We are paying too much attention to the feelings of the Chrisley family before the passing of Nic Kerdiles.. But actually the people who are most heartbroken are the parents who gave birth to Nic Kerdiles 🙁 .

Nic Kerdiles, a two-time gold-medal winner with USA’s U18 World Championship team, died in a motorcycle accident at about 3.30am on Saturday in a residential area of Nashville, Tennessee. He was just 29 years old.

Police confirmed that alcohol was not a factor in the accident, but Kerdiles is thought to have gone through a stop sign and ran into the side of another car. He died in hospital a short time after being transferred from the scene of the accident.

His father, Michel, is French and mother, Nathalie, French-Canadian, and although he was born in Texas, Kerdiles spent most of the first six years of his life in France. The family later relocated to Irvine, California, and when Kerdiles made his NHL debut with the Anaheim Ducks on February 22, 2017, he became the first Orange County player to play for the Ducks.

“We’re heartbroken to hear the news about Nic Kerdiles, who died in a motorcycle accident this morning,” the Ducks posted on X, formerly Twitter. “Our thoughts and deepest sympathies go out to his family and loved ones.”

Kerdiles played for the Los Angeles Selects in midget hockey, and through his fine play was chosen to join the U.S. National Team Development Program in Michigan for the 2010-11 season. He also played at the IIHF’s U18 World Championship in Crimmitschau, where the Americans won gold in overtime against Sweden.

A year later, Kerdiles was a dominant force with the U18 team, leading all players in scoring during the 2011-12 season and then almost single-handedly earning the team a repeat gold at the U18, in the Czech Republic. He had two goals and three assists, and was a +6, in the gold-medal game, a 7-0 rout of the Swedes.

Based on his exceptional play, Kerdiles was drafted 36th overall by Anaheim in the summer of 2012, and that fall he went to the University of Wisconsin to play for the Badgers under coach Mike Eaves. During this time, Kerdiles also played at the 2014 World Junior Championship, again leading the Americans in scoring with seven points in five games.

After two successful seasons at Wisconsin, Kerdiles decided to turn pro and joined Norfolk and then San Diego in the AHL. Two and a half years later, he got the callup to make his NHL debut, a 5-3 home win against Boston.

That was his only appearance that season, and he played two more games with the Ducks a year later, but a longer NHL career wasn’t meant to be. He was traded to Winnipeg prior to the 2018 draft and moved up only as far as their AHL team, the Manitoba Moose. By 2019, Kerdiles had decided to retire. He landed in Nashville selling real estate.

In addition to his parents, Kerdiles leaves behind two sisters, Mailys and Marine.

Nic Kerdiles, a former NHL player for the Anaheim Ducks, died in a motorcycle accident in Nashville in the early hours of Saturday morning at 29.

According to TMZ, Kerdiles died from injuries in an accident at around 3:30am Saturday morning. Reports indicate that Kerdiles struck the side of a BMW. The driver of the other vehicle stopped immediately and he was transported to a local hospital.

Police say there were no signs of impairment from either Kerdiles or the driver of the other vehicle.

Kerdiles had posted a picture of himself on a motorbike on his Instagram story on Saturday night, captioned ‘night rider’.

He had previously been engaged to Savannah Chrisley, a former pageant queen and a member of the family highlighted on the USA Network reality television show ‘Chrisley Knows Best’.

Kerdiles and Chrisley began dating in November of 2017, about three years into the reality TV show’s existence.

The two became engaged on Christmas Eve of 2018, but the pair never wed.

In September of 2020, Chrisley announced that the couple had split, saying in an Instagram post that ‘there’s no hatred between the two of us’.

‘We have nothing but love, respect, and admiration for one another but it’s time for us to move forward individually,’ she wrote.

Savannah starred in both the ‘Knows Best’ series as well as a spin off, ‘Growing Up Chrisley’.

Both those series’ were cancelled when Savannah’s parents – Todd and Julie Chrisley were sentenced to twelve and seven years in prison respectively for tax evasion and bank fraud charges.

Kerdiles was born and raised in Lewisville, Texas to a French father and a French-Canadian mother – moving to France before eventually settling in California.

As a kid, he took part in the Quebec International Pee-Wee Hockey Tournament with a team of children from Los Angeles.

He represented the United States in their hockey National Team Development Program in multiple prestigious youth tournaments.

Kerdiles won silver with the United Sates at the 2011 IIHF U-17 World Championships before winning gold in the U-18 World Championships later that year.

The United States won gold in the same tournament the next year, where Kerdiles scored the most points of any American.

In 2012, the Anaheim Ducks drafted Kerdiles in the second round with the 36th overall pick. He went on to attend the University of Wisconsin for two seasons, racking up 26 goals and 45 assists for 71 points in 60 collegiate games.

After those two seasons, he signed a three-year entry level contract with the Ducks in 2014. He debuted for Anaheim’s AHL minor league affiliate – the Norfolk Admirals – in the 2014 Calder Cup playoffs. He’d go on to play for the San Diego Gulls when they became the Ducks’ new affiliate.

Following three seasons of playing in the minors, Kerdiles made his NHL debut on February 22, 2017 against the Boston Bruins.

Kerdiles went back to the Gulls and played eight games in their short-lived Calder Cup Playoff campaign.

But the Ducks called him back up for four exciting games in the Stanley Cup Playoffs. He was on the ice in Games 5 and 6 in the Western Conference second round against the Edmonton Oilers, a series Anaheim would eventually win.

Kerdiles’ next two games came in the Western Conference Finals against the Nashville Predators. After putting up a blank in that series’ Game 5, he tallied his first and only NHL point in Game 6.

His pass behind the net to teammate Chris Wagner cut Nashville’s lead down to 3-2. Unfortunately, Nashville would win that game which meant they eliminated Anaheim and advanced to the Stanley Cup Finals.

Kerdiles would return to play in the NHL the following season for two games after he signed a one-year extension.

Unfortunately, he failed to make an impact enough to stay in the team and he played his last game with Anaheim on October 15, 2017 against the Buffalo Sabres.

He was traded to the Winnipeg Jets on June 30, 2018. While he made three appearances for their AHL team – the Manitoba Moose – he never played in the NHL again.

His final game came on October 13, 2018 in a 6-2 loss against the Belleville Senators.

Kerdiles finished his NHL career with seven appearances in the regular season and the playoffs – managing one point.

In the AHL, he put up 47 goals and 60 assists for 107 regular season points in 181 regular season games.

He also had seven goals and five assists for 12 points in 18 AHL Playoff appearances.