The Nashville Predators locked up dynamic restricted free agent forward Filip Forsberg with a six-year contract extension worth $36 million, the team announced Monday.
Forsberg, 21, who will earn a flat base salary for the next six seasons, does not have opportunities for bonuses, and is without no-movement conditions built into his agreement.
"Filip is among the most skilled, dynamic talents we've ever had in the organization and is an integral part of our success for the next six years and beyond," Predators general manager David Poile stated via team release.
"While we have already seen his creativity, hockey sense and puck skills, he has yet to reach the peak of his abilities. We have full confidence that he will continue to blossom into one of the top players in the world."
A back-to-back 60-plus-point scorer in the last two seasons, his first full years in the NHL, Forsberg has not just produced team-best numbers, but at a top-25 rate NHL-wide.
Forsberg followed his breakout 2014-15 campaign with 33 goals - matching a single-season franchise record - in the final year of his entry-level deal. He also led Nashville with 64 points, matching Max Pacioretty, Kyle Okposo, and Steven Stamkos for 24th in league scoring.
He now stands to earn the most among Predators forwards over the next six seasons, and will net the team's third-highest average annual salary behind Shea Weber and Pekka Rinne.
The Predators, meanwhile, have purchased the young Swede's prime years at a reasonable price point. They now have a little more than $7 million remaining in cap space with a few outstanding depth players to retain.
A number of NHL forwards may be on the brink of signing their first big-ticket contracts this summer.
While eyes will almost certainly be on the unrestricted free-agent market, many high-end talents will hit restricted free agency. While offer sheets are seemingly a thing of the past, this season's top-10 restricted free agents at the very least make the idea worth pondering.
Here are those players:
Johnny Gaudreau
Johnny Gaudreau improved on his stellar rookie campaign, falling just one point shy of a point per game, with 78 points in 79 games. He hit the 30-goal mark for the first time in his career, while leading his club in the category.
He also proved his worth by leading the Calgary Flames with six game-winning goals, and paced the team in playoff scoring in 2014-15 with four goals and nine points in 11 games.
Nathan MacKinnon
The first overall pick in 2013 remains one of the most dynamic players in the league.
While Nathan MacKinnon's offensive output has dropped since his stellar rookie campaign, it's a trend the Colorado Avalanche have seen as a whole.
Colorado has seen its goals per game go from fourth in 2013-14 (2.99 G/PG) to 23rd in 2014-2015, and finished just 20th this season. That aside, MacKinnon remains one of the speediest forwards in the game, and boasts a wicked release.
Not to mention his 10 points in seven games in his lone taste of playoff hockey. He will be a cornerstone player with the club for years to come.
Mike Hoffman
After leading the Ottawa Senators with 27 goals in his first season, management signed Mike Hoffman to a prove-you-can-do-it-again contract last offseason - and he did.
For a second straight year, Hoffman paced the Senators with 29 goals while hitting a career-high 59 points. After making $2 million last season, the 26-year-old can expect a pay increase this time around.
Jaden Schwartz
Jaden Schwartz has gained the trust of the St. Louis Blues. General manager Doug Armstrong's reference to Schwartz's next contract as priority No.1 for the organization this summer suggests as much.
The 23-year-old was limited to just 33 games this season, but managed a respectable 22 points. However, he returned to his productive ways in the postseason, finishing tied for third on the team - one point behind Vladimir Tarasenko and Robby Fabbri - with 14 points.
He is also just one year removed from a career season that saw him post 28 goals and 63 points in 75 games.
Sean Monahan
Johnny Gaudreau isn't the only big fish the Flames will have to retain.
Sean Monahan also enters restricted free agency after netting a team-high 58 goals over the past two seasons.
The 21-year-old has made a seamless transition into the NHL since being drafted in the first round in 2013. He has scored no-fewer than 22 goals in each of his first three seasons. Don't be surprised if he's locked up long term.
