Forsberg added, "A lot of things have changed since then and still here we are playing on the same line on the national team. It’s pretty cool."
A lot of things indeed, beginning with the Capitals' decision to trade Forsberg to the Nashville Predators in exchange for Martin Erat and Michael Latta prior to the 2013 NHL trade deadline.
In 182 games with the Predators, Forsberg has recorded 60 goals and 73 assists, and recently signed a six-year, $36-million contract extension with the club.
As unfortunate as the deal was for the Capitals in hindsight, Backstrom and Co. enter 2016-17 as reigning Presidents' Trophy winners and Stanley Cup contenders.
Still, Sweden is set to give the hockey world a glimpse of what could have been.
Dmitry Orlov doesn't appear overly confident about where he's going to be playing after the World Cup of Hockey.
The Russian defenseman enters the tournament as a restricted free agent, heretofore unable to reach an agreement on a new deal with the Washington Capitals.
For now, he's focused on representing his country, but his confidence in regards to an imminent return to his NHL club seems to be waning.
Asked if he was still confident that he would re-sign with Washington, Orlov said he didn’t know.
"It’s hard to say," he said. "I was five years in this organization, and everything was good, you know?
"You know, I play five years in USA, so of course, I like it here," Orlov said. "And I would like to stay there, but I don’t know how it’s going to happen. We’ll see."
The 25-year-old is coming off a two-year, $4-million contract with the Capitals, and while he's expected to step into a top-four role on the club's blue line, the monetary value on his next deal may remain a point of contention, seeing as how he was limited by injuries prior to a 2015-16 season in which he recorded 29 points while averaging only 16 minutes a game.
Khurshudyan notes CSKA Moscow holds Orlov's KHL rights and would love to have him play there this season, but a deal with the Capitals still remains the likeliest conclusion to his offseason at this point.
Heading into training camp, the Capitals have $3,454,874 in available cap space, per General Fanager.
theScore is previewing each team leading up to the 2016-17 season.
After years of building, the Florida Panthers have the look of a team capable of clawing their way to the very top. Here are three question facing the reigning Atlantic Division champions in advance of a new season.
Will the spending spree pay off?
Since the beginning of 2016, the Panthers have been extremely active in terms of spending, locking up their building blocks to long-term contract extensions, while also opening the coffers to attract talent from the outside.
Player
Age
Position
Contract Length
Cap Hit
Aleksander Barkov
21
F
6 years
$5.9M
Jonathan Huberdeau
23
F
6 years
$5.9M
Reilly Smith
25
F
5 years
$5M
Vincent Trocheck
23
F
6 years
$4.75M
*Jason Demers
28
D
5 years
$4.5M
Aaron Ekblad
20
D
9 years
$7.5M
*Keith Yandle
30
D
7 years
$6.35M
*James Reimer
28
G
5 years
$3.4M
* UFA signing
All of the above, plus Roberto Luongo's $5,333,333 cap hit through to the end of 2021-22 and Nick Bjugstad's $4.1-million average annual valuation over the next five season, adds up to around $53 million committed to 10 players beginning next season.
Ownership's clear mandate is to build a winner around its undeniably talented young core, and banking on the likes of Aaron Ekblad (the next captain?), Aleksander Barkov, and Jonathan Huberdeau is a given.
But the bevy of long-term contracts could limit general manager Tim Rowe's flexibility moving forward should any number of these players fall short of expected levels of production, especially if the team isn't able to take that next step in the short term.
Incoming D-men include Keith Yandle (NY Rangers), Jason Demers (Dallas), Mark Pysyk (Buffalo), and Mike Matheson (AHL). All are expected to play significant roles in a top-six defensive unit that will look to move the puck out of their zone more effectively than their predecessors and improve upon the team's 20th ranked Corsi rating in 5-on-5 play.
Ekblad will begin training camp taking part in the World Cup, but the rest of the gang will be there right out of the gate, and the sooner the revamped defensive corps can find cohesion, the better off the Panthers will be.
Jagr's swan song?
One of the best things about watching the Panthers is seeing the great Jaromir Jagr continue to ply his trade at a high level.
