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Filip Forsberg

Cousins, Forsberg Moved To Injured Reserve

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The Nashville Predators have placed two forwards on injured reserve, giving the designation to both Nick Cousins and Filip Forsberg. The team has recalled Michael McCarron and Mathieu Olivier in their place. Both Cousins and Forsberg are listed as week-to-week with upper-body injuries.

Forsberg was injured earlier this month, but the team hadn’t moved him to injured reserve until now. His placement there will likely be retroactive to his last game played, which was back on November 2. Given he only has to miss seven days minimum, it means he will be able to come off IR whenever he is fully recovered. The Predators could use him, but Forsberg also doesn’t want to miss a good chunk of the season given he’s scheduled for unrestricted free agency at the end of the year. This platform year is likely the most important of his career–at least financially–as he’s still just 27 and could be looking at a huge contract on the open market.

Cousins meanwhile played in the team’s most recent game, but managed just over seven minutes of ice time. The 28-year-old forward has been a versatile player throughout his career, but has just one goal and three points through his first 12 games for Nashville this season. Two of those are even on the powerplay, meaning he’s been almost invisible at even-strength through the first month.

Predators fans likely won’t be too happy about the recalls, given the history of McCarron and Olivier. Neither one has shown any sort of offensive production, even struggling to score at the minor league level. In 75 NHL games, McCarron has just two goals and eight points, while Olivier has just three and six in 38 career contests. Cody Glass, one of the team’s top prospects and offseason acquisitions, remains in the minor leagues.

Central Notes: Girard, Forsberg, Blues

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Colorado has assembled an impressive back end, a group that has been bolstered by the return of Erik Johnson and the emergence of sophomore Bowen Byram.  The 20-year-old has been strong enough this season that Mike Chambers of the Denver Post suggests that blueliner Samuel Girard could plausibly be made available if the Avalanche decide to try to add to their forward group between now and the trade deadline.  Girard is signed through 2026-27 with a $5MM AAV, a reasonable price for someone that consistently logs over 20 minutes per game while chipping in a little offensively as well.  If the Avs were to make the 23-year-old available, he’d garner plenty of interest around the league.

More from the Central Division:

  • J.P. Barry, the agent for Predators winger Filip Forsberg, confirmed to Adam Vingan of The Athletic (subscription link) that there still have been no discussions on a possible contract extension with the veteran in the final year of his deal. While Forsberg has indicated a willingness to merely play the year out and see what happens after the season, Barry added that he does expect to have those contract talks at some point during the regular season.  The 27-year-old is likely eyeing a raise on his current $6MM AAV but is currently out with an upper-body injury.
  • While the Blues were hoping for some cap relief in their current COVID situation, Deputy Commissioner Bill Daly told Jim Thomas of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch that they won’t be receiving any: “There is not currently an intention to provide cap relief for Covid-related reasons. No different than having to deal with multiple short-term injuries. St. Louis is not at all unique in having to navigate these waters.” St. Louis has had six different players enter the protocols in recent days and while they’ve managed to carry a minimum-sized roster, any other addition or injury will place them in a situation where they’ll have to play short a player for a game before becoming eligible for a cap-exempt recall.

Injury Updates: Malkin, Toews, Forsberg, Ellis

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The injury and COVID-riddled Penguins have been without center Evgeni Malkin all season as he works his way back from offseason knee surgery.  Speaking with Mike DeFabo of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, GM Ron Hextall indicated that the 35-year-old has been skating basically daily and is on track in his recovery.  However, despite that promising news, the team is unable to provide an update on how much longer Malkin will be out of the lineup.  The original announcement was that he’d miss the first two months of the season at a minimum so an updated timeline may still be a couple of weeks away.

Other injury notes from around the NHL:

  • Devon Toews could be making his return to Colorado’s lineup soon as Niki Ardebili of the Avalanche’s team site notes that the hope is that the blueliner will be activated and make his season debut on Saturday against Columbus. Toews averaged just shy of 25 minutes a game last season for the Avs and would be a timely addition to their back end with Cale Makar now on IR.
  • The Predators have listed (Twitter link) winger Filip Forsberg as week-to-week with an upper-body injury. The veteran suffered the injury in the third period of Tuesday’s game versus Calgary.  Forsberg is in the final year of his contract and is eligible for unrestricted free agency this coming summer so an extended absence certainly wouldn’t help his value.  The 27-year-old was off to a nice start before the injury with seven points in nine games to start his season.
  • Flyers defenseman Ryan Ellis has been ruled out of their next two games, relays Jordan Hall of NBC Sports Philadelphia. Originally hoped to not miss any time, this will be the sixth and seventh games that the 30-year-old has missed as a result of his lower-body injury.

