Remembering 'Petey' - Celebrating the Life and Legacy of Brent Peterson

Brent Peterson could have stayed in the shadows. 

Doing so would have been the easy thing to do after his Parkinson’s diagnosis in 2002 - a reality that eventually forced him to step down from his role as assistant coach with the Nashville Predators in 2011, a position he had held since the franchise’s first game in 1998. 

But that wasn’t how ‘Petey’ chose to live his life. 

Instead, he spent the next 23 years making a difference. An impact. An influence on everyone he met, and even those he never did. 

On Friday morning, Peterson passed away. He was 68. 

From the time he was diagnosed until his last day on Earth, however, Peterson was a fighter. Thanks to his legacy, he always will be. 

In 2009, the Peterson Foundation for Parkinson’s (PFP) was founded by Brent and his wife, Tami, with a mission to support and enhance the lives of people with Parkinson’s, their care partners and families to achieve their highest possible quality of life through awareness, education and programs within a caring community.

Over the course of Peterson’s life, the Foundation raised millions with much of that coming from a pair of staples on the Nashville Predators Foundation’s calendar. 

The annual Petey’s Preds Party and Brent Peterson Golf Classic always bring Predators players, coaches, staff, fans and members of the Nashville community together for a cause close to so many of those attendees’ hearts. 

The 2026 edition of those events will see the golf tournament take place on Monday. Typically, the Party would be held the night before. 

But this time around, the celebration took place Thursday night at Bridgestone Arena - live streamed to Peterson in the hospital for he and his family to see one last time. 

Even in his final hours, his impact was being felt. 

Born on Feb. 15, 1958 in Calgary, Peterson enjoyed an impressive junior hockey career with the Edmonton Oil Kings and Portland Winter Hawks before becoming an NHLer. Selected in the first round of the 1978 NHL Draft by the Detroit Red Wings, Peterson spent 12 NHL successful seasons across Detroit, Buffalo, Vancouver and Hartford.

Once he hung up his skates in 1989, he immediately joined the Whalers coaching staff before going back to Portland to lead the Winter Hawks to a WHL Championship in 1998. Then, Barry Trotz brought him to Nashville to join the first staff of the Predators.

He spent 12 seasons behind the bench in Nashville, first as an assistant coach, and then as an associate, alongside Trotz the entire time. Once he stepped down, Peterson continued to devote his time to his Foundation while also becoming a member of the Preds broadcast team, including as a radio color commentator in company with Voice of the Preds, Pete Weber. 

Weber’s call - enhanced by Peterson’s scream of jubilation - on a spring night in 2016 when Mike Fisher scored in triple overtime in Game 4 of Round 2 against San Jose might just be the greatest call in team history.

And once he stepped back from the broadcast booth, Peterson was still a fixture at Predators home games, never wanting to miss a chance to be around his beloved hockey family. He could often be found in the Wendy’s drive-thru on his way home for his free Frosty after the Preds tallied four goals.

He’ll never be in the front row of his Party again, his baritone laugh echoing across the Arena floor as he enjoyed the act of a comedian. 

He won’t be on the golf course anymore, driving the ball down the fairway before tallying a par more often than not. He once joked his scorecard was always pristine because he “had the best pencil eraser in the game.” 

Indeed, Peterson’s presence will be dearly missed, but his impact will last forever.

His wife, Tami, his children, Brad and Kristin, and all those who were lucky enough to know him will ensure he’ll never be forgotten across Smashville and beyond. 

That’s the least we can all do for a man who was as selfless as they come. 

 “It’s a lot of fun, it’s a lot of work, it's a lot of stress, but we want to do these things,” Peterson said last year of his Foundation’s efforts. “We want to raise as much money as we can, to help as many people as we can.”

That was simply how ‘Petey’ lived his life. 

And this world is better because of it.