Evaluating the Play of Filip Forsberg

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 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.

Celebration in Smashville (Part I)

 Superstar goalie Pekka Rinne has signed a 7-year contract extension with the Nashville Predators.
 Rinne, one of the elite goaltanders in the National Hockey League, was set to become an unrestricted free agent on July 1st after this season.  He would have certainly seen top-dollar offers from teams interested in his services, but instead Peks decided to make a long-term commitment to the Nashville organization.  Not only should the Predators be excited now that they can expect to see this spectacular netminder in a golden Nashville uniform for years to come, but they inked him at a bargain price, too.  There is still no official word on the monetary details of the 7-year deal, but word on the street is it will equal somewhere around $49 million.

 Predators' mastermind GM David Poile has very little time to celebrate this accomplishment, however.  Rinne, along with star defensemen Ryan Suter and Shea Weber were going to become UFAs on July 1st, but just because we can scratch Rinne off of that list doesn't mean Poile's job is even close to being done.  Suter and Weber have been key to the Preds' success over the past few seasons, and both players continue to imprive year after year.

Photo by John Russel / Getty Images

 It has been reported that Poile and his staff will resume negotiations with Suter's party on November 14th.  No one expects those negotiations to move along as quickly as Rinne's, but hopefully they go well.  If Ryan Suter re-ups with the Peks and the Preds, rhen you can expect a swift Part II be made to the "Celebration in Smashville" post.  Heck, I already plan on it.  As you can see, this post is titled Part I, because I expect more celebrations to come out of Poile's office.
 Everyone loves the feel-good story.  What's more feel good than the small market team locking up their stars long term?  If the "Celebration in Smashville" posts can become a trilogy, meaning the Predators were able to resign Rinne, Suter, and Shea Weber, it would certainly be one of the greatest stories in NHL free agency history as well as one of the most well-crafted GM jobs anyone has ever seen, too.  But until then, Predator fans can get excited about the fact that they have Pekka Rinne to look forward to in net for a long, long time.