Fiddler's Fortune

For most, the line on the sports tickler regarding Vernon Fiddler's two-year contract with the Nashville Predators would appear to be just another marginal player filling out a roster spot, nothing interesting there.

But when you look at his career, you have to feel good about a guy like Fiddler earning some NHL money. Take a look at his career stats, and you'll see a guy who came out of Junior to toil through four years of ECHL & AHL play before landing a full-time gig with Nashville last year. After that long a time, surely the pressure to give up the NHL dream and "get a real job" must have been tremendous. In the two seasons prior to the lockout he'd been called up for less than 20 NHL games a year, but now at the ripe old age of 27, he's finally arrived as an NHL regular. If a guy like Fiddler can make it, perhaps there's a chance for us beer-leaguers?

OK, maybe not. It's still a nice story, though.