Filip Forsberg
If the Washington Capitals could do things over, they would like to be the ones negotiating with Filip Forsberg on his next contract.
The Nashville Predators forward is coming off back-to-back seasons where he led his team in scoring, with 63 and 64 points respectively.
The 21-year-old turned in his first 30-goal campaign this season, pairing with teammate James Neal to be the first Predators since the 2009-10 season to hit the 30-goal plateau.
The 22-year-old made just over $700,000 in 2016, but after amassing a combined 41 points in 43 games over the last two postseasons, he is proving to be an incredible playoff performer. To help his cause, Kucherov also led the team in scoring this season, coming off his first 30-goal campaign.
The only argument likely to be used by the team to keep the money number low is his small sample size. He could also be prime offer-sheet material.
Kyle Palmieri
Kyle Palmieri might be the most worthy of pay increase on the list.
The 25-year-old, who had a cap hit of $1,466,666 in 2016, exploded in his first season with the New Jersey Devils. Palmieri scored more goals than his previous two seasons combined, lighting the lamp 30 times and amassing 57 points - 26 more than his previous career-high.
After finishing 30th with 2.22 goals per game this season, Palmieri's value to the Devils is unquestionably high.
Brayden Schenn
After managing just seven points through the first 18 games of the season, Brayden Schenn rallied to have a career-year in 2016.
The Philadelphia Flyers forward set career-highs in goals, assists, points, power-play goals, and power-play points. He had his second 20-goal campaign, finding the back of the net 26 times while adding 33 helpers.
If his value to the Flyers wasn't obvious, he also shared the team lead with five game-winning goals this season.
After combining for just 28 goals in is first two seasons in the league, the club's 2011 first-round pick went off in 2015-16, finding the back of the net 29 times and setting a career mark with 61 points in 71 games.
The 23-year-old led the Jets with seven power-play goals, and further proved his worth at the World Championship, where he contributed four goals and nine points in nine games en route to capturing gold for Canada.
Brad Treliving saw the rules for the expansion draft and immediately was in an advantageous position. The Calgary Flames' general manager needed a goaltender, and with Las Vegas set to harvest the NHL for two of them in a year, his colleagues had incentive to make a move.
A full year before the Las Vegas expansion draft, GMs must plan for the inevitability of losing a player to a team that the league wants to be good out of the gate. Already the impact of the impending expansion draft has been felt with the Flames acquiring Elliott and the Toronto Maple Leafs getting goalie Frederik Andersen from the Anaheim Ducks.
The Ducks knew they wouldn't be able to keep Andersen and John Gibson forever, and the expansion draft expedited a move.
''After starting to hear what the expansion rules could be, you just knew you weren't going to be signing both of them,'' GM Bob Murray said. ''You're going to come out looking pretty stupid if you did that.''
No one wants to look stupid, and that's the challenge over the next 12 months.
Teams will only be able to protect one goalie, so the Tampa Bay Lightning will likely have to trade Ben Bishop and the Stanley Cup-champion Pittsburgh Penguins have to decide what to do with Marc-Andre Fleury before the yet-to-be-named Las Vegas team picks its first 30 players on June 20, 2017.
With the unrestricted free agent market opening Friday and trade winds gusting, teams have to consider the expansion draft as part of their offseason maneuvers.
''Everything will be affected by that,'' Columbus Blue Jackets GM Jarmo Kekalainen said. ''In every decision, we'll have to take into consideration what the rules are and how that might affect our outlook for the expansion draft and ahead of that.''
Each team will be able to protect seven forwards, three defensemen and one goaltender or eight skaters and one goaltender. Any player with a no-movement clause in his contract must be protected, and each team will lose one player.
Players with bloated contracts or who are past their prime will be exposed, but teams could take a serious hit because young and cheap talent will be plentiful.
