Should the Rangers pursue Filip Forsberg?

News broke late last night that the Predators are shopping Filip Forsberg, a bit of a surprise to many. Instantly in the BSB chat, it was about how the if Rangers pursue Filip Forsberg, it should be their top priority. But this one was a bit odd. The Predators are not out of the playoff running, have a Norris candidate on defense, and a Vezina candidate in net.

Yet, here we are talking about how the Rangers should go after Forsberg. Some even saying that the Rangers should pursue him no matter the cost (within reason, of course). The Rangers going after Forsberg does depend on a lot of factors, and not all of it passes the sniff test.

The fit, if the Rangers pursue Filip Forsberg

Let’s get the obvious out of the way: Filip Forsberg is a fantastic hockey player. He’d instantly be in the Rangers top-six. Since Forsberg is a left wing, he’d be on the top line with Chris Kreider on the right side and Mika Zibanejad down the middle. That would likely slide Alexis Lafreniere, for now, to the second line with Artemiy Panarin and Ryan Strome.

The third line, in this scenario, would be some combination of Barclay Goodrow, Dryden Hunt, Julien Gauthier, and one of Lafreniere or Kaapo Kakko, when healthy, flanking Filip Chytil. This takes us back to the original issue of the third line not necessarily being a big threat.

However, if the Rangers pursue Filip Forsberg, perhaps they put him on LW on the third line with Chytil and Goodrow (or one of the others), leaving Kakko and Lafreniere in the top six when healthy. This would give the Rangers a huge boost on the third line, and they’d finally have that tertiary scoring. It seems like a waste of assets, but if it balances the lineup more and adds to PP2’s ability to score, then it’s about the cost.

Acquiring Forsberg isn’t cheap

Despite being a rental, Forsberg won’t be cheap. Whatever you think Tomas Hertl will cost, that’s what Forsberg will cost. The difference between Forsberg and Hertl is position, and the Rangers likely wouldn’t commit to Forsberg beyond this year as a rental. That means it’s this year or bust should the Rangers go after him.

If we assume the cost for JT Miller is an A prospect (Nils Lundkvist), a B prospect (Vitali Kravtsov), and a 1st round pick, then we should assume the cost for Forsberg is roughly the same, perhaps without the B prospect since it’s a pure rental scenario. This assumes that Nashville can’t re-sign him too, which all signs point to them wanting to keep him around. They are, after all, in a playoff race and not exactly a bad team.

Should the Rangers pursue Filip Forsberg in this situation? I think he’d be a great fit right now, but it seems the timing is off, doesn’t it? He’d be a great fit if the Rangers didn’t need 1-2 additional pieces to solidify the roster. Specifically, right wing is still a huge question mark, and Forsberg doesn’t address that. This one doesn’t seem to pass the sniff test. At least not at the current moment.