What if the Washington Capitals never traded Filip Forsberg?

Despite a busy offseason, let's take a quick look back. What if the Washington Capitals never traded Filip Forsberg?

Back in 2012, the Capitals decided to trade Forsberg to the Nashville Predators in exchange for Martin Erat and Michael Latta. Forsberg has fit extremely well with the Predators and has become one of their greatest players in franchise history.

Erat played just 62 games with the Capitals, where he had 27 points. Latta played 113 games with the Capitals, scoring four goals and adding 13 assists for 17 points. Forsberg, on the other hand, has scored 358 goals and added 398 assists for 756 points through 862 career games.

At the time, the Capitals were focused on making a playoff push, hence why they wanted to add Erat to their forward group in hopes of bolstering their depth. The Predators were willing to try and add a future asset in exchange, and it has panned out extremely well for them.

If the Capitals didn't trade Forsberg to the Predators, they may have ended up missing the playoffs if they weren't able to add another strong player to their lineup for their playoff run, and they may have been forced into a rebuild.

The Predators, on the other hand, may have stayed in the middle of the pack and may never have had any deep playoff runs.

While the Capitals ended up having a strong run at the end of the 2012-13 season with Erat joining their team, the Predators still ultimately won the trade at the end of the day.

The Capitals ended up winning a Stanley Cup in 2018, without Erat or Forsberg on their roster, while the Predators have only made a Stanley Cup Final appearance. While that trade and some of their future success may not have much correlation, the Capitals may have had even more success had they decided to hang onto Forsberg for just a bit longer.

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