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Filip Forsberg

Filip Forsberg Activated From Injured Reserve

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The Nashville Predators have been waiting for this day for over a month. Filip Forsberg has been activated from injured reserve according to Adam Vingan of The Athletic, and could make his return to the lineup tonight against the Toronto Maple Leafs. Miikka Salomaki has been moved to injured reserve to make room. Forsberg hasn’t played in a game since November 29th, but is still on the ballot for the fan-voted “Last Man In” All-Star appearance.

Forsberg, 24, has turned into an offensive dynamo for the Predators and was off to the best start of his career before suffering an upper-body injury. With 22 points in his first 26 games he was on pace to set career-highs in goals and points, while still registering excellent possession statistics. It’s not like Nashville has really struggled without him, but getting him back once again makes them one of the most dangerous teams in the league and quite capable of overtaking the Winnipeg Jets for first place in the Central Division.

The Predators will take on the Maple Leafs tonight in the third game of a six-game road trip through the Eastern Conference (with one game against the Chicago Blackhawks sprinkled in) and currently sit second in the Central with a 25-15-3 record. It’s hard to imagine they drop much further than that through the second half of the season, especially if they can avoid the major injuries they’ve dealt with so far. Forsberg, Viktor Arvidsson and P.K. Subban have all missed long stretches but are expected to be in the lineup together tonight.

“Last Man In” All-Star Ballot Candidates Announced

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The NHL has already announced the initial ten-man All-Star rosters for each of the four divisions, but new this year is an additional fan ballot to add an eleventh and final member to each squad. The “Last Man In” ballot, an idea invented by Major League Baseball, pits one skater from each team in each division against one another for a chance to participate in All-Star festivities. Fans will decide, with online voting opening tomorrow and lasting until midnight ET on January 10, which of the following players will get the final nod:

Pacific Division

F Leon Draisaitl (EDM)
F Logan Couture (SJS)
F Anze Kopitar (LAK)
F Ryan Getzlaf (ANA)
F Brock Boeser (VAN)
F Jonathan Marchessault (VGK)
D Mark Giordano (CGY)
D Oliver Ekman-Larsson (ARI)

Central Division

F Gabriel Landeskog (COL)
F Zach Parise (MIN)
F Patrik Laine (WPG)
F Tyler Seguin (DAL)
F Vladimir Tarasenko (STL)
F Filip Forsberg (NSH)
F Jonathan Toews (CHI)

Atlantic Division

F Brayden Point (TBL)
F Jeff Skinner (BUF)
F Dylan Larkin (DET)
F Aleksander Barkov (FLA)
F Patrice Bergeron (BOS)
F Mark Stone (OTT)
D Morgan Rielly (TOR)
D Shea Weber (MTL)

Metropolitan Division

F Nicklas Backstrom (WSH)
F Kyle Palmieri (NJD)
F Anders Lee (NYI)
F Jakub Voracek (PHI)
F Teuvo Teravainen (CAR)
F Nick Foligno (CLB)
F Mats Zuccarello (NYR)
D Kris Letang (PIT)

Due to the limits on selections by team, both in the initial rosters and the “Last Man In” vote, there are several star players who cannot be saved by fan voting this year. The Toronto Maple Leafs’ Mitch Marner, the No. 6-ranked scorer in the league, highlights the snub group, which also includes Calgary Flames forwards Sean Monahan and Matthew Tkachuk, Pittsburgh Penguins forwards Evgeni Malkin and Phil Kessel, and Minnesota Wild defenseman Ryan Suter. Other odd omissions, not necessarily forced by the format, are Columbus’ Artemi Panarin, Nashville’s Ryan Johansen, and Montreal’s Max Domi and Jeff Petry. However, the new final vote option does largely do a good job of giving each team and their fan base one last chance to get a deserving player into the All-Star game.

Nashville Predators Claim Phillip Di Giuseppe Off Waivers

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With injuries mounting, Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman reports the Nashville Predators claimed forward Phillip Di Giuseppe off of waivers from the Carolina Hurricanes and to make room for the young forward, the team placed center Kyle Turris on injured reserve once again with a lower-body injury, according to The Athletic’s Adam Vingan.

In Di Giuseppe, the Predators gets themselves a 25-year-old forward with 147 NHL games under his belt, but the winger hasn’t been able to lock down a full-time role in all the years he’s been with Carolina. He has one goal and four assists in 21 games this season with the Hurricanes. However, with the Hurricanes struggling themselves and Di Giuseppe being a healthy scratch for four straight games, Carolina opted to risk losing him by putting him on waivers. The team already lost Valentin Zykov on waivers to Edmonton (and then Vegas), so it’s another key loss for their minor league team.

