July 10: TSN’s Pierre LeBrun reported Sunday morning on the financial structure of the Forsberg deal. It is as follows:
- 2022-23 $10 million
- 2023-24 $10 million
- 2024-25 $10 million
- 2025-26 $10 million
- 2026-27 $4.5M base salary, $3M signing bonus
- 2027-28 $4 million base salary, $3 million signing bonus
- 2028-29 $4 million base salary, $3 million signing bonus
- 2029-30 $3.5M base salary, $3M signing bonus
Interestingly, the deal actually comes with some motion protection. According to LeBrun, the deal has a full no-movement clause and a modified no-trade clause for the final two seasons of the contract.
July 9: Filip Forsberg won’t be leaving Nashville anytime soon, as the team announced (Twitter link) that they have agreed to an eight-year contract with the winger. Although financial terms were not officially disclosed, 104.5 Zone’s Dawn Davenport was the first to report (Twitter link) that the deal was worth around $70 million; Daily Faceoff’s Frank Serravalli confirms (via Twitter) that the deal includes an AAV of $8.5 million, for a total value of $68 million.
The 27-year-old spent parts of the last ten seasons with the Predators after they acquired him at the 2013 trade deadline from Washington in exchange for Martin Erath and Michael Latta in a deal that turned out to be much better for Nashville than he did it for Stolichani. Since then, Forsberg has become a consistent scorer for the Preds and has been a key cog on their top line for several years.
While Forsberg has been pretty solid in the scoring department, scoring at least 20 goals in each of his first six seasons (and producing at a 20-plus goal pace in 2020-21), he found a new gear this past season, scoring 42 goals. while chipping in with 42 assists, both career highs by a significant margin. It was enough to finish third on the Predators in points behind Roman Josey and Matt Duchene with their goal output – which ranked 12th in the league – helping them get to the postseason, with the team just in the middle of the group on goals allowed.
The timing of that spike in production couldn’t be better for Forsberg, as it sets him up as one of the top free agents this year, giving him plenty of leverage in contract negotiations. That earned him a $2.5 million raise from his previous contract and plenty of job security, as he will be signed through the 2029-30 season. It will be interesting to see if he is able to get some form of trade protection in the contract, as that is something GM David Poile has historically been hesitant to grant over the years.
Nashville is clearly looking to stay in the playoff picture after adding Ryan McDonagh earlier this offseason, and keeping Forsberg will certainly help their chances of reaching the postseason again. They have just over $9 million in remaining CapFriendly cap space with RFA winger Yakov Trenin the most notable yet-to-sign, so it’s possible the Predators could add another impact player this summer if they intend to spend close to $82, 5 million salary cap hit.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
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