|
|
|
Peter Forsberg was originally selected by the Flyers with the sixth overall pick in the 1991 Entry Draft, but one year later his rights were part of a mega-trade that brought phenom Eric Lindros to Philly.
|
Forsberg, Flyers meet
after crossroads
By Larry Wigge | NHL.com columnist
Dec. 19, 2005
Their eyes met. They were face-to-face like they had been so many times in the line of battle on the ice over the past nine seasons.
"We both just stood there," Peter Forsberg remembered.
"If we had met on the ice, I probably wouldn't have known whether to hit him or not," Derian Hatcher said. "As it turned out, we both got these goofy-looking smiles on our faces and shook hands."
Nearly every year for the past decade, the Colorado Avalanche and Dallas Stars were in fierce competition for the top spots in the Western Conference -- and they were no-holds-barred when it came to the battles between Forsberg, a gifted but rugged center for the Avalanche, and Hatcher, a pure heavyweight defenseman who, along with defense partner Richard Matvichuk, was always matched up against the opponent's best line. To Hatcher and Forsberg, this was classic hand-to-hand combat. Nothing was easy. Nor should it be.
And now, by virtue of a wide-open free-agent setup in the National Hockey League beginning August 1, these two long-time adversaries ... enemies ... were now teammates with the Philadelphia Flyers.
"That wasn't a reason why I chose Philadelphia ... just a perk that came along with the deal," Forsberg laughed the other night after he contributed two assists in a 5-2 victory at St. Louis. "I'll never forget how I got hammered by Hatcher and Matvichuk in losing two Game 7's to Dallas in the Western Conference finals in 1999 and 2000. It seemed like there was a collision waiting to happen on every inch of the ice when those two teams played one another."
There are ironies galore, however, with Peter Forsberg leaving the Avalanche after helping that team win Stanley Cups in 1996 and 2001 and combine with Joe Sakic and Adam Foote and others to win their division title in eight consecutive seasons before losing out to the Vancouver Canucks in 2003-04 on the final day of the season.
The greatest irony is that way back in 1991, Forsberg was originally selected by Russ Farwell and the Flyers with the sixth overall pick in that year's Entry Draft. One year later, his rights were a key part -- at least the part that has haunted most Flyers' fans the most -- of a mega-trade that brought Eric Lindros from Quebec/Colorado to the Flyers in what has become a what-might-have-been sub-story in Philadelphia for so many years, especially since the Flyers only made it to the Stanley Cup finals one time with Lindros in the lineup, compared to the two Cups won by Forsberg, before Lindros' nasty departure from Philadelphia in the summer of 2001.
"I was so young then," Forsberg said, rolling his eyes when I brought up the what-if scenario. "I remember putting a Flyers' sweater to have my photo taken for a trading card company, but it was only a couple of minutes that I really thought about being with the Flyers. As it turned out, I was just one of a lot of guys involved in that trade. I started my NHL career with Quebec and grew up in Colorado. All I have is great memories there -- and all I want to do now is play for the Flyers, not play hypothetical games with history. I'll let you do that."
Irony No. 2 is that Flyers coach Ken Hitchcock was an assistant coach in Philadelphia at the time of the blockbuster trade. Then, he got his first NHL head-coaching assignment in Dallas and had the tough job of trying to game-plan against Forsberg and the Avs.
"Eric was a once-in-a-lifetime player," Hitchcock remembers. "He was big, strong, tough and productive. Everyone thought Lindros was going to be a Hall of Famer, the best player since Mario Lemieux to come into the NHL. No one knew how good a player Peter would be, because, with him playing over in Sweden, we couldn't see that fiery competitiveness that came along with the skill level that everyone talked about."
By the fourth year that Lindros spent in Philadelphia, Eric had won an NHL scoring title and had finally gotten the Flyers into the playoffs in consecutive years after they were a non-playoff teams for five straight seasons. It was that year that Forsberg helped the Avalanche win the Stanley Cup and really heat up the what-if game.
"I always thought that Peter was the complete package," Hitchcock said. "He could control a game with his skating, shooting and playmaking skills and if you tried to play it physical with him he'd dish it right back. You know something, he reminded me of what Mark Messier did for so many years with the Oilers and Rangers -- big, strong, skilled and really nasty to play against.
Flyers coach Ken Hitchcock comments on Peter Forsberg:
"I always thought that Peter was the complete package. He could control a game with his skating, shooting and playmaking skills, and if you tried to play it physical with him he'd dish it right back."
|
"When I was in Dallas, we always felt we could only contain Peter a little -- and the best way to beat him was to completely take his wingers away from him. Even then, there were nights when he was so good he could beat you by himself."
"Hitch said what?" Hatcher laughed. "That's not what he told us, when he sent us out there shift after shift against Peter. He said, 'Hit him whenever we could. And, when he'd hit us back, then hit him again.' It was like a street fight out there some nights."
The Flyers getting Forsberg wasn't by design. General manager Bobby Clarke's free-agent makeover was supposed to start and stop with the August 1 signings of heavyweight defensemen Hatcher and Mike Rathje. In fact, Hitchcock remembers Clarke telling him that afternoon that the team was done.
Two days later, however, Clarke became intrigued, when Forsberg was still unsigned. At that point, Clarke called Don Baizley, Peter's agent, and was told they had been negotiating with Vancouver, Chicago, Pittsburgh and the Rangers and that one of those teams was very serious.
