Nashville Predators: Why It’s a Huge Offseason for These Three Veterans

Ryan Johansen’s Role is Shrinking

I’m having a hard time figuring out where Ryan Johansen fits into the lineup when the 2023-24 season begins. Sure, he belongs somewhere in the starting lineup, but I will push back against giving him a top-six spot over the likes of a Cody Glass or Juuso Parssinen.

Johansen suffered a really unfortunate and odd cut from a skate blade that ended his 2022-23 campaign early. He was just one of several injuries to the Predators veteran core as the season went down the final stretch.

For Johansen, he slumped down to about a 0.5 point-per-game player. His career average is 0.66 and he was at 0.80 the season before finishing with a commendable 63 points in 79 games.

We shouldn’t really worry about what Johansen makes per year anymore. That shouldn’t dictate where he gets to start in the lineup. When fans scoff at overpaid veterans, this is who they’re thinking about first more than likely.

But here’s the bigger conundrum in all of this; the Predators are loaded with four worthy starting centers for 2023-24. You have, presumably, Glass, Parssinen, Colton Sissons and Tommy Novak.

Do we really want to move Novak, who has shown he’s more than capable of being a quality starting center, off of his natural position and possibly stunt his development even more? I don’t like that possibility at all.

Johansen might be on the trade block this offseason. Not sure if the Predators can actually move him, and if not, he’s got to have a really impressive showing in training camp.

Almost like he’s proving himself all over again as a rookie. And Johansen will be 31-years-old before the season starts, so not an easy task to possibly be heading down the ladder in your organization you’ve been with for eight years.

Waiting for Fabbro to Take the Next Step

Alright, folks. We can no longer refer to Dante Fabbro when talking about the “young players”. Yes, he’s still in the early stages of his NHL journey, but he’s now over 250 games into his NHL career. This will be his fifth full year in the NHL in 2023-24.

When the trade deadline was approaching, I had Fabbro high up on my trade block. Maybe even at the top at one point, but instead the organization showed short-term faith in the former 17th-overall draft pick by giving him another year, worth $2.5M for 2023-24. An ever so small raise.

This is Fabbro’s “prove it” year by all intents and purposes. But first we have to see how the RFA negotiations work out with Alexandre Carrier.

Assuming the front office doesn’t botch that one and gets Carrier wisely re-signed, then Fabbro will be part of a defensive core that’s look set for opening night next season.

However, having just one year left, don’t think that Fabbro is safe in the clubhouse. He has to elevate and raise his level of play to get any long-term faith from the organization. He benefits from a prospect pool of defensemen that’s a little shallow at the moment, hence why he probably got another year.

Although Fabbro doesn’t have to be expected to suddenly morph into a prolific offensive weapon on the blueline, we certainly don’t want to see regression in this department.

Fabbro had his lowest output of offense of his NHL career in 2022-23, playing in 79 games but managing just 11 points and a two percent shooting percentage.

Fabbro needs an offseason full of growth. He’s a quality defenseman that brings a lot of value and has a future in the NHL. To elevate as an everyday top-four d-man, he’s got to show us something this offseason and beyond. Otherwise, he’s going right back on my trade block next spring.

How Fast Can Forsberg Shake the Rust Off?

The Nashville Predators coaches and training staff made the wise decision to not rush Filip Forsberg back onto the ice even though the team was hanging around in the playoff race and certainly could’ve used their star forward.

Forsberg suffered the scary hit against the boards and head collision on the ice back on February 11 against the Philadelphia Flyers. He was rumored to be getting close to a return numerous times as March and April rolled on, but ultimately his season was over.

Incredibly enough, Forsberg still finished second the team in goals with 19, just showing how much roster turnover and offensive struggles the Predators went through.

Forsberg has to be the centerpiece to this veteran core and for the Predators to become a drastically more trustworthy offensive team in 2023-24. It’s just not sustainable to be a team that relies on near-perfect goaltending and stout penalty killing every night. You need reliable goal scorers, and while the youth stepped up, you need Forsberg to return to being at least a 30 to 40 goal scorer.

As Forsberg eases back into action on the ice this offseason, it will be paramount that he can shake some rust off. Fortunately, he has plenty of time and is all the more reason why shelving him for the remainder of 2022-23 was the correct decision.

Forsberg will be on that Nashville Predators top line, probably centered by either Cody Glass or Juuso Parssinen and possibly Matt Duchene on the other wing.

We didn’t need another setback that, more important than anything could’ve impacted his long-term health after hockey, and also kept him from having a complete offseason.

Forsberg’s rehab and recovering seems to be going smoothly as he’s enjoying being a minority owner of Nashville SC of the MLS.

Forsberg was the major headline of the 2022 offseason as he was due for a massive new contract and the fear of losing him on the free agency market. Instead, the Nashville Predators signed him to a long-term eight-year contract with a No Move Clause and $8.5M AAV to 2030.

Now Forsberg has to gradually get back into the swing of things and come out ready to live up to getting the enormous contract that most of us wanted him to get.