That's a danger for a team like the Chicago Blackhawks, who have won the Stanley Cup three times in seven years but are locked into long-term deals with their core players. GM Stan Bowman, who has taken Chicago from the brink of cap purgatory back to the Cup, isn't worried about losing someone.
''I think sometimes you can get too worked up about it,'' Bowman said. ''It's a little bit early to be making moves strictly for an expansion draft that's going to happen in about 12 months from now.''
Win-now teams shouldn't get worked up. Penguins GM Jim Rutherford plans to keep Fleury and Cup-winning goalie Matt Murray for now and worry about it later, and making moves for the future alone won't help anyone capture a title next season.
''It's tough to take a player you like out of your lineup right now before the season starts, especially if you want to compete for a championship,'' Washington Capitals GM Brian MacLellan said. ''You try and find that perfect situation where you're protected in an expansion draft.''
Expect some movement once teams have a grip on which players they might protect or have in danger of exposing for the NHL's Las Vegas venture. The Blackhawks have eight players with no-move clauses and the Blue Jackets six, which could necessitate buyouts this week or deals over the next year.
''Nobody could really prepare before they knew what the rules were,'' Kekalainen said. ''Some teams are in better positions just by accident or by luck or whatever.''
Edmonton Oilers GM Peter Chiarelli, who can relax with Connor McDavid exempt because he'll only have two years of pro experience, said teams will have to think differently if they face the potential of losing a significant player. No doubt that's a reality for some, but Treliving doesn't see that flooding the market.
''That idea that now that there's expansion everybody's going to be dying to just give you players, that's not quite the case,'' Treliving said. ''There is obviously a knowledge of what may happen, so people are trying to see if they can be aggressive or if that's going to be something in a year.''
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Because there's never enough news in the hockey world, the Hall of Fame board will hold its annual selection meeting Monday to determine its class for 2016.
There are 14 first-time eligible players who meet the consideration criteria, a list that includes Milan Hejduk, Petr Sykora, and Jamie Langenbrunner, but this latest wave is without an undeniable first-ballot candidate.
So, it appears it's time for the holdovers to burst through the Hall of Fame doors.
Here are our five leading candidates, all of whom have been passed over, ranked:
Eric Lindros
The unrealized aspect of Lindros' career will never detach itself from his legacy, but that doesn't change what this anomalous behemoth was at one point.
Engineered as to be dominant, Lindros had an unequaled blend of skill and strength. It made him one of, if not the best player in the NHL at the height of his career, something those now up, and those remaining eligible, cannot claim.
He scored at what was an all-time rate in eight injury-affected seasons with the Philadelphia Flyers, and remains one of the NHL's 20 most productive per-game scorers despite concussions and inactivity having reduced him to a middling contributor for the final third of his career.
Doing it his way, Lindros divided himself to the institution, but that doesn't change the fact that he's the only eligible former Hart Trophy winner to not have been inducted, and he's certainly more deserving than some.
Mark Recchi
If the greatest barometer is individual production, than the seismic offensive totals in Recchi's portfolio should eventually do the trick.
Longevity his hallmark, Recchi, ranked 12th all time with 1,533 career NHL points, neighbors with an assembly of the greatest offensive players in the sport's history, and, really, a collection that makes up the Hall of Fame's backbone.
Though he was never really among a handful of the very best players in the league at any point in his career, he racked up an impressive 440 points across four seasons beginning in 1990. But what should tip the scales in Recchi's favor are 147 additional points achieved in his postseason career, which helped realize three Stanley Cup titles.
Paul Kariya
Kariya finished his relatively short career with an ineffectual (at least by Hall of Fame standard) 989 points, but remains one of less than 50 players to finish their careers having scored at least a point per game.
He won the Hobey Baker for a 100-point season at the University of Maine, but the closest he came to a major NHL award (unless you include his two Lady Byngs) was a second-place finish for the Hart Trophy in 1997.
Kariya won gold at three levels of international competition, which includes scoring three times at the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City, helping Canada snap its 50-year drought.
