![]() ![]() ![]() Before his short-lived comeback season in 2011, Forsberg never had a negative plus-minus rating, giving him an overall career rating of +238. As of the end of the 2017–18 season, he is the seventh-highest all-time Swedish point scorer in the NHL regular season. His 19-year professional career includes 13 years in the National Hockey League (NHL), where he won two Stanley Cups with the Colorado Avalanche, as well as several individual honors including the Hart Memorial Trophy in 2003. In 2017 Forsberg was named one of the ' 100 Greatest NHL Players' in history. Although his career was shortened by persistent injuries, as of 2021, he stands ninth all-time in career points-per-game and fifth all-time in career assists-per-game in the NHL, only behind Wayne Gretzky, Mario Lemieux, Bobby Orr, and Connor McDavid. Nicknamed " Peter the Great" and " Foppa", Forsberg was known for his on-ice vision and physical play, and is considered one of the greatest players of all time. To do it, they’ll need more than just Forsberg.īut they’d better hope he’s worth it, too.Peter Mattias Forsberg ( pronounced ( listen) born 20 July 1973) is a Swedish former professional ice hockey player and former assistant general manager of Modo Hockey. They couldn’t dump Forsberg and his salary if they wanted. I don’t think they ever were truly rebuilding, but they surely aren’t now. He bet on himself in a big season, and he won.Ĭredit Forsberg for this, too: He forced the Predators to pick a lane. But what else could Poile have done? You gonna trade the best goal-scorer in franchise history in the middle of what at the time was the best offensive season in franchise history?Įven as his history suggests the stats aren’t duplicatable, you can’t fault Forsberg’s gumption and poise. It’s too easy to look back – after a lopsided playoff sweep by the eventual champs in Colorado – and criticize the decision to keep Forsberg through the trade deadline and all this production. Maybe his expiring contract was just a coincidence as he produced the best season of his career, scoring a franchise-record 42 goals (33 had been his previous best), totaling 84 points and shooting 18.6% (he’s a career 12.9% shooter). It’s no longer unrealized potential with Forsberg. Nothing says he couldn’t become one of the all-time greats for a franchise that doesn’t have many. Forsberg is still improving as a player and only now reaching his prime. If Forsberg becomes another overpriced, underperforming forward on a team that already has Ryan Johansen and Matt Duchene (though, in fairness, Dutchy had a great 2021-22, too) each burning through $8 million a year, it could be a long decade in Smashville. Much as you’d like to view Forsberg as a sure thing, he’s not. People who know hockey have looked at the Predators for years and pointed to Forsberg as their most talented forward by miles. When a player surpasses a franchise’s all-time mark for goals – as Forsberg did last season at age 27 – it seems reasonable to move mountains to keep him. The Predators haven’t ever had a goal-scorer as prolific. Is Forsberg an elite player? It’s a difficult question. Saros was just a finalist for the Vezina Trophy. Josi just barely missed out on his second Norris Trophy. Who had a problem with the Predators handing captain Roman Josi more than $9 million a year? Last year’s extension for goalie Juuse Saros, while much cheaper, was similarly a no-brainer. It would be for any team.Ī flat-salary-cap era in the NHL hasn’t been conducive for these just-give-him-whatever-he-wants contract extensions, but certain players still get – and deserve - them. Such a deal is an enormous gamble by the Predators. Whether the Predators win anything of substance between now and then will have much to do with whether his past season was for real and not a contract-year outlier in an otherwise good – but not as it could have been – playing career. The reality of Forsberg's dealįorsberg will be nearly 36 when this deal expires. You can be happy about holding serve, but you’re not going to celebrate it. David Poile could hem and haw and play chicken with the negotiations to exercise a sense of control, but by the second week of July, he didn’t have much of a choice.Īs much as this sweltering Summer of Forsberg has made the Predators sweat, the story simply couldn’t end with him leaving. ![]()
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