While the Nashville Predators’ performance on the ice last year might have left some fans wanting, there’s one area where the Preds did leave fans satisfied – free food. Even after the game on New Years Eve, someone on Twitter questioned if Filip Forsberg’s hat trick “is it even worth it if the Predators lost?” I think so – and not just because everyone loves to see Forsberg succeed.
Win or lose, we can always get excited about free food – whether its to celebrate a win or to eat our feelings – and last year provided ample opportunity for fans to cash in. So let’s take a look at what the Predators earned fans in 2022, which players were most responsible for getting rewards, and we’ll tally how much money fans saved on free rewards in total.
All data was manually tracked and verified with data from Hockey-Reference.com. Reward details outlined on the Nashville Predators website and official rules are copied below. Rewards used were those active for the 2022-23 season – rewards applied to the last half of 2021-22 season. Regular season only – all rewards are won once per game, even if the reward scenario happens multiple times. Prices for rewards were collected via the business’ website or verifying in person on Jan. 1, 2023. Special thanks to Maranda Kelley (@mandiandi89) for help in tracking, price and nutrition research.
Penn Station East Coast Subs First Goal of the Game
Reward Description:
When the Predators score the first goal of the game at home or on the road, all fans can receive a free small sub the day after the game at all Middle Tennessee locations!
Regular Price: $7.59 – Calories 650
Starting with the most-awarded reward of last year, the Nashville Predators scored fans a free sub from Penn Station a whopping 48 times. Thankfully, this reward isn’t dependent on winning the game (Nashville went 36-40-9 in 2022), so Nashville fans received this reward after over half the games we watched last year.
Reward MVP: Filip Forsberg – nobody else comes close. Forsberg scored the first goal of the game 11 times, more than double the next highest players (Tanner Jeannot, Ryan Johansen and Mattias Ekholm had four each). Nobody gets the Preds jump started like Forsberg, and Filip delivered on the most expensive of the free rewards more often than most.
Moe’s Southwest Grill, We Win, You Win
Reward Description:
When the Preds win, so do you! If your Nashville Predators secure a win at home or on the road, all fans can receive a free cup of queso at Moe’s Southwest Grill. Just download the Moe Rewards app and select your favorite Smashville location before puck drop and when the Preds score a win, you’ll score free queso.
Regular Price: $4.49 – Calories: 568
Like mentioned above, Nashville went 36-40-9 in 2022, so it makes sense that the Moe’s queso reward finished as the second-highest awarded reward. The reward is simple – if Nashville wins, everyone gets queso. Sidenote: that is a terrifying amount of calories for a side dish of queso – especially compared to the other rewards, but you will not see me complaining.
Reward MVP: Ryan Johansen – technically, this reward has nothing to do with an individual player, so I looked at who scored the game-winning goal in each of the 36 wins. Ryan Johansen has delivered the dagger six times, just outpacing Filip Forsberg, and it’s great to see Joey finishing out games better than anyone else last year.
Wendy’s Score With Four
Reward Description:
When your Nashville Predators score four (4) goals during a game (home or away), all fans can show the corresponding Facebook story or tweet from the @PredsNHL accounts to receive a free small Frosty® or one free small Frosty-ccino®. Available at any Middle Tennessee Wendy’s locations.
Regular Price: $0.99 – Calories: 350
The most famous of Nashville’s promotion, the score with four Frosty deal even has it’s own sign in Bridgestone Area – plus the Milwaukee Admirals have a Frosty deal as well. Another deal that doesn’t require a win, Nashville was able to score four or more goals 38 times last season and gave Preds fans a free frosty desert about half of the games last year.
Reward MVP: Matt Duchene – this is another reward that isn’t specifically about a single player, so instead I tracked which player scored goal #4 in each game, and Duchene was far and away the winner in this category by scoring the fourth goal for Nashville a whopping ten times – double Filip Forsberg’s total of five.
Hardee’s Golden Goal
Reward Description:
When the Nashville Predators score a goal in the last five minutes of the second period at home or on the road, all fans win a FREE Famous Angus Burger at participating Middle Tennessee Hardee’s locations.
Regular Price: $6.27 – Calories: 820
The second-most expensive reward offered, the Hardee’s “Golden Goal” is also the most calorically dense – an incredible 820 calories that accounts for nearly half of that old, outdated mantra of “2,000 calories a day”. Still, free food is free food, and this reward is almost a meal in itself – a meal Preds fans got to have for free 19 times last year.
