The Nashville Predators' season came to an end about a week ago, following a first round sweep at the hands of the Colorado Avalanche.

The Predators were outscored by a 21-9 margin in the opening round and had a hard time keeping up with the Avalanche. While being without Juuse Saros for the series was a massive loss, the Predators were really outmatched and it does leave some questions about where they go from here.

Nashville's attention will now turn to the offseason, with Filip Fosberg's contract situation as a major area of uncertainty. He's a pending unrestricted free agent and will receive a major pay raise from his current $6 million cap hit. Forsberg has spent his entire NHL playing career with the Predators to this point since being acquired as a prospect from the Washington Capitals back in 2013, playing 566 career regular season games with Nashville. He's only 27 years old, meaning he should still be in his prime for a number of years before there's fear of a decline in his performance. He has great puck control and agility, can score goals, and would provide a huge boost for whoever he's with next season.

This season, Forsberg set career highs in both goals and points, which will only drive up his price. He managed 42 goals and 84 points in 69 games this year, a pace of 50 goals and 100 points per 82 games. Given Nashville's status as a playoff team, it wasn't surprising to see them hold onto him at the deadline rather than trying to get assets back in a trade but now as a result, the Predators have some decisions to make.

After the Predators were eliminated, Forsberg did express interest in returning to Nashville but didn't make any commitments to re-signing. It's also not quite that simple of a situation for Nashville.

The Predators are in a spot where a lot of their core players, like Roman Josi, Mattias Ekholm, Matt Duchene and Ryan Johansen are all in their late 20s and early 30s. However, you could argue that as a team, the Predators are now past the point of having the best chance to compete with their current group, which came around 2017 and 2018.

While the Predators do have some cap space heading into next season, you have to wonder whether committing to more expensive, long-term deals is the right call. It's hard to imagine the Predators taking a major step next season and if the team throws money at Forsberg to keep him when they may not be strong enough to legitimately contend anyways, it may come back to hurt in a few years when a lot of the players mentioned above start to decline.

Forsberg is going to inevitably get an even more expensive contract based on the numbers he posted this season, as opposed to if he had maintained stats that were more in-line with what he'd posted in recent years. If he were to sign a maximum-term deal, it wouldn't be surprising to see him get up to between $8 million and $9 million per year. If Nashville does shell out the money to keep Forsberg though, can they realistically count on him posting those numbers going forward? The answer is almost surely no.

He can typically be counted on for a pace of about 30 goals and 65 points per 82 games, which, while impressive, isn't comparable to his stats from this season. Forsberg had by far the highest shooting percentage of his career this season at 18.6 per cent, compared to a career shooting percentage of 12.9 per cent and a previous career-high shooting percentage of 14.5 per cent in the 2017-18 season. This means his goal totals are realistically pretty unsustainable and we'll probably see his production drop back to a more normal level next season.

That said, if the Predators let Forsberg walk at this point, it leaves a massive hole in their forward group. The likes of Duchene, and Johansen bounced back this year but could absolutely regress back to their production levels from a year or two ago, leaving Nashville without much of a chance at competing. They could always use their cap space to bring in other free agents but with Forsberg as one of the top free agents on the market for this summer, it's hard to imagine the Predators losing Forsberg but still managing to improve next season.

So it'll be an interesting offseason for the Predators. They have cap space but it's a matter of how much they're willing to spend. If they do let Forsberg walk and sign elsewhere, they have tons of cap room but will have a tough time replacing him. Either way, Filip Fosberg is going to get paid and the Predators need to determine where they go from here and what will be best for the organization in the years to come.