put up unfathomable numbers playing for the Predators, he was always a reliable center who was responsible on both ends of the ice. In his one season, he captained the Predators to a Western Conference Championship and a berth in the Stanley Cup Finals, which at the time was uncharted territory for the team.
Fisher retired during the following offseason, which gave the captaincy to defenseman Roman Josi.
Fisher has proven himself a born leader ever since his days in Ottawa, which he played in the Stanley Cup Finals with them in 2007. Disregarding the Stanley Cup Final berth, Fisher led the Predators to a sweep of bitter divisional rival Chicago Blackhawks. The team then proceeded to dispatch the lethal St. Louis Blues and aggressive Anaheim Ducks. All of this time, Nashville was the lowest seed coming into the playoffs.
The Predators are in the top of the pack in the Central Division as of now, and they are primed to make another run at the Cup come April. Adding Fisher would boost an already solid center core consisting of Ryan Johansen, Kyle Turris and Nick Bonino. Turris and Bonino were not on the roster during last year’s Finals run.
Fisher’s return will likely give the Predators locker a room a huge morale boost, along with added depth at the center position.
