Filip Forsberg is one of the best young players in the NHL, and he is going to remain with the Nashville Predators for quite a long time.
The team announced on Monday morning that it has signed Forsberg, who was set to be a restricted free agent this summer, to a six-year contract that will pay him $36 million. That comes out to a salary cap hit of $6 million per season.
Considering that Forsberg will only be 22 years old when the 2016-17 season begins, is already a top-line player, and still probably hasn't hit his peak production in the NHL this has the potential to be a fantastic contract for the Predators.
The Predators acquired Forsberg at the 2013 trade deadline in exchange for Martin Erat in a deal that has turned out to be one of the more lopsided trades in recent NHL memory. After seeing only limited playing time at the NHL level in his first two years with the Predators, he had his first chance to be a full-time player in 2014-15. In the two years since he has been one of the most productive forwards in the league, topping the 60-point mark in each of the past two seasons. His 127 points over that stretch are 24th among all NHL forwards.
Out of the top-25 forwards in scoring over that stretch only seven of them were still under the age of 25 this past season: Tyler Seguin, Vladimir Tarasenko, Johnny Gaudreau, Ryan Johansen, Nikita Kucherov, Sean Monahan and Forsberg.
Johansen is one of Forsberg's teammates in Nashville after he was acquired in a mid-season trade for defenseman Seth Jones.
Between Forsberg, Johansen and James Neal the Predators have a pretty strong core of top-line scorers with Forsberg and Neal both scoring 30 goals this past season (there were only 28 players to top 30 goals during the season), while Johansen is the best center the team has had in years.
Forsberg now joins a core of young Nashville players that are signed to long-term deals that are probably below market rate. Together, Forsberg and defensemen Roman Josi, Mattias Ekholm and Ryan Ellis will only count $15 million against the salary cap for the next several years.
