The Nashville Predators will pay tribute to former assistant coach Brent Peterson throughout the 2026-27 season, the team announced Sunday.
Peterson, a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, died on Sept. 11 at the age of 68 after a 23-year battle with Parkinson’s disease.
His celebration of life was held Monday in Bridgestone Arena, the Predators’ home rink. Peterson played 11 seasons in the NHL before coaching for 22, including 13 with the Predators.
This season, Predators players will wear a helmet decal with Peterson’s initials in his honor.
“True to Brent’s nature, he thought of others before himself up until his passing this morning,” the Predators said in a Sept. 11 statement. “Brent loved a good laugh and lived with Parkinson’s for 23 years, facing every day with a smile and a joke, no matter what his battle brought to him that day.”
Peterson was diagnosed in 2002 but kept it a secret for a year, he told the Deseret News in 2011. He “felt sorry” for himself until his friend and former teammate, hockey Hall-of-Famer Cam Neely, set up a call between Peterson and actor Michael J. Fox.
“Michael sort of straightened me out and said … ‘You can’t cry about what you have,’” Peterson recalled to the Deseret News. “‘Just go and do something about it.’”
Citing the disease “catching up” to him, Peterson retired from coaching in 2011.
“I don’t want to, but that’s the way it’s been,” he said. “Everyone has adversity, and mine’s been with Parkinson’s. It’s going to push me out of coaching, but there’s nothing I can do about it.”
Peterson used his platform to raise awareness for Parkinson’s, founding the Peterson Foundation for Parkinson’s in 2009. The foundation hosted the Petey’s Preds Party and Brent Peterson Golf Tournament every year and raised over $3 million since its founding.
This year’s Petey’s Preds party, which kicks off the tournament, was moved up two days early and livestreamed for Peterson in the hospital, according to the Predators’ Brooks Bratten. Peterson died the next day.
“(Peterson) will always hold a special place in the hearts of our Predators family and all who knew him across hockey and beyond,” the Predators said.