Evaluating the Play of Filip Forsberg

John Russell / Getty Images

 There are only a few certainties in life: Death, taxes, and prospects move on trade deadline day. Every year, transactions at the NHL trade deadline include players who have never suited up for a game in the show. Some players make you scratch your head and go, "Who?" Others are high profile draft picks.
 When it comes to prospects, the biggest name moved at this season's deadline was Swedish forward Filip Forsberg, who was dealt from the Washington Capitals to the Nashville Predators in exchange for Martin Erat and Michael Latta. Considering Latta is, with all due respect, a nobody, and Erat had only four goals with the Preds this season, the Caps' willingness to move one of their top prospects was a bit of a head-scratcher. People theorized that the Capitals felt Forsberg's NHL ceiling wasn't as high as we once thought, and others took to Twitter to criticize Forsberg's foot speed and cite that as the reason Washington didn't mind ditching Sweden's captain at the most recent World Juniors.
 Surprisingly, Forsberg, who is 18 years old and never even suited up for Washington's AHL team, found himself injected into the Predators line-up on Sunday and he already has two NHL games under his belt. Now his detractors and his supporters alike have a small sample size of what Forsberg is capable of at the highest level of competition in the world. This is what they've seen.

 Forsberg made his NHL debut against the Detroit Red Wings. Preds head coach David Poile had him on the right wing playing with veteran David Legwand and Taylor Beck.
 On his first career shift, he appeared to be a bit overwhelmed but quickly settled in. He couldn't make a play along the boards on his off-wing, looked a lost in the offensive zone, and was beaten by Pavel Datsyuk in the neutral zone (but hey, who hasn't been?) His shift ended with him making a good play along the boards on the breakout and delivering a crisp pass before skating to the bench.
 After that shift, Forsberg began to show what he was all about. In his two NHL games, he has displayed great passing and vision and his hands are as advertised. Forsberg made a beautiful move to protect the puck and then quickly dish it to a teammate at 15:20 of the first period on the power play in his first game. In fact, while we're on the subject of the power play, he's been given the opportunity to play on the team's top power play unit right off the bat, injecting much creativity into one of the NHL's more anemic power plays.
 His passing has been very good in the offensive zone in his first two games, often setting up fellow rookie Taylor Beck. More times than not, Beck just isn't skilled enough to handle the pass or do something with it after he gets it. Forsberg could have an assist or two already in his short NHL career if he were playing alongside a finisher, but alas, he is not, so he still has zero goals and zero assists.
 He's been skating hard on the backcheck, and has even forced a few turnovers directly leading to scoring opportunities. Creating prime scoring chances has probably been the most shining part of his game thus far, setting up teammates and getting good shots off like his wicked wrister at 5:12 of the second period against Vancouver in his second career game. Making things happen in the offensive zone is good, but he's also been creating a few for his opponents, as well.

John Russell / Getty Images

 Turnovers are proving to be a thorn in Forsberg's side in his two games in the NHL. Sometimes he'll go to make one too many moves and cough the puck up to the other team. He has been caught not making strong plays on the boards on the breakout on occasion, which has led directly to goals against (like Henrik Zetterberg's goal in Forsberg's debut.) He's also been out-muscled a lot in corners and along the boards, but he's not being out-worked, necessarily. The strength used in battles in the dirty areas will come with more
physical maturity.
 As far as his skating is concerned, yeah, his agility could use some improvement. North-south, he could be faster, but he isn't slow either. That's not to say he's going to stay this way, either. He's only 18 years old. He has plenty of time to get better with his skating. Remember one of the knocks on John Tavares when he came into the NHL was his skating, yet he's made great strides (get it?) in improving that area of his game since being a teenager in the NHL and is now in the conversation for league MVP.

So to review...

      Positives

• Creating scoring opportunities.
• Hands are superb
• Passing and vision are great and can only get better

      Negatives

• Too many turnovers
• Out-muscled in the corners
• A bit of a struggled adjusting to the North American game
• This can all be improved with more time and experience in the NHL

 If Forsberg were to be given a grade for his first two NHL games, he'd get something like a B-. You can clearly see all the potential there that made him the highest ranked European player going into the 2012 draft, but there's plenty of room for improvement. The Predators have quite a project on their hands now, developing a great offensive player and leader in the locker room with noticeable flaws into a great player that will help usher in a new era of Smashville hockey.