Nashville has been plagued with injuries as the team is currently without forwards Filip Forsberg and Colton Sissons. Turris has also missed a game and was expected to be out Monday before the team returned him to IR and with Eeli Tolvanen playing at the World Junior Championships, the team opted to bring in Di Giuseppe to provide some added depth. The team also recalled Nicholas Baptiste to help fill in as well. There is no word whether Turris’ trip to injured reserve will be a long one. It’s very likely the Predators used Turris’ injury to open up a roster spot so they could take Di Giuseppe. Turris last played on Dec. 27, so assuming the trip to the IR is retroactive to that game, he won’t be eligible to return until their game on Friday at Detroit. He already spent almost three weeks on IR in late November and early December.

 

Predators Notes: Sissons, Burakovsky, Fabbro

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The Nashville Predators have taken another hit up front, announcing today that forward Colton Sissons has been placed on injured reserve with a lower-body injury. While it’s unclear when Sissons suffered the injury, he was not in  the lineup when the Predators faced the Philadelphia Flyers on Thursday night. The team did not give any timeline for Sissons’ return, but any extended absence will hurt Nashville, who are also still without Filip Forsberg and Viktor Arvidsson. Sissons has been a key contributor while those two have been sidelined, recording seven goals and nine assists in 35 games, tied for eighth on the team in scoring. Sissons also has a tremendous +17 rating and is an invaluable defensive presence among the forward corps. For the Predators’ sake, hopefully Sissons will return after the minimum ten days on the IR.

  • With yet another starting forward out of commission, Predators GM David Poile may feel even more pressure to land some help via trade. Nashville was already expected to pursue scoring help before the trade deadline to help out their middling offense and was one of the teams speculated to have interest in Washington Capitals forward Andre Burakovsky, who hit the trade block last week. The Capitals are reportedly looking to make a deal that would bring back a player that can help them immediately this season, of which the Predators have options. Pressed into regular action due to the rash of injuries, Miikka Salomaki and Frederick Gaudreau have both played well at times this season and could be of interest to Washington. The team could even be willing to dangle Calle Jarnkrok if they’re high on Burakovsky. The two teams would seemingly be a good fit for a deal, although there still could be lingering feelings from the last time the Capitals traded a young winger to the Predators (see Forsberg-for-Martin Erat).
  • Speaking of reinforcements, Predators fans should be excited to see defensive prospect Dante Fabbro listed on the Team Canada roster for the upcoming Spengler Cup. The team’s first-round pick in 2016, Fabbro has been a productive member of the Boston University blue line for three seasons now and has even evolved into the Terriers’ captain. However, playing alongside pros at the Spengler Cup is the next step for Fabbro and could give the young defenseman the experience needed to step in to the Predators’ lineup later this season. Although Fabbro has another season of NCAA eligibility remaining, he is heavily expected to leave school when BU’s season is over. A strong showing in Switzerland could convince Poile and company that Fabbro is worth signing and playing immediately this year. The young puck-mover could be a nice depth addition for a Nashville team that is looking to make it back to the Stanley Cup Final this year.

What Your Team Is Thankful For: Nashville Predators

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As the holiday season approaches, PHR will take a look at what teams are thankful for as the season heads past the one-quarter mark. There also might be a few things your team would like down the road. Let’s take a look at what’s gone well in the early going and what could improve as the season rolls on for the Nashville Predators.  Click here for the other articles in this series. 

What are the Predators most thankful for?

Depth scoring. One of the big strengths the team has is their depth scoring as they have solid lines throughout and scoring seems evenly distributed. Scoring is not an issue as the team averages 3.19 goals per game. The team is ranked 12th in scoring and while only one player has more than 10 goals this season (Filip Forsberg with 14), the team has 12 players with at least five goals and a handful of depth, but quality players who are producing offense, including Craig Smith, Ryan Hartman, Colton Sissons, Calle Jarnkrok and Austin Watson just to name a few. With so much in the tank, the team should be well rested when the playoffs approach.

Who are the Predators most thankful for?

Many people believed that while goalie Pekka Rinne was coming off a Vezina Trophy-winning season last year, there might be a decline in the veteran’s play after a disappointing playoffs and the fact that the goaltender is 36 years old and cannot be expected to keep up those numbers forever. Fortunately for Predators’ fans, Rinne has been outstanding once again as despite missing some time with an injury early in the season, he has amassed a 1.96 GAA in 22 games with a .929 save percentage.

Others felt that Rinne might slowly lose his job to goalie-in-waiting Juuse Saros, but so far that hasn’t been the case. The team has been using Rinne quite often and rely on him for the big games. Saros has appeared in just 13 games this season, many of which came during the time that Rinne missed due to injury.