Dave Andreychuk
Andreychuk's in the same boat as Recchi: a non-elite, unyielding point producer that stuck around long enough to carve out a definitive place in the sport's history, and achieved a lasting measure of success.
He scored more goals, and unlike any other eligible player, actually holds a reasonably significant NHL record, having more power-play markers (276) than any player in history.
Andreychuk was never in consideration for a major award in his 24 years, but captained the Tampa Bay Lightning to the Stanley Cup. That run went even beyond team and individual achievement, as it greatly contributed to the sunbelt franchise establishing itself as a healthy hockey market.
Jeremy Roenick
A nine-time All-Star, Roenick earned celebrity status in the NHL for both his talent and personality.
With 1,216 career points, he's the fourth-leading American-born scorer (third if you include playoffs) after following up three 100-point seasons in his prime with the Chicago Blackhawks with fairly consistent production in more than a decade to follow.
As far as tangible accolades, both individual and team, he never achieved anything lasting.
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Loui Eriksson reportedly has a half-dozen suitors, but the Boston Bruins are apparently amenable to increasing their offer.
Six teams have contacted Eriksson's representative, J.P. Barry, about the pending unrestricted free-agent winger, WEEI's DJ Bean reports.
The Bruins have been reluctant to offer the 30-goal scorer more than four years, but a source told Bean on Sunday that the club is willing to give him more than that on a deal with a lower average annual value.
Eriksson's camp reportedly believes he'll fetch at least five years on the open market.
Bruins general manager Don Sweeney said Thursday that he planned to take one more shot at signing Eriksson, but he acknowledged a reunion may not happen.
TVA's Renaud Lavoie reported on the same day that the two sides weren't close on an extension, and that Eriksson appeared likely to hit free agency July 1.
The window for teams to negotiate with pending UFAs opened Saturday at midnight.
Teams have until Monday at 5 p.m. ET to extend qualifying offers to their restricted free agents in order to gain the right to match an offer sheet from another club or receive draft-pick compensation.
The 22-year-old center tied for third on the Panthers with 25 goals and ranked fifth on the club with 53 points in his third season with Florida.
As for the "big fish" in potential unrestricted free agency, Panthers general manager Tom Rowe told Fialkov Saturday that Steven Stamkos "isn't a high priority and that won't change for a couple of days."
The Panthers have nearly $19 million in cap space, but the GM said only small tweaks are required to improve the club that won the Atlantic Division title.
"We only have a third-line position we need to fill. We're targeting a bunch of guys we put together. We'll start calling around the agents, get the interviewing process going, and see if there's interest on the other side and go from there.
"Getting (defenseman Keith Yandle) signed before free agency and (acquiring defenseman Mark Pysyk for Dmitry Kulikov during the draft) filled a couple of holes. We still got a couple more up front we got to take care of."
Rowe's comments - along with the Panthers' cap flexibility and activity at the draft - suggest they should continue to be active when the free-agent frenzy begins July 1.
Ray Bourque knows he made an error in judgment after being arrested on a drunk driving charge over the weekend.
“For the first time in my life, I find myself in unfamiliar territory. I am not happy about the situation I put myself into on Friday night," the Hall of Fame defenseman said in a statement Sunday, according to The Boston Globe.
No injuries were reported, and he was released on bail.
The 55-year-old took the blame for his arrest in Sunday's statement, which was released by Celebrity Marketing, Inc., a Boston-based firm run by former Bruins goaltender Cleon Daskalakis.
"I am a very proud person that accepts the responsibility of my actions and have always accepted being in the media eye," Bourque said.
He asked the public to respect his privacy during the legal proceedings.
"I have used this popularity to try and positively impact as many lives as possible. I am happy that no one was hurt in the accident and thank everyone who has reached out in support of my family and me. Please be patient as I go through this process and respect my family and my privacy."
Bourque is scheduled to be arraigned Monday in Lawrence District Court.