Predators Notes: Ekholm, Forsberg, Richards

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If the Predators are going to sign defenseman Mattias Ekholm to a contract extension, it certainly seems like the deal will need to be done soon.  Pierre LeBrun of TSN and The Athletic reported in a recent TSN Insider Trading segment that Ekholm’s camp as informed the team that they intend to stop talks on a new deal if an agreement isn’t reached by the start of the regular season.  The 31-year-old hasn’t exactly hidden his desire to stick around so it may seem strange on the surface but it could simply be used as a pressure point to try to push the deal across the finish line.  Ekholm is in the final season of a six-year deal with a $3.75MM AAV and will be getting a significant raise on his next contract, whenever it happens to get done.

More from Nashville:

  • While Ekholm is well into discussions on his next deal, the same can’t be said for winger Filip Forsberg as his agent J.P. Barry told Adam Vingan of The Athletic (subscription link) that talks on Forsberg’s next deal have yet to begin. The 27-year-old appears to be content to play out his deal, putting Nashville in a bit of a tough spot.  The Preds would undoubtedly love to keep him around but at the same time, while they’d like to remain competitive while rebuilding, his departure would probably push them in a longer-term direction so the earlier they know whether or not they can keep him, the better it would be for them.
  • The team is hoping that assistant coach Todd Richards could be back behind the bench on opening night, relays Paul Skrbina of The Tennessean. Richards, who joined the Predators a year ago to coach their defense, suffered a heart attack back on October 1st.

Latest On Mattias Ekholm, Filip Forsberg

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At one point last season, speculation swirled around the Nashville Predators and every member of their veteran core. The team was playing poorly, half the roster was injured and it was obvious a change was necessary if they ever wanted to open up opportunities for some of the organization’s young players. Mattias Ekholm, who was only signed through the 2021-22 season was an obvious target, and teams all across the league started expressing interest even though the veteran defenseman was clear in his desire to stay in Nashville.

The Predators turned things around and made the playoffs without selling off any assets at the deadline, but a first-round exit made all of the trade talk surface once again. Viktor Arvidsson and Ryan Ellis, two of the faces of the franchise, were moved this offseason in deals that opened up quite a bit of cap space and added younger pieces to the organization. Now, as the season approaches, there are two more core pieces under the microscope because of their contract status.

One of them, Ekholm, made it very clear once again today that if possible he’d like to stay with the Predators past this season. Speaking to reporters including Paul Skrbina of the Tennessean, the 31-year-old defenseman explained that he would have signed an extension “yesterday” if he could, though he’s leaving the negotiations up to his agent and Nashville GM David Poile. The feeling appears to be mutual, as Poile explained last month that after signing Juuse Saros to an extension, the team would turn their attention to a deal for Ekholm.

With Ellis out of the picture, even more weight will be put on the shoulders of the veteran duo of Ekholm and Roman Josi. While young Dante Fabbro has shown he can handle an increased role and Philippe Myers, acquired in the Ellis deal should fit in nicely, the Predators’ hopes really rely on their two anchors on the back end. Josi is entering the second season of his massive eight-year, $72.5MM extension, but Ekholm will carry a cap hit of just $3.75MM in the final year what became one of the most valuable contracts in the league. After earning just $22.5MM over the six-year contract, he’ll likely be looking for quite the raise if an extension is to be worked out.

The other player that will draw speculation this season is Filip Forsberg, the team’s best offensive weapon and another veteran on an expiring deal. Poile explained last month that he would reach out to Forsberg’s representatives before training camp, but it doesn’t sound like those negotiations have really started at this point. The 27-year-old forward told Robby Stanley of 102.5 The Game yesterday that he has “no rush to sign” and feels like “you have to play your contract out.”

Acquired from the Washington Capitals in an infamous 2013 trade, Forsberg has routinely been the Predators’ most reliable offensive player. He has 385 points in 497 games with the team, including 32 in 39 during the 2021-22 season. If he does end up on the open market next summer he would be a target for many teams looking to add to the top-six, meaning if a deal can’t be worked out at some point, speculation will swirl once again as the trade deadline approaches. Forsberg carries a cap hit of $6MM this season, and like almost everyone else in Nashville, does not hold a no-trade clause.

Snapshots: Hertl, Penguins, Forsberg

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Tomas Hertl’s comments earlier this month which expressed some uncertainty about his long-term future with the team have thrust him into trade speculation.  For the time being, it seems likely he’ll start the season and he and the Sharks will re-assess things from there.  However, if San Jose opted to trade him, Kevin Kurz of The Athletic examined (subscription link) what the framework of a potential deal might look like.  He suggests that San Jose’s preference likely wouldn’t just be draft picks but that adding a top prospect that’s a little closer to being NHL-ready – one that fits the timeline of their recent top selections – would likely be a goal for GM Doug Wilson.  Hertl carries a $5.625MM AAV for this coming season and stands to earn considerably more on his next contract and if they opt to set that high of a price point whenever the decision is made to move on, an extension may need to be part of the trade in order to justify the higher acquisition cost for the other team.

