The Legacy of Mike Dunham

Sometimes a player's impact on a team lingers far after they have gone, and for goaltender Mike Dunham, his trade more than 6 years ago is still paying off for the Nashville Predators, writes Examiner.com's Jim Diamond:

This week, the Nashville Predators scouts are in town compiling the team’s draft board for the upcoming Entry Draft, which takes place June 26th and 27th at the Bell Centre in Montreal. As it stands now, the Predators have twelve picks in the seven-round draft.

One of those picks is Minnesota’s second round pick the Predators acquired along with Ryan Jones in exchange for enigmatic defenseman Marek Zidlicky last July 1st. The Predators acquired Zidlicky, forward Rem Murray, and defenseman Tomas Kloucek from the New York Rangers for goaltender Mike Dunham December 12, 2002.

It's deals like that which allow a franchise to slowly accumulate assets over the course of time, and build the depth that keeps a team consistently competitive.