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Can Peter still be called “The Great”?

Peter Forsberg...Really?

Josh Martin

Editor

ait a minute...didn’t this guy .
already make a comeback to
the Colorado Avalanche three

years? Why yes, yes he did. And didn’t
he sign his contract later on in the season
so he wouldn’t have to play the full 82
games that the rest of his team would
have to endure? Yup.

It’s all looking so familiar with Peter
Forsberg agreeing to a second comeback
contract with his former team after not
playing in the NHL for a total of three
years. It’s even almost the exact same
circumstances except this time around the
Swede signed on February 6 with the Avs
rather than February 25...big difference
I know. That year when he signed with
the Av’s, Forsberg didn’t leave a lasting
impact and led his team into and then out
of the playoffs through a first round exit.
And since then the Avalanche have only
made a post-season appearance once with
yet another exit in the first round.

Now don’t get me wrong, I can list
the endless stats of how many points this
guy has racked up earlier in his career
or what impressive accomplishments he
has done and been rewarded with but it
all doesn’t matter. He’s 37 years old and
turning 38 this July, his time of being an
NHL powerhouse has come and gone.
Just look at Mats Sundin, who went
through a similar phase two years ago.
The former captain of the Toronto Maple

 

   

Leafs made his infamous comeback in
the 2008-09 season with the Canucks half
way through the year. In 41 games played
he racked up just 28 points which was a
career low if you take into account that
he was a point-per-game player and then

* to top it off he suffered a hip injury in

the first round of the playoffs. That’s not.
exactly the way you want to see yourself
retire.

Now I’m not saying that Peter
Forsberg is anything like Sundin but
sometimes you just have to call it a day.
Go out on a high note just like George
Costanza learned in that one episode of
Seinfeld. He has his Stanley Cup rings,
he has his name etched into the Art Ross
Trophy, and he has his fond memories
of all those years of playing hockey.
What more does he want? Injuries?

He’s got enough of those in his career
and certainly doesn’t need any more. If
Forsberg can somehow miraculously pull
his team out of the trenches and into the
battle of the playoffs for eighth spot or

higher by then end of the season then that’

would be one heck of an accomplishment
even if they don’t make it past the first
round.

It seems as though this is Colorado’s
desperate act of pulling something
together for their team. They are currently
seven points out of the playoffs at the
second bottom seed in the Western
Conference with a 25-23-6 record only
ahead of the dreaded Edmonton Oilers...
they would like any help they can get.
Whether or not Forsberg is the answer
remains to be seen.

 

 

By Tim Drake

eter Forsberg is not Brett Favre.
P=: get that straight right off the

bat. The comebacks may be similar,
but Favre is a once-great player who has
irrevocably tarnished his legacy. Forsberg
is a player who is trying to gain closure
on his.

With news that the 37-year old
Forsberg had inked a one-year, one
million dollar contract to return to the
Colorado Avalanche after two-and-a-half
years away from the NHL and a combined
26 Swedish Elite League games under his
belt in that period, there weren’t exactly
stratospheric expectations for the former
Hart Trophy recipient and Art Ross
scoring champion.

Now at first glance, it’s easy to
understand why so many people doubt
Forsberg’s comeback attempt. After all,
this is a guy whose well-documented
injury woes, which have persisted to this
day with a bothersome right foot ailment
that just won’t seem to subside, make
Sami Salo look like an Iron Man. This is
a player whose last truly impactful year
in the NHL, or any league for that matter,
was way back in 2002-03, the season
when Forsberg beat out Markus Naslund
for his aforementioned awards. In fact, in
the eight injury-riddled years he’s endured
since his MVP campaign, Forsberg has
failed every time to top 20 goals. He’s *
joining a very young team which has
slipped dramatically in recent months and
will struggle to slide into the playoffs.

So yes, there are plenty of
reasons why this won’t work, why
it shouldn’t work. But there’s also
something else to consider, and that’s that
even after all the injuries and the years
away from the NHL and the age, this is
still Peter freaking Forsberg we’re talking
about here. This is a guy who once upon a
time was perhaps the most perfect power
forward ever to play the game. A bull on
skates with pillow-soft hands, there were
few players, ever, who could dominate
and take control of a hockey game like
Forsberg during the back-half of the 90’s
and the early 00’s. A true powerhouse
who excelled in all facets of the game,
Forsberg, when his health permitted him,
could quite literally do it all.

At his peak, Forsberg was the
undisputed premier passer in the NHL.

Over the span of his career, there are only
three guys ahead of him in assists-per-
game: Gretzky, Lemieux and Orr. Pretty
decent company. Games were won and
rarely lost because of his incredible skill
at triumphing in puck battles. More than
anything else, he was among the very best
when it counted most.

A two-time Olympic gold medalist
with Sweden (including being the guy
who scored one of the most famous goals
in hockey history: the gold medal winning
shootout goal in 1994) who also picked up
a couple of Stanley Cup rings along the
way, Forsberg has proven that even after
coming off of the long-term injury list,
he’s still capable of making magic happen.

_ Who could forget the last time that
Colorado won the Cup? Forsberg, who
was sidelined all that season with a spleen
injury and didn’t play a single game
during the regular season, returned for the
playoffs and scored 27 points in 20 games
to lead the Avalanche to the Promised
Land. That has to be considered one of
the truly awe-inspiring performances by a
player in a single post-season. Ever.

And let’s set the record straight on
something else while we’re at it. Forsberg,
at 37, isn’t that old. No, he isn’t in his
prime anymore, but there are plenty
of elite players who have managed to
perform at remarkable levels at that age
and older. Heck, just look at Forsberg’s
old running mate in Denver, Joe Sakic,
who in 2006-07 and age 39 racked up 36
goals and 100 points without missing a
game.

Yes, those accomplishments all
happened in what is now basically another
age, and the clock has long been ticking
on Forsberg’s career and sure, his last
several comeback efforts have all been
less than successful, but are you telling
me that all of that is for nothing? That
Colorado, a team clearly in desperate need
of leadership and another impact player,
wouldn’t benefit from bringing a guy like
that in? Where’s the downside for them?
His salary isn’t going to break the bank,
they have tons of cap room and even
if nothing comes of Forsberg’s return,
nothing ventured, nothing gained. With or
without Forsberg, they’ll have to scratch
and claw their way into the playoffs, and
from this point of view, the with-Forsberg

' route is a lot brighter.

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