What would the Predators be even more thankful for?

Despite their success due to their depth players, the team has to hope that they can get some of their top players back from injury. The team’s top goal scorer is Forsberg, but the winger has been out with for more than two weeks and could be out for double that with an upper-body injury. The team hopes to get defenseman P.K. Subban back soon, who has missed a large chunk of the season with an unknown injury, while Viktor Arvidsson has also missed quite a bit of time to injury as well. If the team could get healthy, they may have a chance to fare even better in the Central Division, even though they are just one point out of first place.

What should be on the Predators’ Holiday Wish List?

The continued development of Eeli Tolvanen. The team had high hopes when they brought Tolvanen over from the KHL at the age of 19. He’s immensely talented and showed some of those skills off in a brief callup when he tallied a goal and an assist in four games while filling in for several of the team’s significant injuries. That, of course, couldn’t last and he was immediately sent down after Kyle Turris returned off the IR. Many people want Tolvanen to remain with the team, but in reality it’s a waste to play him few minutes in Nashville on a bottom-six line. Until he can outplay someone on the top-six, he needs to spend as much playing time as possible in the AHL until his skills can surpass one of their top players.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

Snapshots: Blues, Formenton, Predators

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When things aren’t going well for an NHL franchise with big expectations, you can almost see the vultures—that is, other general managers—circling. That’s what appears to be happening in St. Louis, where the Blues find themselves constantly in the rumor mill these days. After another mention yesterday of the potential availability of Alex Pietrangelo (who underwent hand surgery today but didn’t see his recovery timeline change) the latest news comes as a little reprieve for Blues fans who don’t want to see their team blown up.

On NBCSN, hockey insider Darren Dreger explained that he doesn’t believe the Blues will move a big chunk of their young core though will listen on “just about anything else.” Dreger only mentions Jaden Schwartz as part of that core, and doesn’t address directly the rumors around Pietrangelo and Vladimir Tarasenko. There’s still plenty to like about the St. Louis depth chart, especially given the young group of forwards including Robert Thomas, Jordan Kyrou, Ivan Barbashev, Klim Kostin and Sammy Blais who all look like they will contribute in the NHL for a long time. If a big move does come, it won’t necessarily set the Blues back very far.

  • Alex Formenton suffered an injury in yesterday’s exhibition game at the World Junior selection camp, and today was seen by TSN’s Bob McKenzie on crutches and wearing a knee brace. The team told McKenzie that it was just precautionary, but Formenton’s inclusion on the tournament roster is obviously in jeopardy. The Ottawa Senators prospect was expected to play a huge role and use his speed and experience to give Canada an edge against an excellent international field, but will have to show he’s healthy enough to compete before the team sends home his potential replacements.
  • While Kyle Turris is expected to return for the Nashville Predators tonight, news isn’t nearly as good on his fellow injured forwards. GM David Poile told ESPN radio that Filip Forsberg and Viktor Arvidsson will still be out for another three weeks. Nashville lost their top seed in the Western Conference last night after the Calgary Flames came from behind to win against the Philadelphia Flyers, and are in a dog fight with the Winnipeg Jets and Colorado Avalanche for the Central Division lead. Getting two of their top forwards back would be a huge boost for the club as they search for a little more consistency during the winter months.

Nashville Predators Place Filip Forsberg On IR; Out 4-6 Weeks

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The Nashville Predators big name injury list continues. The team has placed winger Filip Forsberg on injured reserve with an upper-body injury and will be out for four to six weeks, according to The Athletic’s Adam Vingan. Already without Viktor Arvidsson, P.K. Subban and Kyle Turris, Forsberg is just another big loss for a team that has lost three of their last four games.

While he wasn’t forced from the game, Forsberg injured his hand during Thursday’s 3-0 loss to Arizona where the 24-year-old played a season-low 15:08 of ice time. He then missed practice Friday and he didn’t participate in Saturday morning’s optional skate. Forsberg’s injury means that 34.77 percent of the team’s cap hit is on injured reserve, according to Vingan.

Forsberg has been having a solid season so far this far this year, posting 14 goals in 26 games this season for the Predators, good enough for the team lead. Those 14 goals are way ahead of the pace he has had in previous years. He scored 26 goals a year ago and broke 30 goals the previous two years before that.

 

Poll: Who Will Win The 2018 IIHF World Championship?

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As the bronze medal game gets underway at the 2018 IIHF World Championship, Sweden and Switzerland prepare for their gold medal clash this afternoon. The meeting could be considered a lopsided affair, with the Swedes stomping through the tournament with no problem, but don’t call the Swiss underdogs in front of Canada and Finland, two powerhouses that they’ve already taken down.

