In September 1998, the Nashville Predators were playing in their first ever pre-season game in Huntsville, AL against the Florida Panthers.  One of the players in uniform was a young Czech goalie acquired from the Montreal organization.

As I watched the game, I was impressed with his play and remember asking former Predators assistant coach Paul Gardner about him. Guards was pretty sure he wouldn't make the team, but the more I watched the kid in practice, the more I thought he was pretty good.  So, I began to talk him up on the air and thus the legend of the "Vokounator" was born.  By the way, Tomas loved the nickname "The Vokounator" and I take full credit for it.

The time that I spent covering Tomas Vokoun was outstanding.  He was the backup goalie then, but if you were Mike Dunham's backup, you might as well be the starter because you're going to play in a lot of games.  Tomas struggled with his English at the time and would repeat over and over again that he needed to be "focused and concentrated."  It didn't matter.  He was a good man, a nice man and always very polite and courteous to me.  The media made him nervous as you might guess, but somehow he never seemed like I made him uneasy.

Today, fans of the Nashville Predators got good news and bad news.  The good news is that current owner Craig Leopold has decided not to do business with Jim Balsillie.  The exclusive negotiating agreement between Leopold and Mr. Blackberry has has expired and Leopold can now entertain offers from others including a local group that has emerged in the last week.  That good news was followed by a punch in the gut: The Vokounator era in Nashville is over as the Preds have shipped their goalie to the Florida Panthers for draft picks.

The Preds were a team built to compete last year, but with the uncertainty of ownership, it is assumed that Craig Leopold will let the team be built back up with someone else's capital.  And part of that process is to unload the larger items on the rate card for draft picks which are regulated by the league. 

For Tomas, Magda and his family, they will move South and enjoy Ft. Lauderdale.  He will no doubt be given a standing ovation the next time he visits the Nashville Arena (or whatever it is called these days) and will continue to help his team get to the playoffs.

For fans of the Preds, it will be a year of ground zero before people are in place to help put the team back together and make it more like 2006 than 1998.  David Poile and Barry Trotz are masters at building teams, but this may be a blow the Preds cannot recover from.

A happy day in Nashville which includes a thunderstorm.  It's just sad the Vocounator era had to end on such a sad note.