It appears Filip Forsberg is staying in Nashville.
The Nashville Predators announced on Saturday that they have agreed to terms with their star forward to an eight-year deal. According to 104.5 The Zone’s Dawn Davenport and later confirmed by Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman, the deal is reportedly worth around $70 million, which would average out to a $8.5M cap hit annually. As of this writing, there’s no word on whether the deal includes a No-Trade or No-Movement clause, reportedly one of the sticking points in negotiations.
BREAKING:
Filip Forsberg stays here in #Nashville!Hearing the deal is done. 8 years, close to 70 million total (8.5M) Official announcement expected tomorrow. Letssssss Gooooooo! #GoPreds #Smashville #Scoresberg— Dawn Davenport (@DawnDavenportTN) July 9, 2022
Friedman added that Forsberg is attending his bachelor party this weekend, so the signing has yet to be made official. When the deal is finally done, it will put a happy closing on one of the most tense offseason storylines Preds fans have had to endure in years.
Forsberg is coming off a career season in which he scored 42 goals and 84 points in just 69 games. Along with Johnny Gaudreau, he was considered one of the crown jewels of this year’s unrestricted free agent class.
Filip Forsberg is staying in Nashville. He is close to signing 8-year deal around $8.5M AAV per reports.
Forsberg is no doubt one of the best offensive wingers in the NHL right now and Predators probably locked him up for a reasonable number here. pic.twitter.com/nnGhE8FskQ
— Andy & Rono (@ARHockeyStats) July 9, 2022
With Forsberg locked in, the Predators now have around $9.5 million in cap space to play with heading into free agency.
We’ll have more on this deal throughout the weekend.