The game is something of a rarity for Switzerland, who has collected just one medal at the tournament since 1953. That was a silver in 2013, something they hope to better this time around.

Players on both sides know each other quite well. Sweden received a huge boost mid-tournament when the Nashville Predators were eliminated, meaning Filip Forsberg, Viktor Arvidsson and Mattias Ekholm could all join. The Presidents Trophy-winning players immediately made an impact at the tournament, but there were several others that left Nashville for Denmark.

Roman Josi and Kevin Fiala have starred in Switzerland’s two elimination wins, with the latter providing the quick pass to put them up over Canada in the second period. They’ll have to take on their Nashville brethren this afternoon, and hope they can do something to crack the impenetrable Swedish defense.

The game is scheduled for 1:15pm (CT).

Will Sweden romp to a second-straight gold medal? Can the Swiss continue this Cinderella story? Cast your vote below and make sure to leave your reasoning in the comments below.

[Mobile users click here to vote!]

Several Nashville Predators Heading To IIHF World Championship

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8:05pm: Roman Josi and Kevin Fiala will both also be journeying to Denmark to play for Switzerland, raising the total to seven Predators who will be in the tournament. The huge contingent of players just reiterates how talented the Nashville roster is, especially with others likely turning down offers.

4:15pm: After facing elimination at the hands of the Winnipeg Jets last night, several Nashville Predators players will be heading to the IIHF World Hockey Championship. We learned earlier today that Eeli Tolvanen would continue his whirlwind season with Team Finland, while Nick Bonino will join Team USA. Chris Johnston of Sportsnet also reports that Viktor Arvidsson, Mattias Ekholm and Filip Forsberg will all join Sweden.

All four new additions will be huge for their respective countries, as the tournament heads towards the elimination rounds next week.

Bonino hasn’t represented the USA at the tournament since 2015 when he was still with the Vancouver Canucks. That year, he registered four points in 10 games en route to a bronze medal. He’ll join a team that just crushed Korea 13-1 to win their fifth-straight game to open the tournament. That’s a feat the team hasn’t accomplished since 1933, and one that bodes well for their chances in the medal round.

Ekholm and Forsberg have both appeared in the tournament on multiple occasions, but this will be Arvidsson’s first time around. The 25-year old winger last represented Sweden at a major international tournament in 2013, when he helped their World Junior squad to a silver medal. All three should increase Sweden’s odds of a medal tremendously, as three All-Star level talents from the NHL.

Western Notes: Bennett, Murphy, Girard, Perron, Bieksa, Fowler

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The Calgary Flames have a lot of questions this offseason after a disappointing season that leaves them wondering what happened. However, the biggest question probably falls on what to do with Sam Bennett. The former fourth-overall pick in 2014 should be improving every season, but that hasn’t been the case for the 21-year-old who has seen his numbers drop every year.

After putting up 18 goals and 18 assists in a promising rookie season, he has put up only 26 points in each of the last two seasons and his goals have dropped from 13 in 2016-17 to 11 this year. The Calgary Sun’s Wes Gilbertson writes the team must decide whether he can take his game up several notches or whether to use him as trade bait. Of course, you don’t want to be the general manager that trades him away only to thrive with another team, but the team needs production out of the forward and is running out of time to figure out if he is the star they thought they drafted. He has one year left after this one at $1.95MM before hitting restricted free agency again.

  • The Chicago Blackhawks think they have found something in defenseman Connor Murphy. The 25-year-old, who was acquired in the Niklas Hjalmarsson trade last season from Arizona, struggled early on in the season with Chicago, according to Chicago Sun Times’ Mark Potash, but was one of the team’s better defensemen in the second half and the team believes he can develop into a top-four defenseman. “If you look at the way he played over the last 30 to 40 games, I think there’s reason for excitement,” said Blackhawks general manager Stan Bowman.
  • The Colorado Avalanche is without defenseman Samuel Girard today as the young defenseman is out with an upper-body injury sustained in a hit from Nashville’s Filip Forsberg during Thursday’s game. The rookie defenseman is day-to-day.
  • Vegas Golden Knights winger David Perron, who has been out since Mar. 26 with an undisclosed injury, says he hopes to play before the series with the Los Angeles Kings is over, but did not give a timetable on a potential return, according to SinBinVegas.
  • The Anaheim Ducks expect defenseman Kevin Bieksa to play in Game 2 tonight against the San Jose Sharks, according to Orange Country Register’s Eric Stephens. Bieksa has been out since Mar. 12 after having hand surgery. Stephens also notes that defenseman Cam Fowler is no longer wearing a sling on his shoulder and will resume skating shortly. The blueliner has missed 13 straight games, but no timetable is set for his return.

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