More from around the NHL:

  • While the Penguins haven’t had much playoff success as of late, team president Brian Burke told Sportsnet’s Eric Francis that he doesn’t feel the time is right to rebuild yet. Pittsburgh wasn’t able to add much to their roster this summer – Brock McGinn was their biggest acquisition – but he feels the core is still good enough to contend.  With both Evgeni Malkin and Kris Letang set to become unrestricted free agents next summer, that will be the key time for a decision to be made on whether this core can still contend or it’s time to change things up.
  • Matt Porter of The Boston Globe posits that the Predators should consider trading winger Filip Forsberg. The 27-year-old is entering the final year of his contract and with Nashville heading into what appears to be some form of a rebuild, extending him would go against that direction and take away some potential assets to add to their future core.  Forsberg carries a $6MM AAV without any form of trade protection which would give the Preds some extra flexibility to find him a new home if they decide to go that route at some point during the season.

West Notes: Kaprizov, Forsberg, Hertl

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Contract talks for the Wild and RFA winger Kirill Kaprizov hadn’t been going too well but it appears there could be a light at the end of the tunnel.  In an appearance on KFAN (audio link), Michael Russo of The Athletic noted there is a belief that the two sides have basically settled on term with a five-year deal and a price tag somewhere around the $9MM mark.  However, that shouldn’t be taken as a sign that an announcement is imminent as hammering out the year-to-year structure of the deal will still take some time.  A five-year agreement would give Minnesota two extra years of team control; those two seasons at the end of the deal would be the ones where Kaprizov would be eligible for trade protection which undoubtedly will be part of the year-to-year structure discussions.

More from the Western Conference:

  • The Predators and winger Filip Forsberg have not yet started discussions on a contract extension, reports Robby Stanley of ESPN 102.5 (Twitter link). The 27-year-old has spent his entire career with Nashville, suiting up in 497 games, many of which have been spent on their top line.  Forsberg has a $6MM cap hit for next season, the final year of his contract and he will undoubtedly be looking for a nice raise to give up a shot at testing the open market next summer.
  • The Sharks have a prominent pending unrestricted free agent in center Tomas Hertl and while some teams want to sign their top UFAs early, Kevin Kurz of The Athletic makes the case (subscription link) for both sides to wait it out. By waiting to see if San Jose is able to bounce back this season, GM Doug Wilson can hold off on deciding whether or not the 27-year-old will be his prize trade asset at the trade deadline while Hertl would get a better idea if San Jose is going to be heading for an extended rebuild which is something he may not want to sign up for.  That route does carry some risk but given the uncertainty surrounding the Sharks right now, waiting may be a good idea here.

Nashville Predators Turning Focus To Mattias Ekholm Extension

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The Nashville Predators locked in Juuse Saros this week to a four-year, $20MM contract, but the work doesn’t end there for GM David Poile. The executive told ESPN radio that the focus will now turn to an extension for Mattias Ekholm.

Now that we’re past the Juuse situation, we’re going to turn our focus now to Ekholm. I actually spoke with his agent yesterday afternoon and we’re going to talk either later this week or next week on that. 

Ekholm, 31, is heading into the final season of his six-year, $22.5MM contract signed in 2015 that turned into one of the best bargains in the NHL. Originally a fourth-round pick in 2009, Ekholm has been a key member of the team’s blueline since 2014 and has averaged at least 22:52 in each of the last five seasons. This year he had 23 points in just 48 games and is part of the reason why someone like Ryan Ellis was deemed expendable this offseason. The Predators moved Ellis to the Philadelphia Flyers in a deal that cleared some cap and added some more young forward talent, but still have Ekholm and captain Roman Josi to anchor the back end.

While Josi is locked in long-term, Ekholm would be one of the top free agents if he hit the open market next summer. An extension would likely have to include a substantial raise on his current $3.75MM cap hit, with a contract like Jake Muzzin’s recent four-year, $22.5MM deal being an easy comparable. The fact that Ekholm will be 32 whenever his next contract begins is a big factor, but he has shown no real signs of slowing down to this point. The Predators have three depth defensemen–Mark Borowiecki, Matthew Benning, and Ben Harpur–all coming off the books after this season, which could free up a little bit of space depending on their replacements. The trio currently combines for $3.8MM.

There’s another big fish in Nashville scheduled for unrestricted free agency after this season though, as Filip Forsberg will be reaching the end of his six-year, $36MM deal. Poile also explained the team’s gameplan on an extension with the 27-year-old forward:

Shortly before training camp we’ll reach out to Filip Forsberg and his camp to sort of get a lay of the land as where Filip’s thoughts are right now. Those are the next two priorities. 