Somewhat remarkably, Jagr led the Panthers in total points last season (66), and the 44-year-old is only 19 points behind Mark Messier for second on the NHL's all-time points leader list. Should he both pass that milestone and maybe even win the Stanley Cup with the Panthers, one can't help but wonder if this will be his final season.
Jagr, who re-upped with the club on a one-year, $4-million contract, seems ready to keep playing for as long as possible, but even if he does keep playing, it could be his last year in Florida, based on the salary commitments already listed above.
Dennis Seidenberg isn't quite sure what the future holds after the World Cup of Hockey.
The German-born defenseman made his debut for Europe in Sunday's exhibition loss to North America, and while he gets ready for the tournament to begin, he's left wondering where he'll play once the NHL regular season starts having had his contract with the Boston Bruins bought out this summer.
"I’ve kind of turned the page," Seidenberg told Fluto Shinzawa of the Boston Globe. "But then again, my family’s still in Boston. They started school in Boston. So you always think about something you’re still with but you’re not. So it was something that was obviously disappointing. But it doesn’t really matter right now. I have to go into this tournament, play my game, and hopefully something comes up."
The 35-year-old was set to earn $7.5 million over the two remaining years on his contract with the Bruins, but will now collect $4,666,667 in buyout money over the next four years.
Seidenberg played an important role in the Bruins' Stanley Cup win back in 2011, but has been slowed by both injuries and Father Time in recent years. Still, he feels he has some gas left in the tank, and will look to make the most of opportunities afforded him by European head coach Ralph Kruger to limit chances by the opposition while boosting his own on the open market.
"I just have to focus on playing my game," Seidenberg said. "There’s no magic to it. It’s playing a simple style of hockey. That’s basically it. I don’t have to try and do something I can’t do. That’s going to go the other way if you do that."
Based on Europe's performance in the pre-tournament games, he'll likely only have a few more opportunities to impress, unless Europe can somehow manage to advance to the semifinal round.
Things could get interesting for the New York Islanders as training camp approaches.
That's because Ryan Strome remains a restricted free agent, and, as Arthur Staple of Newsday points out, the club has a rule stating players not signed by the start of camp are out for the year.
Still, the situation seems somewhat optimistic, for the time being.
#Isles and Strome still working towards a deal. Not much concern yet on either side that it won't get done. Camp officially begins Sept. 22.
Strome, the fifth overall pick at the 2011 NHL Draft, spent some time down in the AHL last season after recording career highs in goals (17), assists (33), and total points (50) during 2014-15. Not coincidentally, that season was the only one in which Strome was on the Islanders' roster for its entirety, bucking his career trend of splitting time between the NHL and the minors.
For his career, Strome has recorded 32 goals and 64 assists in 189 appearances, good for a points-per-game average 0.51 in between 15 to 16 minutes of ice time a night.
Clearly he has more to prove before being afforded a long-term deal, but his usage hasn't helped the matter. As Staple notes, there's no real concern that a deal won't be reached, likely because it's in the best interest of both parties to reach an agreement and avoid sending Strome home for the year.
Roman Josi sees pros and cons in losing his defensive partner.
After a trade that saw longtime defensive partner Shea Weber traded to the Montreal Canadiens in exchange for P.K. Subban, Josi - the Nashville Predators' leading scorer from the blue line last season - believes both teams are getting great players.
How diplomatic.
Having said that, though, Josi sees Subban as a great fit for the Predators in terms of the team's style of play.
"I think it's one of the philosophies of coach (Peter) Laviolette that he wants to play a fast game and he wants, defensemen - especially defensemen - that skate with the puck and move the puck and join the rush and play in the offensive zone, too," Josi said Saturday, per Tim Campbell of NHL.com. "I think P.K. fits that style really well. ...
"Obviously (Subban's) a great player. We're excited to have him in Nashville. He's one of the best defensemen in the world. He's a great personality, too."
Josi admitted he'll miss Weber, of course, and said it will take some time to get used to a new partner on the blue line, Subban or otherwise.
But with those two plus Ryan Ellis and Mattias Ekholm, the Predators now boast one of the best top-four defensive groups in the league, and Laviollette must be giddy about having so many tools at his disposal.
