Hall of Fame GM David Poile's Legacy Will Last a Long Time as Nashville's 2023 Draft Class Begins to Arrive
As curtain calls go, this one was pretty straightforward for a city like Nashville. It was the 2023 NHL Draft and after 41 consecutive seasons years as a general manager in the National Hockey league, the the longest in league history, David Poile was about to make his final selection. He promptly did what most great artists do on stage there, and give the fans what they wanted, in this case a last move to be remembered.
Of course, no one would know how good it might be for a few years. Seventh-round draft selections don't have the best history of making the NHL, or were known for being especially memorable. But some are, including Doug Gilmour, Joe Pavelski, Henrik Zetterberg, Cliff Ronning, Brian Mullen and goaltender Henrik Lundqvist.
“For my last pick of all-time, this is the player: Aiden Fink, from Brooks," Poile announced at Bridgestone Arena, the home of the Predators. "Thanks, everybody.”
Obviously there wasn't much attention given at the time to the forward from the Alberta Junior Hockey League, but Poile might want to think about coming back and taking a bow. The only general manager to lead two separate NHL clubs for 1,000 games and 500 wins, took a player who went on to help lead his team to its first Frozen Four and nearly made his NHL debut in Nashville's 2025-26 season finale.
Fink was in the building and ready to go against Anaheim, but it didn't happen. Had he played the forward would have been just the second player of everyone drafted by the Predators since 2023 to play for the team. The first, of course, was forward Matthew Wood, Nashville's first pick in that same draft, 203 selections previous at No. 15 overall.
Name | Round | Pick | Pos. | Overall | Team |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Matthew Wood | 1 | 15 | RW | 15 | Connecticut (Hockey East) |
Tanner Molendyk | 1 | 24 | D | 24 | Saskatoon (WHL) |
Felix Nilsson | 2 | 11 | C | 43 | Rogle Jr. (Sweden) |
Kalan Lind | 2 | 14 | LW | 46 | Red Deer (WHL) |
Jesse Kiiskinen | 3 | 4 | RW | 68 | Pelicans Jr. (Finland) |
Dylan MacKinnon | 3 | 19 | D | 83 | Halifax (QMJHL) |
Joey Willis | 4 | 15 | C | 111 | Saginaw (OHL) |
Juha Jatkola | 4 | 25 | G | 121 | Kalpa (Finland) |
Sutter Muzzatti | 5 | 15 | C | 143 | RPI (ECAC) |
Austin Roest | 6 | 15 | C | 175 | Everett (WHL) |
Aiden Fink | 7 | 26 | RW | 218 | Brooks (AJHL) |
The Predators made 11 selections in the 2023 NHL Draft. Here's a look at each of them:
Matthew Wood
The forward was the No. 4-ranked North American skater in NHL Central Scouting's pre-draft rankings. After being selected No. 15 overall, Wood transferred to Minnesota and notched 17 goals and 22 assists to average a point per game for the Gophers. He signed this three-year entry contract in 2025 and made his NHL debut on April 5, 2025. Last season as a rookie he had 17 goals and 13 assists, and became the second rookie in Predators history to have a hat trick, joining Blake Geoffrion. At age 21, he's already consdired top-six forward on the roster.
Tanner Molendyk
After nearly making the Predators out of training camp last year, it's time for him to no longer be called Nashville's defender of the future. He had four goals and 19 assists for Milwaukee (AHL) last season and one has to think a subsequent year of playing with Roman Josi could only further his development. Scouts rave about his skating. Like Josi, the 21-year-old is a left-handed shot.
Felix Nilsson
The 6-2 left wing is someone to keep an eye on as he went from five goals and 17 assists in the Swedish Hockey League in 2024-25 to 14 goals and 26 assists last season, while also having 40 penalty minutes and a +18. While the development obviously stands out, those are also really good numbers for his age as Nilsson is about to turn 21.