Once again, Forsberg was a driving force behind Nashville’s offense (such as it is), scoring 32 points in 39 games. Incredibly, that was actually the most by any forward on the team despite him missing a good chunk of the season, showing just how important Forsberg is to the team overall. Nashville is basically running it back with almost the same group up front this season after only really bringing back Mikael Granlund in free agency, though several young players should be given a bigger role. Newcomer Cody Glass joins Eeli Tolvanen (who does not yet have a contract as an RFA) and Philip Tomasino as the team’s net wave of forward talent that could really tip the scales toward contending again.

It’s Forsberg though that will need to be the focus in a few weeks, as relying on the development of those young players without a consistent offensive player like him in the mix will be a difficult task. Ryan Johansen and Matt Duchene have both been huge disappointments thus far, Viktor Arvidsson was traded this offseason and even Calle Jarnkrok, who finished second among all Nashville forwards this year, was lost to the Seattle Kraken in the expansion draft. Losing Forsberg in free agency would create a giant hole up front similar to the one Ekholm would leave on the back end, meaning these two negotiations are extremely important if the Predators want to stay competitive in the short-term.

Central Notes: Zadorov, Predators, Laine, Tyutyayev

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The flat salary cap is going to make for a nervous time for many restricted free agents with arbitration this summer in the days leading up to the qualifying offer deadline with some notable names likely to be non-tendered to avoid the risk of being awarded too high of a contract.  Blackhawks defenseman Nikita Zadorov is certainly in that group as the 26-year-old is owed a $3.2MM qualifier in his final RFA season.  However, he told reporters today including Scott Powers of The Athletic (Twitter link) that he’s hoping to re-sign and that he doesn’t see the cap situation affecting his contract talks.  Zadorov has logged nearly 19 minutes a game in his first season with Chicago but unless they’re able to agree on a deal before the deadline, it’s hard to see them being willing to take the risk of him being awarded a bigger contract from an arbitrator that they’re comfortable paying.

Elsewhere in the Central Division:

  • The Predators are getting some players back in the lineup to aid in their push to secure the final playoff spot in the Central. Adam Vingan of The Athletic reports (Twitter link) that winger Filip Forsberg, center Brad Richardson, and defenseman Alexandre Carrier have all been activated off IR.  Forsberg has missed more than a month and still sits only two points off the team lead, making him a big addition up front.  Meanwhile, Richardson has been above average at the faceoff dot and should give them another option on the penalty kill while Carrier is fourth among Nashville defenders in ATOI at just over 20 minutes a night.
  • The Blue Jackets will be without winger Patrik Laine tonight against Carolina, notes Aaron Portzline of The Athletic (Twitter link). It has been a tough first year in Columbus for the 23-year-old who has just ten goals and eight assists in 41 games, hardly the type of output they were expecting when they acquired him from Winnipeg back in January.
  • Detroit’s farm team in Grand Rapids has announced the signing of winger Kirill Tyutyayev to a one-year, AHL deal for next season. The 20-year-old was a seventh-round pick (190th overall) of the Red Wings back in 2019 and spent this season with Yunost Minsk in Belarus where he picked up 11 goals and 21 assists in 43 regular season games while chipping in with 10 points in 13 playoff contests.  Drafted out of Russia, there is no designated time that Detroit has to sign him by; accordingly, this deal gives them an opportunity to give him a look in North America on a short-term commitment compared to an entry-level deal while reserving the ability to retain his NHL rights if he opts to go back overseas for 2022-23.

Nashville Predators Issue Injury Updates

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A few weeks ago the Nashville Predators were being written off as deadline sellers with no chance at the postseason. Now, after an incredible 11-2 run since the middle of March, the team holds the final playoff spot in the Central Division. GM David Poile’s confidence in his group has paid off, but his resolve to hold onto his deadline chips will be tested once again.

The Predators have issued several injury updates today. Eeli Tolvanen and Dante Fabbro are now both considered week-to-week with their respective injuries, while Mathieu Olivier will be out four to six weeks with a lower-body injury. The team has placed Filip Forsberg on injured reserve after also being listed as week-to-week recently.

As Adam Vingan of The Athletic points out, the list of injured for the Predators has grown quite long. Forsberg, Fabbro, Tolvanen, Matt Duchene, Mark Borowiecki, Brad Richardson, Ryan Ellis, and Luca Sbisa are all week-to-week, while Alexandre Carrier (3-5 weeks) and Olivier are out even longer. That’s an incredible amount of talent watching from the trainer’s table while the team tries to hold onto this newly found playoff position.

Things won’t get easier down the stretch for Nashville either. The team will take on the Tampa Bay Lightning tomorrow and still have seven games after that against the top three teams in the division. With the Chicago Blackhawks still close on their heels and the Dallas Stars starting to show signs of life, the Predators can’t afford any type of stumble down the stretch.

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