Hockey: Peter Forsberg with one last attempt at a comeback

[Carsomyr]

As most NHL fans might know, Peter Forsberg has had issues with injuries for the bigger part of his career. Especially his foot has been a major problem, and constant operations to try to fix his foot-problem has led to him barely playing during these two past seasons.

But despite being far from 100%, he had 19 points in 16 NHL games in the 07/08 season, and last year he had 3 points in 3 games in the SEL. It's amazing how he has just been able to step in and instantly produce like that, and it's a damn shame that he hasn't been allowed an injury-free career.

Anyway, he only played 3 games last season before his foot injury forced him to give up again, but he is now announcing one last attempt at a comeback after another operation on his foot back in May.

Yesterday Forsberg played his first game in almost a year (See attachments below), with his team "Ice Breakers" which consists of several NHL stars playing games to raise money for children in northern Sweden that suffer from various severe illnesses. Ice Breakers played the Danish national team and won 10-6, Forsberg having over 20 minutes of ice time (highest on the team) and 2 assists.

He said everything felt good, but pointed out that it was the same way last season, where he then started having more complications for every game he played. He is hopeful, however, that he will be back for real this time, but he says that it is the last attempt he will make.

He dreams of playing in the olympics one last time, but if everything goes well from now on it remains to be seen if he returns to the NHL, or if he plays in the Swedish Elite League this upcoming season. I personally think it would be kinda cool if he "did a Lemieux", returning to the NHL after several injury problems only to dominate. Maybe captaining the Avs now that Sakic has retired?

Regardless of if he succeeds or not, you gotta respect his love for the game. He has nothing left to prove, he has won pretty much everything a hockeyplayer can win. He could just have called it quits several years ago, but his love for the game pushes him to keep trying. I have a hell of a lot of respect for this guy with his refusal to give up. He is a role model and a hero to me, so I figured I'd just post this to update any Forsberg-fans on the other side of the pond, since I don't think the NA media has picked up on this yet.

Nick Lidstrom can go to hell, Forsberg is the greatest Swede to ever lace 'em up! 🙂

 

[InspectorJapp]

Forsberg is the greatest Swede to ever lace 'em up! 🙂

 

[poopies]

Nick Lidstrom can go to hell, Forsberg is the greatest Swede to ever lace 'em up!

Bullshit! Lidstrom has more talent in his one remaining testicle than Forsberg does in his entire vagina! Lidstrom isn't just the greatest Swede ever, he's the greatest European hockey player ever.

That being said, Peter Forsberg is the second greatest Swede ever, and I'm glad he's making a comeback, even though I hate him.

 

[Carsomyr]

@ InspectorJapp: Ok, fair enough. Salming was one heck of a player too, but I'm biased as hell! 😛

Forsberg dominated the ice like very few have done - and that's during the cluth, grab and slash era. Had he been in his prime and playing NOW, during the post-lockout "no touch era", he would have been damn near unstoppable. I would like to see Ovechkin, Malkin or Crosby rack up the same numbers they do now while continuously being hooked, grabbed, slashed, cross checked and having at least one opponent hanging on their back during the entire game. (Not ripping on the players above, they would have been great during any era, I'm just pointing out how much the game of today favours their - and Forsbergs - style of play.)

That said, Salming is a true legend as well. But to me, saying he's greater than Forsberg is like saying that Bobby Orr is greater than Lemieux or Gretzky. The latter has even been quoted to say that he considers Forsberg a top 10 forward of all time - although our friend Gretzky has said that about... probably like 50 players. LOL!

PS. A Norwegian who's into hockey? Sweet! 😀 I'm a big fan of Espen Knutsen, just so you know! 🙂

Bullshit! Lidstrom has more talent in his one remaining testicle than Forsberg does in his entire vagina! Lidstrom isn't just the greatest Swede ever, he's the greatest European hockey player ever.

That being said, Peter Forsberg is the second greatest Swede ever, and I'm glad he's making a comeback, even though I hate him.

I think someone is just as biased as I am. 😉 But I respect your opinion. I think Lidstrom has just been lucky to have avoided injuries throughout his career. "Foppa" wasn't so fortunate.

Greatest career? Lidstrom hands down.
Greatest player? I would argue Forsberg.

 

[poopies]

I think someone is just as biased as I am. 😉 But I respect your opinion. I think Lidstrom has just been lucky to have avoided injuries throughout his career. "Foppa" wasn't so fortunate.

Greatest career? Lidstrom hands down.
Greatest player? I would argue Forsberg.

