The Nashville Predators have no plans to trade star forward Filip Forsberg before Monday’s 3 p.m. ET / noon PT trade deadline, despite the fact the 27-year-old is a pending unrestricted free agent.
Forsberg is having a career year, tying his career high, with 33 goals to lead the Predators in that category. A seven-time 20 goal scorer, he is reportedly expected to command a contract larger than the long-term deals teammate Matt Duchene and Ryan Johansen are currently playing on. Duchene and Johansen each carry $8 million cap hits for the foreseeable future, while captain — and leading scorer — Roman Josi is the team’s highest-paid player at just over $9 million per season.
On Saturday, Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman reported contract negotiations between the Predators and Forsberg were not going well and GM David Poile was testing the market. Now, as Friedman reports, Forsberg will serve as an internal add for the team’s quest for the Cup.
The Predators remain in the playoff race in the Central Division, so trading Forsberg would hurt their competitive chances against rivals such as the Colorado Avalanche, Minnesota Wild and St. Louis Blues. Nashville enters play Monday in the first wild-card spot with a 36-22-4 record, tied on points with the third-place Wild and trailing the second-place Blues by one point.
If he reaches free agency, Forsberg will be one of the biggest names on the forward market, potentially alongside Johnny Gaudreau and Claude Giroux — who was traded to the Florida Panthers over the weekend.