Reward MVPs: Matt Duchene and Luke Kunin – it’s no surprise to see Duchene on this list, but Luke Kunin – one of the only players to play all 82 games last season and a fan “favorite” – managed to match Duchene despite not even playing in Nashville for the 2022-23 season. Who says Kunin didn’t contribute to Predators fan experience?
Hattie B’s Hat Trick & Twice Daily Shutout
Reward Descriptions:
Hattie B’s: Fans, when your Nashville Predators score a Hat Trick – so do you! Following any “Hat Trick” this season, at home or on the road, download the Hattie B’s app on your phone and present the app that night or the next day at any Hattie B’s Nashville location to redeem one (1) complimentary Hat Trick of chicken tenders at any spice level.
Twice Daily: When the Predators win via a shutout at a home or away game, all fans can receive a free donut at Twice Daily. The day after a shutout the offer will be available on the Twice Daily app under the “My Account” tab. Available at any Middle Tennessee Twice Daily location, not valid at Bridgestone Arena locations.
Hattie B’s Regular Price: $6.00 – Calories: 790
Twice Daily Regular Price: $1.49 – Calories: 166
The last two rewards represent one of the most expensive (only the small sub and burger cost more at regular price) and most calorically dense (exceeded only by the burger), and additionally one of the cheapest and (somehow) most calorie-friendly. There were only two hat tricks in 2022 – the first by Ryan Johansen and the other was on New Years Eve in Nashville’s 5-4 OT loss to the Las Vegas Golden Knights.
Surprisingly, Nashville also only had two shutouts in all of 2022, both of which coming against the San Jose Sharks in Spring 2022. Juuse Saros was in net both times against the Sharks.
Reward MVPs: Filip Forsberg, Ryan Johansen and Juuse Saros. Forsberg and Johansen each had a hat trick last year, so they share the title of Hattie B’s MVPs, while Juuse Saros was the only goaltender with a shutout (sorry David Rittich and Kevin Lankinen), so he stands tall as your Twice Daily reward MVP.
2022 Free Food Reward Summary
Now that we know what the rewards are and who was responsible for getting them to the fans, let’s take a look at what Predators fans were able to walk away with after all 85 games last year:
Free Food MVP: Filip Forsberg was responsible for 24 of the rewards last season, accounting for 16.5% of all rewards.
Most Money Saved: Penn Station Small Sub – $7.49 regular price awarded 48 times: Total saved = $359.52
Most Times Awarded: Penn Station Small Sub (48 times)
Most Calories Rewarded per Prize: Hardee’s Golden Goal famous burger – coming in at 820 calories per burger.
Average Rewards per game: Nashville played 85 games in 2022, averaging 1.7 rewards per game, representing an average savings of $8.44 and intake of 970 calories per game.
Total Rewards for 2022: If a single Nashville Predator fan was able to redeem every one of the rewards possible last season, they would’ve redeemed 145 rewards, representing a cost savings of $692.89 and consuming a thrifty 82,440 calories over the span of the year. The nearly $700 in savings could account for 21 single-game tickets (at the early $30 price point).
Full Arena Value: if each game averaged 1.7 rewards and $8.44 in free food and all 17,159 fans in a sold-out Bridgestone Arena was to redeem a reward after a game, that would come out to a total of 29,170 rewards representing $144,821.96 in free food. Expand that to all 85 games played last year? That’s just under 2.5 million rewards and a total savings of $12.3 million.
The Nashville Predators giveaways are a fun and profitable fan engagement tactic for the team, but even with the results in the standings not looking the way we hoped, there’s always a reason for fans (and their wallets) to be excited. Their cholesterol however? Well, it’s better we don’t discuss that here.
Author’s note: Free food was the focus of this article, but there is another redeemable reward offered by the Nashville Predators: for every save Nashville records in a home win, Mapco rewards members get that many cents off a gallon of gas the next day. Using gas prices from the week of games where the Predators qualified for the reward and assuming the average of a 14-gallon tank, Predators fans would’ve saved $93.80 if they filled up after the 21 games they qualified – an average savings of $4.47. Data from GasBuddy.com .