Few NHL players in the early 2000s were as consistent as Hartnell, a forward who scored at least 20 goals nine times and reached double figures in 15 of his 17 NHL seasons despite a skating style that saw him hit the ice so often that "Hartnell Down" became a popular Twitter hashtag in his later seasons.

The Nashville Predators selected Hartnell with the No. 6 pick in the 2000 NHL Draft after he finished with 82 points (27 goals, 55 assists) in his third season with Prince Albert of the Western Hockey League, where he was also the captain. Hartnell made the Predators as an 18-year-old in 2000-01; he scored his first NHL goal against the Boston Bruins on Nov. 11, 2000, and finished the season with 16 points (two goals, 14 assists) in 75 games.

Hartnell averaged nearly 15 goals for the next three seasons, then scored 25 in 2005-06 (including three against the Chicago Blackhawks on Feb. 4, 2006, for his first NHL hat trick) and 22 in 2006-07. But the Predators traded him to the Philadelphia Flyers on June 18, 2007.

He quickly became a popular and productive member of the Flyers. Hartnell had two hat tricks in a nine-day span during January 2008 on the way to a 24-goal season, then repeated the feat during December 2008 and went on to his first 30-goal season. He struggled in 2009-10 but came alive in the Stanley Cup Playoffs, finishing with 17 points (eight goals, nine assists) in 23 games to help the Flyers reach the Cup Final, though they lost to the Blackhawks in six games.

Hartnell scored an NHL career-high 37 goals in 2011-12, when he was selected to the NHL All-Star Game for the only time in his career. He also started the #HarntnellDown Foundation to support charities that support hockey, children and communities around the United States and Canada. It started as a Twitter following to keep track of the number of times Hartnell would fall down during the NHL season. He embraced the phrase and began to sell merchandise that had it printed on it, with the proceeds going to Hartnell's favorite hockey-related charities. Hartnell also donated $1,000 to charity for every "#hartnelldown" mention that was tweeted during the All-Star Game.

He managed just 11 points (eight goals, three assists) in 32 games during the lockout-shortened 2012-13 season, but bounced back with 20 goals and 52 points in 2013-14.

The Flyers traded Hartnell to the Columbus Blue Jackets on June 23, 2014, and he scored 28 and 23 goals in his first two seasons with Columbus. The Blue Jackets bought him out after he dropped to 13 goals in 2016-17. Hartnell returned to the Predators for the 2017-18 season and scored 13 goals, helping Nashville win the Presidents' Trophy as the top regular-season team in the NHL, then announced his retirement on Oct. 1, 2018, finishing his career with 707 points (327 goals, 380 assists) in 1,249 NHL games and 47 points (19 goals, 28 assists) in 99 playoff games.

NOTES & TRANSACTIONS

• Played in NHL All-Star Game (2012)
• Signed as a free agent by Oslo (Norway), October 21, 2004.
• Traded to Philadelphia by Nashville with Kimmo Timonen for Nashville's 1st round pick (previously acquired, Nashville selected Jonathon Blum) in 2007 NHL Draft, June 18, 2007.
• Traded to Columbus by Philadelphia for RJ Umberger and Columbus' 4th round pick (later traded to Los Angeles -- Los Angeles selected Austin Wagner) in 2015 NHL Draft, June 23, 2014.
• Signed as a free agent by Nashville, July 1, 2017.