By Jordan Long
The Nashville Predators are going to be without one of their best scoring threats. Winger Filip Forsberg is out 4-6 weeks with what the team is calling an upper-body injury. He was hurt during the 4 to 2 loss to the Minnesota Wild on Friday.
Forsberg is valuable to the Predators on full strength, power play, and power play kill. On full strength, his ability to skate around the defense creates scoring chances. Those end in goals or rebound opportunities. Forsberg can also pass to teammates so they have an opening for a goal. Forsberg already has 15 goals and 19 assists on the year.
On the power play, Forsberg is down low near the goaltender. Forsberg will screen the goalie to make it difficult for the goalie to see the puck. Those can end in goals. He will also tip the puck to go into the back of the net. Forsberg has 9 power play goals and 8 power play assists. Shorthanded, he can poke check the puck away. This doesn’t allow teams to set up in the defensive zone and he is able to shoot the puck to the other end. Forsberg can also have scoring chances shorthanded but he has yet to score a goal with a man down.
The Nashville Predators are going to miss his presence on the ice. He is one of their top young skaters. Nashville must figure out how to replace him. It will take more than one skater to do so. In the standings Nashville is 3rd in the Central Division. The Predators should be able to stay in that position for the next 4 to 6 weeks. If they start to slide in the standings it could be that they are missing Forsberg. Hopefully they will find a way to stay in playoff position without Forsberg.
How do you think the Nashville Predators will do without Filip Forsberg in the lineup?
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