The gravelly voice on the other end of the line traveled from just outside Detroit late one late February afternoon.

A big part of David Legwand's heart, not to mention his legacy, took up permanent residence in Nashville long ago, though.

Legwand is 41 years old now — a doting father to his 12-year-old son and 9-year-old daughter, a youth hockey coach, an Ontario Hockey League team owner and a fan of the team that drafted him second overall in 1998.

For the first 15 years of his 17-year career, Legwand was busy becoming a record player for the expansion Predators. This season he has watched from afar as those records continue to fall — first Roman Josi breaking his assist record, and now Filip Forsberg doing the same to his goals record, which he did Saturday against the Toronto Maple Leafs with his 211th regular-season goal.

“Fil’s skill is elite, top-end," Legwand told The Tennessean. "He’s a goal scorer. He’s going to finish plays. He’s going to play the right way. That’s what he is and what he does. There’s no denying it."

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History in the making

There was no denying Forsberg was going to take Legwand's place in Predators history, either. And that's fine with Legwand.

"They're made to be broken," Legwand said of records. "Roman's been there for years now. He's a phenomenal hockey player and a phenomenal person. Same with Filip Forsberg."

While Forsberg and Legwand didn't overlap much, they did so long enough for Forsberg to collect his first NHL point on Legwand's 200th career goal on April 13, 2013.

Forsberg practically recited the moment on cue.

"That's cool, when you think about it," Forsberg said of playing with Legwand and assisting on his 200th goal. "It's been a fun ride, from that moment until now. Hopefully I'll break the record and try to make it as hard to break for upcoming people."

Forsberg and Legwand spent 160 minutes, 6 seconds together on the ice over 17 games from 2013-15. Forsberg has spent the time since carving out his own legacy among franchise greats.

"It was awesome," Forsberg said. "It was a little mind-blowing at the time, to come up and get to play with him. I wish I could have gotten more time with him, just learn a little bit more from him."

Forsberg had just come out of the Swedish second league, a 20-year-old rookie teamed up with a proven veteran. He had been acquired from the Washington Capitals in April 2013 for Martin Erat and Michael Latta, perhaps David Poile's best trade as Nashville's general manager.

“I’m sure we gave them crap," Legwand said of the veterans behavior toward younger players such as Forsberg and Josi. “They’re all grown up now."

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Fil up

Forsberg's play on the ice has been full-steam ahead this season, despite the potential distractions of contract extension negotiations and records.

He, along with Matt Duchene, both are on pace to break Viktor Arvidsson's single-season goal record of 34.

Don't think Forsberg doesn't think about those things. He's heard rumors ranging from Poile potentially trading him to how his contract negotiations are going. He's well aware of his place in history, even while he's making it.

"I guess when you hit a milestone," he said. "We hit 200 (goals) not long ago."

Don't think Predators coach John Hynes hasn't noticed that Forsberg has noticed these things and still is managing a career season.

"I give Filip a lot of credit," Hynes said. "He's been much more consistent, much more reliable. He helps drive the team."

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More scores for Forsberg?

Josi has been around for nearly every one of Forsberg's goals. Except for Ryan Johansen, Josi has assisted on more of them than anyone.

Out of 211, Josi had an easy favorite: The lacrosse-style goal Forsberg scored against the Edmonton Oilers, just the second NHL player to accomplish the feat.

"He's scored so many goals in his career," Josi said. "I think sometimes as a teammate, you're on the bench and you're like, 'How did he just do that?'

"He's just one of those guys. He's such a natural scorer. Everybody sees his shot and the goals he scores but he plays hard. He hits. He's more like a really, really, really skilled power forward. He can score from anywhere."

Retired Predators goalie Pekka Rinne also chose the same goal.

"It was sick," Rinne said. "It was unbelievable. One of the nicest goals I've seen live. ... Skilled individual and pulls that out in a game. It's so impressive."

"Hopefully he scores a lot more goals for us," Josi added.

That has been a season-long question.

One thing hasn't changed, though, Legwand said.

"He loved to shoot the puck," he said. "He wanted to shoot the puck every chance he got."

Still does, which has led Forsberg to the top of the Predators' record book.

Reach Paul Skrbina at pskrbina@tennessean.com and follow him on Twitter @PaulSkrbina.

This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: What David Legwand said about Filip Forsberg breaking his goals record