On a whim, Clarke asked Baizley if Peter might consider playing for the Flyers. So the agent called Forsberg in Sweden -- and heard a voice that was a gleefully affirmative. At that point, Baizley gave Clarke three hours to get the OK from Flyers owner Ed Snider on a two-year, $11.5 million deal and figure out a way to clear $2.74 million from their roster to get under the $39 million salary cap. The Flyers went ahead with the deal. It was later the next day that they traded Jeremy Roenick to the Los Angeles Kings to get under the cap.
"My first priority was to play on a team that would contend for the Stanley Cup," Forsberg told me. "Second, I wanted to play on the East Coast. I didn't want to have to go back to Denver and play against so many old friends or against a team like Vancouver or Detroit, which was such a fierce rival of the Avs. (Canucks star winger and long-time Swedish linemate) Markus Naslund wanted us to play together somewhere. But when he re-signed in Vancouver, I wasn't sure where I'd go."
No to Vancouver because Peter could not see himself playing for one of the Avs' biggest rivals. And Pittsburgh and the Rangers and Chicago really weren't considered Cup contenders. So ... maybe ... Clarke's call came just in time for Forsberg.
"It wasn't easy leaving Colorado," Forsberg said. "But I understood the situation. They had Rob Blake and Joe Sakic under contract and they kind of ran out of room under the salary cap. I was a little nervous coming here and how this was going to go. I did know about the tradition. I also knew the Flyers had a couple of great, young prospects (former first-round picks Mike Richards and Jeff Carter) coming in, plus a whole lot of big players who could help make life easier for me.
"It's easy to say now that this move has been like a new life for me."
It didn't hurt that Forsberg's deft playmaking helped him hit it off right away with long-time Flyers winger Simon Gagne, who had a league-leading 23 goals in his first 27 games before being sidelined for a little more than a week with an injury. Then consider that Gagne's previous season-high for goals was 33 in 2001-02. Now, you see just how much Peter makes players around him better.
"Peter has ice water in his veins," Hitchcock said. "When most people are nervous, he's calm. And that's an incredible quality."
Forsberg is one of the toughest players in the NHL to play against, especially when he gets that same kind of look in his eyes -- that steely glare that so often is associated with Mark Messier. Players and coaches alike have told me Peter is like an agitator who is still cool-headed enough to be able to control the emotion of the game that is swirling around him.
|
"Peter is the best all-around player
in the NHL, bar none."
-- Kings center Jeremy Roenick
|
"Peter is the best all-around player in the NHL, bar none," Kings center Jeremy Roenick has told me many times. "He's a competitor. He's the ultimate warrior. His hands are electric. He's one of the smartest players on the ice -- he knows where everybody is. He always makes the right play, and he even makes the play you don't think he can make.
"He's so fast on his feet and so powerful. And he's mean. The guy is so talented, he's disgusting to watch."
In other words, he's a coach's dream. The more crucial the time in a game or a series, the tougher he gets. Sometimes you wonder if he is not able to flip on a switch in his mind and be at a different level than everyone else.
"When Peter is on the ice, you always have to be aware of where he is because he'll make you pay a price," Vancouver Canucks defenseman Mattias Ohlund told me. "Going into the playoffs, if I had a chance to pick any forward in the game to be on my team my team, I'd pick him."
I asked St. Louis Blues center Doug Weight whether life was easier now that he had to face Forsberg head-up just once this season, rather than the usual three to six or seven times counting the playoffs.
"Well, now, we've got Joe Thornton to think about," Weight responded. "Seriously, Peter is simply a phenomenal player, competitor. He never takes a night off."
I teased Weight with Hitchcock's comparison of facing Forsberg is not unlike having to face Mark Messier at his best, with all the skill, size, strength and toughness.
"You know, that's not too far off, although Mess was faster and flashier with the puck than Peter is," Weight said. "The thing about them that is so close: There aren't many players who want the puck in the physical areas of the ice like they do.
"When you battled with Mess and he didn't like the way you played him, he'd just turn around and use his stick on you. In the same scenario, Peter would lay his shoulder into you. They would both extract their own revenge, one way or another."
Forsberg is clearly a Swedish legend -- having a stamp minted with him scoring the game-winning goal in the 1994 Olympics' shootout against Canada. Some say he's a reluctant superstar. Not so -- just a little shy around the cameras.
Forsberg, 32, has an ability to visualize things quickly and make his move -- on the ice and off. I have learned over the years that he can analyze a play in a key game with the best of them.
"It's funny, but about four years ago I felt I had just about had enough of this game," he said. "It was in training camp of 2001. I had just missed the last couple of rounds of playoffs with a ruptured spleen. Then I had to have surgery on both my ankles and didn't play at all in the 2001-02 season, before coming back for the playoffs.
"I was kind of balancing a lot of ideas around in my head. I knew I wanted to someday go home to Sweden and play again for MoDo. Injuries were coming fast and furious for me. I had a lot of decisions to make. I was at a crossroads in my life. I got my chance to go back to play in Sweden during the lockout. My zest for the game was back. I was refreshed and came back this year with a clear mind and focus -- and have enjoyed myself in Philadelphia."
Full circle from Flyers draft choice back in 1991 to finally playing for this team?
Forsberg shook his head when I brought up the subject again and shrugged.
"Just look at it as a crossroads in both of our lives," he said. "They went left and sent me right. How's that?"
Forsberg paused and chuckled a bit at how this what-if scene continued to come up, before saying this: "This time ... I made sure I got a no-trade clause in the deal, so they can't get rid of me."
| 
