Adam Vingan

avingan@tennessean.com

In accounts of hockey history, hardly anybody will remember that the Predators made two transactions on June 29.

Hours before completing the shocking trade with Montreal that landed defenseman P.K. Subban, Nashville bought out the last remaining year of forward Eric Nystrom's four-year contract, an expected move with the team trending younger.

The 33-year-old veteran was out of a job, and after a three-week preseason tryout with the Blues ended without a contract offer, reality set in.

"I had been preparing for that the past year or so," said Nystrom, who spent three seasons with the Predators. "It comes quick. After I got released from the (tryout), I just didn't know really where to go or what to do."

Nystrom hasn't officially retired, but he's prepared to move in that direction after nearly 600 NHL games that spanned a decade. The challenge now is to find an identity outside of the sport he's been surrounded by for most of his life.

“Hockey, it might be in their future, and it might be long-term, but it might be short-term,” said University of Michigan coach Red Berenson, who Nystrom played for from 2001-05. "But nevertheless, there’s life after hockey, and what you want to do about it is the difficult thing."

Berenson, in his 33rd season at Michigan, has advised his players with NHL aspirations to "give yourself two or three years, get it out of your system, and if you don't make it, then get on with your life."

Nystrom, a top-10 draft pick in 2002, also had an example set by his family. Father Bob, a four-time Stanley Cup champion with the Islanders in the 1980s, entered the insurance business following retirement. Like any parent, he has nagged his son about his next steps.

"I can't get through a conversation without him bugging me to this day," Nystrom said. "He experienced exactly what I'm going through, so he does know best."

Nystrom graduated from Michigan with a liberal arts degree, though he wishes he had majored in something more specialized. He's attempting to do that now as he's currently enrolled in the online Business of Hockey Institute, a two-part program that he started near the end of last season.

The first section involves nine standard business classes, of which Nystrom has finished two — Strategic Management and Human Resources Management. Each requires an eight-week commitment. Nystrom, who referred to himself as the "guinea pig" since he's the first player to participate in the program, will receive an executive MBA from Canada's Athabasca University upon completion.

"All the fun, thrilling stuff," he said.

The focus then will shift to hockey-specific topics, such as game day management, marketing and operations. It's a two-and-a-half-year process in total, and Nystrom said that he's approaching it one course at a time, joking that it's a holdover mentality from his playing days.

"It's a combination of two things that I think I would want to move into," said Nystrom, who recently dabbled in broadcasting as a guest analyst on NHL Network. "The whole point of this schooling is to place educated people into positions in hockey to help the game become better.

"But at the same time, learning all this business stuff, who's to say that I don't get involved with some sort of financial company or start doing something in that aspect or even start my own business?"

The NHL and NHL Players' Association have made easing the transition into post-hockey life a priority, launching the Core Development Program last month to assist players of all ages in preparing for the future. Nystrom has learned that being proactive is central to that change.

“I feel like guys have a hard time transitioning when they have that dead period, when they have the lull," he said. "I think that this has actually helped me get my mind thinking aside from hockey in terms of reality. Because sometimes, just being in a locker room, being around a team, you forget how life operates outside of a hockey rink, and this is a good transition to that."

Reach Adam Vingan on Twitter @AdamVingan.

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