The Pittsburgh Penguins could go big game hunting this offseason.
Much is still to be determined about the Pittsburgh Penguins roster once the next season rolls around. Penguins general manager Ron Hextall made it abundantly clear that his next order of business is working to retain both Evgeni Malkin and Kris Letang.
The Penguins need to be ready for the possibility that one (or both) of those players could be on their way out of town. If so, the Penguins could continue to bargain hunt to build their roster as they did last offseason. Or they could go big game hunting and bring in 27-year-old Swedish winger Filip Forsberg.
Forsberg wrapped up a career-best season, finishing the year with 42 goals and 84 points in 60 games for the Nashville Predators. The former first round selection of the Washington Capitals has made a name for himself in Nashville with his ability to create offense on a primarily defensive focused team and displayed his lethal shooting ability in parts of 10 seasons with the Predators.
A return to Nashville hasn't been ruled out for Forsberg. After being eliminated by the Colorado Avalanche in the first round of the playoffs, Predators general manager David Poile was adamant that re-signing Forsberg is a high priority this offseason.
"I can't give you the status of negotiations, but I can tell you that Fil (Forsberg) has been a great player for us and there is mutual interest in having him remain a Nashville Predator for the foreseeable future," Poile said.
Hitting the open market for the first time in his career, Forsberg may be looking to max out on this deal, and will not be a cheap option. According to Evolving Hockey, Forsberg is projected to make anywhere between $8.5 to $9.5 million on his next contract, with an expected duration of seven years if he chooses to leave Nashville.
Forsberg has proven to be a potent goal scorer, finishing with over 20 goals in seven of his last eight seasons. Forsberg has passed the 30-goal mark three times, including last season. While the Penguins have lethal goal scorers in their first line of Sidney Crosby, Jake Guentzel, and Bryan Rust, the rest of the lineup does not possess the same threat level with the puck.
Bringing in Forsberg would give the Penguins something they haven't had since trading away Phil Kessel in 2019, a serious scoring threat on the wing for their second line.
They have brought in players like Kasperi Kapanen and Jason Zucker, who despite being talented goal scorers have not been able to find much consistency in Pittsburgh. Even Rickard Rakell struggled to find his footing in small sample size when placed alongside Evgeni Malkin.
While his 42 goals were enough to finish tied for ninth in the NHL, he finished the season with a shooting percentage of 18.6 percent. While he will most likely see regression on those numbers, the fact that only 10 of his 42 goals were scored on the powerplay shows that he can produce at even strength. Unlike a player like Chris Kreider, who scored 50 percent of his 52 goals on the man advantage this season.
This signing would be a big swing for the Penguins, who currently have just over $23 million in salary-cap space. Not to mention that it would be wildly out of character for the often reserved manner in which Hextall approaches free agency.
However, with the team potentially trading away a player(s) with larger cap hits and the belief that a youth movement could be coming, this signing would further legitimize an already impressive top six and would bring the Penguins right back into the fold as a top team for the remainder of Sidney Crosby's current contract.
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