Yeah, admittedly I am quite biased 🙂

I don't think Lidstrom has been lucky to avoid injuries. The style he plays, which focuses on strong positioning, allows him not to get hit frequently, and he isn't a big hitter himself. Forsberg liked to hit, and was the target of many hits himself, which likely shortened his career.

Anyway, I think it's an unfair comparison. The problem is that it's hard to decide who is better between a defensemen and a forward. It's like comparing Orr to Gretzky. They were both the best ever at their respective positions, but there really isn't a measuring stick to use to compare them. You can't use stats, because of injuries and because the best forwards will always score more than the best and most offensively minded defensemen (Except during the Bobby Orr era).

I guess the reason I choose Lidstrom is because he has been hands down the best defensemen of his era, in the pre and post lockout eras, while you can't really say the same about Forsberg as a forward. Of course, competition for the best forward position is a little steeper than at defense. Lidstrom has Scott Niedermeyer and Chris Pronger being the only opposition (and maybe Chelios and Borque, but they were more in their prime before Lidstrom). Meanwhile Forsberg has to compete with the likes of Sakic, Yzerman, Fedorov, Iginla, Bure, Selanne, Jagr, Modano, and many more. You could make a strong argument for either.

 

[Carsomyr]

Yeah, I agree it can be both difficult and unfair to compare players on different positions. Lidstrom is great, and has had an amazing career, but he does not have the physicality of say, Zdeno Chara (granted, not that he needs it or anything). Forsberg on the other hand is THE complete player regardless of position - great work ethics, very physical and likes to hit, good speed, amazing two-way game and hockey IQ, delivers epic passes, has a great shot (even though he doesn't use it nearly enough), an inspiring leader, unmatched desire to win, etc.

It's just his attitude that does it for me, I guess.

Update: Forsberg played another game, they won this one 10-6 as well. He says things are still feeling good, but he's trying to tone down the expectations from the media. They currently speculate that he might go back to play for Modo in the SEL with his childhood friend Markus Naslund. Granted, that would be pretty cool, but I think the media is taking it a bit too far right now with headlines such as "Forsberg has arisen from the dead". 🙄 Peter has a long road ahead of him still, and two assists in two games where your team has scored a total 20 goals isn't THAT impressive.

 

[CurtWild]

Damn shame....he would have gone down as one of the best ever if not for the injuries

 

[Carsomyr]

Damn shame....he would have gone down as one of the best ever if not for the injuries

*sigh* I know... 🙁 He still had one heck of a career despite being constantly injured, but I can't stop thinking of what could have been!

 

[Carsomyr]

*Bump*

Update-time! Forsberg has signed a week-long "try-out" contract with Modo in the Swedish Elite League. This means that he will play the first three games of the season with them.

The reason why it's such a short contract is because he still wants to leave the door open for playing in the NHL this season. I could post another update sometime next week when said SEL-games have been played, but for now here are some of Forsberg's own comments from a recent interview with the Swedish media:

"Modo has a couple of guys injured, so they asked if I wanted to play for them. Obviously it's great for me to play a couple of games and see how it feels, but I don't want to raise peoples expectations. I just don't have anything to lose at attempting to play."

About playing in the NHL:

"We'll see how things turn out in these first couple of games, but I don't want to close any doors at this time. Although, I don't have any really high expectations on myself. I don't know how things will turn out, but I admit that the foot does feel better than when I attempted a comeback last spring."

Fingers crossed, everyone?

 

[poopies]

The Avalanche could use him. They're gonna suuuuuuck!

 

[Carsomyr]

The Avalanche could use him. They're gonna suuuuuuck!

Agreed. XD

The media is speculating about either the Flyers or the Capitals though. They claim those are the teams highest on Forsberg's "wish-list", but they have no quote of him actually saying so, which makes me thing it's BS.

 

[poopies]

Agreed. XD

The media is speculating about either the Flyers or the Capitals though. They claim those are the teams highest on Forsberg's "wish-list", but they have no quote of him actually saying so, which makes me thing it's BS.

I don't see that happening. Philly is about 300k under the cap, meaning they'd have to drop a player to add him, and Washington is actually over the cap right now.

 

[Carsomyr]

I don't see that happening. Philly is about 300k under the cap, meaning they'd have to drop a player to add him, and Washington is actually over the cap right now.

I don't have much insight about Philly, but I'll take your word for it.

Regarding Washington though... they'd probably be able to fit him in under the cap if they manage to buy Nylander out from his contract. As I understand it, they are trying to do just that.

As for Forsberg himself, he played his first SEL-game of the season today. I don't have his ice-time or anything I'm afraid, but he scored a goal 5 minutes into the 1st period.