Preds Prospects Give Back Across Nashville During Community Day

Part of being a member of the Predators is being involved in the Nashville community. While the Preds Development Camp prospects have spent the majority of their time on the ice this week, the relaunch of Preds in the Community Presented by BlueCross BlueShield of Tennessee got the newest members out and about.

The Prospects were split across six organizations on Wednesday afternoon: Tools for Schools, Cumberland River Compact, Vanderbilt Children’s Hospital, Bethlehem Centers of Nashville, Nashville Food Project and Nashville Inner City Ministry.

The Players built furniture for teachers, helped clean the Cumberland River, raised spirits at the Children’s Hospital, showed off their hockey skills to local children with a game of street hockey, and shopped for school supplies with middle schoolers.

With each group getting involved in a different area, the prospects were able to experience the places that make up the community that represents each side of Nashville.

Austin Roest, a 2023 Preds draft pick, shared his school supply shopping experience with middle schoolers at a local Walmart and made sure the attendees had all the pens, notebooks and binders they could need.

“Most of the week's kind of hockey related, or there's not many things you do to help the community out,” Roest said when reflecting on the week so far. “So when you have a community day like this, you can see the smiles on the kids' faces, and it obviously means a lot to them.”

Prospects Miguel Marques, Aiden Fink, Viktor Norringer, Jack Stockfish, Joey Willis, and Cameron Reid joined Roest as they roamed Walmart to make sure local middle schoolers were prepared for the upcoming school year.

The main goal of the day is to introduce how easy it is to take a step back and make an impact, especially for the players that are new to Development Camp.

“It's been amazing.” Cameron Reid, one of Nashville’s first-round picks in the 2025 NHL Draft, said of Community Day. “Just getting to know the kids and shopping, just looking out for them, helping them out, it feels good, personally. And I’ve never really kind of done anything like this.”

While the prospects enjoy their ice time and learning to perfect their skills, there is more to life than hockey.

Developing as people, as well as hockey players, is a large part of what Development Camp is all about. Not only do these prospects learn about what it takes to play professional hockey, they learn about what it takes to play professional hockey in Nashville.

“Growing as a city doesn't have to be in hockey, but just growing in general, for everything.” Reid said. “And this is a perfect example of it, just kind of getting help out there, helping other people. It's lovely. I love it.”