There was once a time Evgeny Kuznetsov and Filip Forsberg fought neck-and-neck to be the top-rated prospect in the Caps organization.
Fast forward a few years later, Kuznetsov is one of the best players on the Washington Capitals and Forsberg is one of the best players on the Nashville Predators. Sunday, the two played against each other during Russia/Sweden game at the World Cup of Hockey.
Kuznetsov punched Forsberg. In the jaw.
Last week, we wrote about Filip Forsberg and how Team Sweden has him lined up next to Capitals center Nicklas Backstrom for the upcoming World Cup of Hockey. We’ve learned today just how Filip feels about that.
Sunday night, Forsberg talked to Katie Brown, NHL.com’s Washington correspondent. Forsberg let her know that when he was drafted by the Caps in 2012 that it became a dream of his to play on a line with fellow Swede Nicklas Backstrom.
By Chris Cerullo 7 years ago
Nicklas Backstrom is one of the best playmakers in hockey and Filip Forsberg is one of the sport’s best finishers. So naturally, they are being paired together on a line for Sweden’s World Cup of Hockey team. The news was first reported by the Swedish news outlet Aftonbladet.
Swedish forward, former Capitals draft pick, and gentle human Filip Forsberg got in his first NHL fight on Saturday night. It was to defend the honor of former Capital Mike Ribeiro, who probably doesn’t deserve to have his honor defended.
It’s been almost three years since the Caps traded Filip Forsberg for Michael Latta and some other dipshit that I don’t even want to mention right now. The Capitals are the best team in the league and Evgeny Kuznetsov is one the most promising young players in the game. Yet, dammit. Imagine if they had Forsberg too.
Forsberg didn’t leave much to the imagination as in the second period he scored a video game goal on the Caps PK. Dude skated around the whole Caps team and snapped a shot past Braden Holtby’s glove like he was a beer league goalie.
Photo: Patrick McDermott
Filip Forsberg is a painful topic for Caps fans, like Esa Tikkanen and WMATA. We try to avoid it when we can, but Saturday’s matinee put young Filip front and center. The Calder contender, whom George McPhee traded away for an underperforming and underutilized rental and whom Trotz sent down to the AHL while coach of the Predators last season, recorded three points.
To live is to suffer, and to be a Caps fan is to suffer so much more sharply.
Photos by Chris Gordon.
Saturday, Filip Forsberg will play at Verizon Center for the first time. Caps fans eagerly awaited this moment when he was drafted 11th overall in 2012. But in March of 2013, Forsberg was sent to the Nashville Predators in exchange for Martin Erat and Michael Latta. It was a bad trade from the start, made worse when Adam Oates ran Erat out of town. Ever since, it’s been a sore spot for Caps fans. This season, the wound has been ripped open. Through 75 games, Forsberg has 56 points and is in the running for the Calder Trophy. While Caps fans still miss him, it seems Washington never made much of an impression on Forsberg, who laced up for the Capitals just once, during the team’s 2012 Development Camp.
“From coming here, things turned out in a way that no one really saw coming,” Forsberg said Friday, when he visited Kettler Capitals Iceplex for the first time since the trade. “They’ll always be a part of it, but obviously I never really made anything for the Capitals.”
By Chris Gordon 8 years ago
Photo: Debora Robinson
Since December, Andre Burakovsky‘s usage in the Caps lineup has been curious as Barry Trotz has had to juggle playing time among veteran and younger players. Coming into Sunday’s game, the skilled young Swede had not received more than nine minutes of ice time since the beginning of February. He’d been used as a fourth-line center, a second-line winger, and a first line winger. He had been scratched in three of the team’s last four games.
But in Burakovsky’s return to the lineup on Sunday against Anaheim, The Burracuda scored twice off of two amazing primary assists from Alex Ovechkin. He played nearly 13 minutes on the team’s first line.
Photo: Capitals Instagram
Yesterday, Capitals general manager Brian MacLellan spoke to the media about the first half of the Caps’ season. A large chunk of the conversation revolved around Mike Green and his upcoming UFA status, which Adam Vingan documented on NBC Washington.
MacLellan was also briefly asked about the lopsided Filip Forsberg trade and what he thought of him as a player. He replied honestly.
“I think he’s played well,” MacLellan said. “Obviously he’s one of the leading candidates for the Calder Trophy.”
He continued, “If you’re asking if I would like to do a do-over [on the trade]? Yeah. Sure.” Then he nodded his head a few times and flashed a coy smile. This became a national story.
Is it even fair for MacLellan to have to answer to this deal nearly two years after it was signed off on by his then-boss George McPhee? RMNB investigates.
Tonight the Washington Capitals will play the Nashville Predators for the first time this season. The big storyline heading into this game is Barry Trotz returning to his old stomping grounds.
Trotz spent 15 years as head coach of the Predators. He was the team’s first coach and might have even named them. Three of Trotz’s children still live in the city, and he left on the goodest of good terms over the summer. Like Brooks Orpik in Pittsburgh, Trotz will probably get a video tribute tonight. There will be lots of feels.
But let’s not forget the other storyline tonight: this will be the first time Filip Forsberg plays against the team that drafted him, and it’s going to be awful.
