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KRIEGER: Forsberg worth the risk

By Dave Krieger, Rocky Mountain News (Contact)

Published February 25, 2008 at 10:13 p.m.

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It is that rarest of trade deadline deals, the big move with no downside. Peter Forsberg's return can only help the Avs.

For one thing, they're not giving up anything. In the cold view through the green eyeshade, Forsberg is an asset that does not cost them an asset in return, like manna from heaven.

Even if he is not the hockey player we remember - and we shall see about that soon enough - by enabling memories of the Avs' glory days he just might reignite a little passion in a hockey town bored with the pedestrian pursuit of the last playoff spot.

"I feel great coming back, I have to say that," came his voice over a conference call from Sweden on Monday. "Nothing bad about the other teams; I had a good time there. But definitely when you come in as a 20-year-old, playing with one franchise for 10 years, of course you have some feelings for that."

He played his return to the NHL like a dash up the ice, feinting, head faking, ending up exactly where he belonged. Colorado was a no-brainer. The only question was whether the past would let everyone admit it.

"I think we offer the risk that's the smallest because he established such a great legacy here that no matter what happens moving forward, that legacy's going to stand," general manager Francois Giguere said.

Translation: Even if Forsberg's troublesome foot fails him, there will be no recriminations here. Fans will be grateful to see him again, even if only for the chance to say thanks for the memories.

We may never know if all those reports about Foppa and Philly were fact or fancy. He declined to talk about how close he came to selecting another suitor. But we do know he got over the awkward split from the Avs three years ago, when they didn't have enough money under the new salary cap to make him a reasonable offer to stay.

"To be honest, I knew the reason why it happened like it did," he said. "The organization just wanted to win so badly before, so a few guys had too much salary there. And I understood that they had (Joe) Sakic and (Rob) Blake under contract, so there was no hard feelings from me ever and we went separate ways as good friends. There was no hard feelings from my side at all."

So the issue now is just how healthy he is. As recently as a week ago, he wasn't ready to commit to an NHL return. Reports from Sweden suggested he was still looking for a skate he could keep on for an entire workout. I asked if he found one.

"Well, it was never really the skate," he said. "It's just kind of the foot that's been the problem. I did have a problem with my foot and it's been corrected. Of course, everybody's got custom skates in the league, but there's nothing really specific about it. I've got a wide foot, but nothing really like that.

"It was just the foot that was making a weird thing in the skate and it's been corrected, so that's why I'm positive to be able to come back and to play at the level I want to be playing at. But it's not the skate; it was the foot that was the problem."

It's hard to reconcile this claim that the problem is resolved with his inability to commit to a comeback just a week ago. But that's the Thomas Wolfe question. Some headline writer somewhere is going to say Forsberg has proved Wolfe wrong, that you can go home again.

Of course, Wolfe was not talking about the physical act of returning. Anyone with a plane ticket can do that. Wolfe was talking about recapturing the past. Nothing, he suggested, is ever the same.

Shannon Sharpe, for example. He returned to the Broncos at the end of his career but could not recapture the glory of the Super Bowl years.

Forsberg's homecoming may produce a similar result. But the joy of his return for hockey fans will be in the discovery. It doesn't have to be the same as it was. It only has to be better than it is. Joel Quenneville suggested he will skate on a line with Sakic or Paul Stastny once he is ready. Is there a hockey fan in Denver who would not pay to watch that?

Peter Forsberg is a special hockey player who has a special relationship with this town. Sport may be a business, but it can also be a bond, a sentiment. We are allowed to celebrate the return of a favorite son and to let everything else take care of itself.

Bringing back Forsberg is not a forlorn attempt to recapture the past. It is the hard-headed addition of a unique hockey asset with all the upside in the world and no downside at all.

Comments

  • February 26, 2008

    2:31 a.m.

    Suggest removal

    mrfxx writes:

    Either the opposition takes him seriously based on past play which will free up other players - or they will assume he isn't able to play as well as in the past & ignore the man who once brought the team back from a 5-1 deficit to win 7-5 (not to mention being willing to lay it all on the line a week after a splenectomy in the 2001 Stanley Cup run). I can't be the only fan who recalls that he made every line he was on more effective (anybody else recall the AMP line? Hejduk & Tanguay never looked better - and haven't looked anywhere near as good without Forsberg). Seems if he can stay healthy enough to even play 10-20 minutes a game he will make a difference.

    Welcome back Peter the Great!

  • February 27, 2008

    12:45 a.m.

    Suggest removal

    trekers writes:

    YES There is a GOD, watching out for us all; especially the AVs. Welcome back Foppa & Footer! If anything can help us make the playoffs it's the addition of these two from the past. We don't expect the same level of play but the emotional lift will make up for that. Welcome HOME, you never should have left!