THUNDER BAY – The deadly tornado that tore through Nashville earlier this week also had a major business impact on Thunder Bay goaltender Carter Hutton.
The Buffalo Sabres netminder is a partner in Nashville Urban Winery, which suffered heavy damage in the EF-3 storm that left 24 people dead.
“We got hit pretty hard. We own the whole building it's in," Hutton told the Buffalo News earlier this week before the Sabres' game against the Penguins.
"The last few days have been mayhem for my partner on the ground there. The whole city is in a whirlwind right now. It's frustrating for us, but we're just glad everybody that's safe that we know there. There's been a tremendous loss in the city.”
Hutton spent three seasons with the Nashville Predators, from 2013 to 2016, and said the damage was pretty heavy.
"It's pretty rough. We lost a roof on one part. Windows. We took a beating pretty much everywhere.
"We have a couple different tenants in the building and their places didn't fare too well either. It's just a waiting game right now and whole parts of the city are in shambles,” Hutton told the paper.
"We've lost materialistic things and we can fix that. It's now dealing with insurance companies. Fortunately for us, all our stock was safe.”
Notes: In other local NHL news, Minnesota Wild forward Eric Staal has taken a leave of absence from the team following a death in his family.
