The Nashville Predators have only reached the Stanley Cup Final one time in franchise history, and this is the jersey Mike Fisher wore while captaining the team in their first two Stanley Cup Final home games.
In a collection full of historical pieces worn by every Predators captain, this gamer was the white whale.
The original goal of my collection was one game worn jersey from each captain in Predators history.
With that accomplished, it expanded to one gamer with the captain’s “C” from every style the team has worn on the ice. When I improbably accomplished that goal (thanks to Admirals Archives), I set my sights on also having one jersey with each regularly worn patch (ie: worn for more than a single game) on a captain’s game worn jersey.
The hardest two to find were the NHL2000 patch and, of course, the Stanley Cup Final patch.
Thanks to some help from Barry at MeiGray, I managed to make a deal with the original owner of this Stanley Cup Final patched Fisher to complete the set.
Fisher only served as captain for one season, making him the second captain to be a one season wonder.
He made the lone year count, though, by leading a franchise that had never been beyond the second round all the way to the Cup Final and a showdown with the Pittsburgh Penguins.
Fish wore this jersey in game three and four of the Western Conference Finals, and game three and four of the Stanley Cup Final. He was injured and did not play in the clinching game six of the Western Conference Finals.
His jersey is fairly clean in the body as you would expect for being worn in just four games.
The right sleeve, however, actually has a nice cluster of repairs. There are 7-10 repairs in various spots in and around the elbow of the jersey, as well as two large burns that are unrepaired holes in the navy area just above the white piping.
There is a faint stick mark on the right side in the rib area and another faint mark near the NHL’s 100th Anniversary patch.
The jersey has both the 2017 Stanley Cup Final patch as well as the NHL’s 100th Anniversary patch, as well as the captain’s “C” embroidered on the chest.
Mike Fisher had just one assist in this sweater.
It was a diving lunge at a loose puck in Game Four that sprang Viktor Arvidsson for a breakaway goal to make the game 3-1.
Fish and the Preds ultimately came up short, losing the series 4-2 in Game Six.
The firepower of Crosby, Malkin, and Guentzel was too much for a depleted Predators lineup missing Ryan Johansen and Kevin Fiala.
It was still among the best of times for Smashville. And this jersey is a nice slice of history from the ride.