Filip Forsberg will not leave Nashville as soon as the team announced (Twitter link) that he has agreed an eight-year contract with the winger. Although the financial terms were not officially revealed, 104.5 The Zone’s Dawn Davenport was the first to report (Twitter link) that the deal is worth about $ 70 million; Frank Seravalli of Daily Faceoff confirms (via Twitter) that the deal entails a $ 8.5 million AAV worth a total of $ 68 million.
The 27-year-old has spent part of the last ten seasons with the Predators after acquiring him on the Washington exchange deadline in 2013 in exchange for Martin Erat and Michael Latta in a trade that worked much better for Nashville than for Nashville. he did it for the Capitals. Since then, Forsberg has become a constant scorer for the Preds and has been a key gear in their top line for several years.
While Forsberg has been fairly stable in the goals department after scoring at least 20 goals in each of his first six seasons (and produced at a rate of more than 20 goals in 2020-21), he found a new gear last season. , scoring 42 goals and contributing 42 assists, both highs of his career by a considerable margin. That was good enough to finish third in the Predators by points behind Roman Josi and Matt Duchene with their goal production, which ranked 12th in the league, which helped them push them into the postseason with the team only in the middle of the group in goals. allowed.
The timing of this leap in production could not have been better for Forsberg, as he positioned him as one of the best free agents in this year’s class, giving him a lot of influence in contract talks. This has allowed him to earn a $ 2.5 million increase from his previous contract and a lot of job security as he will be signed during the 2029-30 season. It will be interesting to see if he was able to get some form of commercial protection in the contract, as this is something that GM David Poile has historically been very hesitant to deliver over the years.
Nashville is clearly looking to stay in the playoffs photo after adding Ryan McDonagh earlier this offseason and keeping Forsberg in the fold will certainly help his chances of reaching the postseason again. They have just over $ 9 million left in the maximum space for CapFriendly with RFA winger Yakov Trenin, most notably yet to be signed, so the Predators may be looking to add another player to impact this summer if they plan to spend about $ 82.5 million. salary cap.
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