Training camp has returned for the Nashville Predators, exhibition games are under way and the chill of hockey season returning will be upon us very soon.
There are several storylines for this Predators team as they navigate through training camp and open the season on Oct. 14 against the Seattle Kraken. Perhaps none of those storylines are bigger than the futures of Mattias Ekholm and Filip Forsberg.
They both have one season remaining on their contracts and are eligible to be signed to an extension by the Predators. Neither have signed on the dotted line yet, and that extension may not be coming around any time soon, at least for Forsberg.
“I have no rush to sign,” Forsberg said Tuesday at his media availability. “I mean I still have a full year. I don’t know, I feel like you have to play your contract out. Obviously I have a full year. I love this place. I’ve loved every minute since I got here. I definitely feel like we have a really good opportunity to make something great, not just this year but going forward as well. Like you know, it is a business and everything is going to have to be handled properly like that.”
Forsberg is entering into the final season of a six-year, $36 million deal he signed with the Predators in June of 2016. At 27 years old, Forsberg is right in the prime of his career in the NHL and has been an important and productive member of the Preds’ core group of players.
It’s an interesting time for this Predators franchise. The term “competitive rebuild” was used by general manager David Poile after Viktor Arvidsson was traded to the Los Angeles Kings earlier this offseason, which generated a ton of reaction from Predators fans. The players, and Predators head coach John Hynes in his comments to the media on Tuesday, aren’t too keen on using the “rebuild” part of that phrase.
But, let’s be honest, a lot of the conversation on whether or not this is a rebuilding situation for the Predators is going to hinge on whether or not Forsberg is a part of the team, both in the short term and in the long term.
For now, Forsberg doesn’t appear to be worried about his contract. He is focused on bringing the best version of himself that we’ve seen yet in a Nashville uniform.
“I come into camp every year wanting it to be the best camp and the best season yet,” Forsberg said. “Obviously a little bit more on the line on the personal plan just with the contract like that, but I can’t do anything. The only thing I can worry about is playing as good as I possibly can to help the team win. At the end of the day that is going to put me in the best spot for any negotiations like that as well.”
Forsberg raised some eyebrows in the offseason after Arvidsson was traded to the Kings with an Instagram post that featured a thumbs-down emoji in the immediate aftermath of the news of the trade. When you combine that with the trade of Ryan Ellis to the Philadelphia Flyers and losing Calle Jarnkrok to the Kraken in the expansion draft, it’s going to be quite a different group that Forsberg will be a part of this season.
He took some time Tuesday to explain the emotions he was feeling after Arvidsson was traded to L.A.
“I’m sure you saw,” Forsberg said. “I think the Arvy trade was obviously a little hard to swallow at the time. When you l0ok at it, you get draft picks, it doesn’t feel like you’re getting anything back at the time. Like I said before, in five years we might be looking back and that was the best trade this team ever made because the players that we got in the draft turn out to be great. But when you sit there and you know the person and the player that we lose and you don’t get anything physically back, it’s obviously a little harder than Ryan Ellis for example. Obviously we lose a phenomenal player and a phenomenal guy but we get two players back and they can come in and contribute right away, so I think those two are different scenarios a little bit. But like I said, if you fast forward a couple years it could be the best thing that ever happened to the franchise, but at the time it was a bit of a gut shot.”
There’s lots of changes the Predators will have to adjust to this season in order to be successful and compete for a playoff spot yet again. Predators fans should be hoping that Forsberg doesn’t eventually become a part of those changes as well.
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