When the television broadcast tunes to the Nashville Predators’ 2026 NHL Draft headquarters inside Bridgestone Arena for the first time on Friday night, fans will notice a bit more than the traditional saber-toothed tiger emblem.
A logo with the initials “DW” will be prominently - and proudly - displayed throughout the room, and Predators staff will be sporting lapel pins with the letters as well for a very good reason.
David Westby, a longtime North American Amateur Scout with the Predators - and a beloved member of the Nashville organization and beyond - passed away last March after a short but courageous battle with cancer. He was 65.
A member of the Preds scouting staff for two decades, Westby did much more than just work tirelessly to find top prospects and help bring them to Tennessee - he made the Predators organization better with his kind demeanor and willingness to do whatever it took to succeed in hockey and in life.
And at this time of the year, with a full season’s worth of work about to culminate into one potentially franchise-altering weekend, Westby would’ve been as proud as anyone to help the Preds make their next pick.
That’s why, as Predators Assistant General Manager and Director of Scouting Jeff Kealty explained, honoring Westby in some way during the Draft was a “no-brainer.”
“That's the least we can do,” Kealty said of remembering his former colleague and friend. “The Draft is what you work for as a scout, and given how much Dave meant to all of us in the organization, certainly, but really everybody in the scouting fraternity, this was a no-brainer to honor him like this. I think it will work out really well, and hopefully his family will be able to tune in on TV as well, but I think it’s going to look great.”
