Five Reachable Goals for the Revamped Nashville Predators in 2023-24

Cole Smith #36 of the Nashville Predators celebrates his empty-net goal against the Boston Bruins during the third period at the TD Garden on March 28, 2023 in Boston, Massachusetts. The Predators won 2-1.(Photo by Richard T Gagnon/Getty Images)
Cole Smith #36 of the Nashville Predators celebrates his empty-net goal against the Boston Bruins during the third period at the TD Garden on March 28, 2023 in Boston, Massachusetts. The Predators won 2-1.(Photo by Richard T Gagnon/Getty Images)
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Goal #4: Forsberg Returns Back to “ScoresBerg”, Has Career Year

Call me hopelessly optimistic, but I have this feeling that Forsberg is about to bounce back from his scary head injury suffered in February that ended his season, and he’s going to have around career high numbers offensively.

Let’s not have a quick loss of memory here and forget that Forsberg shattered his career high with 84 points and 42 goals just one season prior to last year. And before the head injury in February, Forsberg was just behind a point-per-game pace and enjoying his third-highest Points Per 60 total of 2.9.

If Forsberg is able to finish 2022-23 without the head injury, he was on pace to set his second-highest season point total in his career. Not to mention, the Nashville Predators probably win a few more games to make the playoffs.

With that said, there’s no reason to think Forsberg can’t return to being an efficient point producer and get back into that 70 to 80-point range. Especially with Ryan O’Reilly as an expected linemate.

To meet this goal for Forsberg, he first and foremost has to get some injury luck that’s out of anyone’s control. After that, it’s fair to want Forsberg to finish around 70-plus points and be a primary catalyst for the Predators to attain Goal #2 of being a top-10 offense.