Kalan Lind
When he was draft, ElitePorspects noted that "Fearlessness and unending physicality tie Lind's many skills together." The left winger is now 21 but didn't make a big dent on the scoresheet at Milwaukee (AHL) last season, finishing with five goals and three assists in 26 games, and 68 penalty minutes. He spent the rest of the season the Atlanta Gladiators (ECHL), where he had 16 points and 34 penalty minutes in 34 games
Jesse Kiiskinen
In June 2024, the then-18-year-old forward was traded along with a second-round pick in the 2024 NHL Draft to the Detroit Red Wings in exchange for defenseman Andrew Gibson, the 42nd-overall pick in the 2023 NHL Draft. The 6-4 defenseman had two goals and 11 assists in 72 games at AHL Milwaukee last season. Kiiskinen played for HPK in the Finnish Liiga league and had 17 goals and 11 assists in 54 games.
Dylan MacKinnon
Didn't sign and became an unrestricted free agent last year. Boston gave him a look by inviting the 6-2 defenseman to the Bruins' rookie camp. He spent most of last season with the Charlottetown Islanders (QMJHL) and had 12 points in 45 games, and 23 penalty minutes.
Joey Willis
After being drafted went back to the OHL’s Saginaw Spirit and helped team his team to the Memorial Cup, and subsequently played for the U. S. at the 2025 World Junior Championship — becoming just the sixth American to win the title in both. He was an alternate captain for Saginaw in 2024-25 before being traded to Kingston for a player and seven draft picks. Last season he played in 56 games in Milwaukee (AHL) and had eight goals and 14 assists. Wills, 21, is under contract through the 2027-28 season.
Juha Jatkola
When Nashville selected the Finnish goaltender he was coming off a 20-11 season with a 2.16 goals against average and .903 save percentage for KalPa in the Liiga league. But he hasn't been able to match those numbers in his three seasons since. He notched 12 wins in all of them, and this past season he had a 2.48 GAA and .900 save percentage. Jatkola will turn 24 in September.
Sutter Muzzatti
The center had a terrific freshman season at RPI, notching 22 points in 35 games, but wasn't able to build much on it and ran into injury issues before transferring to Notre Dame. The graduate student was second on the Fighting Irish in scoring with 13 goals and 19 assists in 2025-26 and voted the team MVP. Note that the school lists the 22-year-old as being 6-6, 241 pounds, while the Predators claim he's 6-8, 226.
Austin Roest
Here's something one doesn't see very often, the forward spent five seasons the Everett Silvertips in the Western Hockey League, totaling 89 goals and 107 assists for 196 points in 210 games. He was named the team captain in 2023-24, when Roest tallied 38 goals and 33 assists, but then missed most 2024-25 due to injury, only to come back and net seven goals and 12 assists in 13 playoff games. After signing his entry-level contract, he played in 41 games with AHL Milwaukee, in addition to five with the Atlanta Gladiators.
Aiden Fink
Fink went to Penn State and became the program's first Hobey Baker Award finalist while setting the program's single-season points record with 53 points (23 goals, 30 assists in 40 games) in 2024-25. The fastest Nittany Lion to reach 100 points, he finished his career with 125 (44 goals, 77 assists) in 104 games. At the end of the 2025-26 season he signed his three-year entry deal and nothced 10 points during six games with AHL Milwaukee.
The Predators had Fink participate in the team's final three practices of the season, but didn't have him make his NHL debut — yet.
Note: This is the fourth story in an offseason series looking back on each of the Predators' drafts, and what happened to each player selected. The 2024 story can be found here, and the series started with a revisit to the expansion draft in 1998.
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Christopher Walsh is the publisher of Nashville Predators On SI. He's also the founder of Alabama Crimson Tide On SI, which first published as BamaCentral in 2018, and the publisher of Boston Bruins On SI, along with the Boston College Eagles, Miami Hurricanes, and Vanderbilt Commodores sites. The longstanding sports writer is the author of 26 books including “100 Things Crimson Tide Fans Should Know and Do Before They Die” and “Nick Saban vs. College Football.” He's an eight-time honoree of Football Writers Association of America awards and three-time winner of the Herby Kirby Memorial Award, the Alabama Sports Writers Association’s highest writing honor for story of the year. In 2022, he was named one of the 50 Legends of the ASWA. Previous beats include the Green Bay Packers, Arizona Cardinals and Tampa Bay Buccaneers, along with Major League Baseball’s Arizona Diamondbacks. Originally from Minnesota and a graduate of the University of New Hampshire, he currently resides in Tuscaloosa.