Nashville Predators: Can Filip Forsberg reach the 40-goal mark?

With Filip Forsberg jumping out to a hot start, can he become the first Nashville Predators player to reach the 40-goal mark?

With Filip Forsberg getting out to a hot start with four goals in just six games, it has me, and other fans, wondering if he can reach the 40-goal mark this season for the Nashville Predators.

Adam Vingan, who works for The Athletic Nashville, tweeted this last night, sparking the idea for this article.

The Nashville Predators have had some great players throughout their history, but are the only franchise to never have a player to reach the 40-goal mark, according to Vingan.

Jason Arnott and Forsberg are tied with the most goals in a season with 33 goals. Paul Kariya, Steve Sullivan, James Neal, and Viktor Arvidsson have all come close as well, scoring 31 goals in a year.

Although the Predators have been successful and have had great players throughout their history, it’s very surprising to see that they’ve never had a goal scorer reach 40 goals. When you look at the Predators history, they have never really been a team that has a standout goal scorer. 13 different players had 10 or more goals for the Predators last season, so they have more of a balanced scoring attack rather than one or two guys that stick out.

They don’t usually have guys like Auston Matthews or Alex Ovechkin who are around the 40-goal mark but instead have 15 different skaters that are a threat to score a goal night in and night out.

Can he reach the mark?

Can Forsberg reach the 40-goal mark? The hot start he has jumped out to early in the season points to him possibly being the first 40-goal scorer in Predators history.

I personally believe Forsberg could’ve reached the 40-goal mark last season, but he ended up suffering an upper-body injury that caused him to sit out a few weeks. Despite only playing 67 games last season, he was still second on the team in goals with 26.

Years before, he was close to reaching the mark with 33 goals during the 2015-2016 season and reached 31 goals the next season.

Through just six games, Forsberg has accumulated six points, including four goals. He’s scored three goals in the Predators last two games, scoring two against the New York Islanders on Saturday and scoring another one on Monday night against the Minnesota Wild on a breakaway.

At this pace, which is four goals every six games, Forsberg is set to score around 54 goals. We all know the odds of that happening are very slim, but it’s fine to dream.

The JoFA line has clicked so far early this season combining for 17 points through six games, which is a big reason on why the Predators are 5-1-0 on the season. If the JoFA line continues this great play, I wouldn’t be surprised to see Forsberg at the 40-goal mark.

Honestly, I could see Arvidsson making a case for 40 goals as well, so that situation is not out of the picture either. He has three goals through four games, including a two-goal game against the Islanders last week.

It will be interesting to see how the rest of the season plays out for Forsberg, but I personally believe he is making a case early in the season that he can reach the 40-goal mark for the first time in his career and for the first time in Nashville Predators history.