Gotta See It: Former Preds captain secretly cheering on team, despite working for another!

“I'd love for Nashville to win the Cup this year, I really would - I'm rooting for them.”

HockeyFeed
HockeyFeed
Published 6 years ago
Gotta See It: Former Preds captain secretly cheering on team, despite working for another!
Keystone Press

Ah, the good old days. Back when the Nashville Predators leading scorers were Cliff Ronning, Greg Johnson and Sergei Krivokrasov. The year was 1998, the Preds were the NHL’s newest franchise and their captain was 30 year-old Tom Fitzgerald. Nearly 20 years later, the team and its captain have parted ways but Fitzgerald can’t help but feel pride when he sees the success his former team is having.

"I'm happy for those guys because it's been a long time coming," said the now 48-year-old Fitzgerald, who is currently and Assistant General Manager with the New Jersey Devils. "I know how hard they work, and I know this is what they set out to do from the get-go. It hasn't come easy. There's been heartbreak there over the last bunch of years to not get out of the [first two rounds], but adversity makes you stronger. So I'm really happy for them."

During his time in Nashville, Fitzgerald was a lead-by-example kind of captain. He was never a flashy player who filled the net with any consistency, but he was a gritty performer who always brought a complete effort, despite leading an undermanned and outmatched lineup on most occasions. 

With the Preds now playing in the Western Conference finals, with half an eye on making history and moving on to the Stanley Cup finals, anecdotes from past players like Fitzgerald really drive home the rarity of such an achievement. This current run of success for the Preds is nearly 20 years in the making, and for players like Fitzgerald, they couldn’t be happier to see it taking place.