Forsberg is a Force No More

The time has come for the Flyers to trade Peter Forsberg. It has only been a year and a half, but the marriage is on the rocks. Last year when the Flyers signed Forsberg, electricity bubbled through the blood of hockey fans in this town. The NHL was returning from a year of being shut down and “puckheads” everywhere needed a reason to come back to the game. At the time, the passionate hopes of a city yearning for a championship were pinned on an orange and black jersey emblazoned with the number 21.

Unfortunately, Lord Stanley’s Cup has not made its way to Philadelphia. A major culprit in the misfortunes of the Flyers is “Peter the Great.” Hailed as possibly the best player in the league, Forsberg has rarely flashed brilliance associated with good, let alone great. Honestly, I’m not sure why such accolades have followed Forsberg. In his career, he’s had only two 100 point seasons and his career high in goals is only 30. To put that in perspective, Mike Knuble, Pavol Demitra, and Eric Daze all had career highs of 34 goals or more while scoring 30+goals more than once. It is doubtful that many have claimed any of them to be the greatest player in the world. Amazingly, only 6 other players(Sakic, Jagr, Lemieux, Thornton, Kariya, and Selanne) have scored 100 plus points in more than one season over the span of Forsberg’s career (not including this year when at least Crosby will join that club). These numbers can be inflated because it has been argued that the NHL is a little ridiculous for awarding assists to the last two players to touch the puck before the goal scorer. Can you imagine the number of assists John Stockton would have amassed if the NBA played by those rules?

An argument could be made that ailment after ailment has kept Forsberg from being an intrigal cog in the Flyers pursuit of the Cup, but the Flyers knew what they were getting when they signed him. Peter Forsberg has played in just one full season in his entire career. His second year in the league, “Forsberg the Injured” made it through an entire 82 game season. It is a little bit absurd to claim that someone is the greatest player in the league if they cannot stay on the ice. Flyers fans are also to blame. Many lined up to buy tickets and assumed that Forsberg would lead us to a world title. We purchased jerseys and cleared our calendars for June so that we could make it to the parade. We thought Bobby Clarke had redeemed himself for years of mistakes.

How foolish were we? We all lived through the Eric Lindros years. Lindros and Forsberg are essentially the same player. Their career stats are eerily similar, although Lindros has more goals and Forsberg has more assists. Both have been viewed admirably for their blends of physical play and scoring grace. Both players wore the "C" for the Flyers, perhaps one of the most sacred responsibilities in all of sports. But Lindros is viewed with dismay by many Philadelphia fans. He is seen as prima dona who wasn’t tough enough to hack it in our city. Why haven’t these same fans turned their backs on Forsberg? Is it because Forsberg was part of the trade the Flyers made to acquire Lindros? Is it because we feel he is here to atone for the trade made more than a decade ago?

For those counting at home, Lindros took us to one Stanley Cup Final. Forsberg’s total is zero and it will not change this year. Forsberg did win 2 Stanley Cups in Colorado, but he was surrounded with all-world players named Sakic, Roy, Bourque, Blake, and Foote. There is no reason for us to feel any differently towards Forsberg just because of those titles. Lindros flashed his strength, speed, and talent regularly while wearing the orange and black. Lindros also helped to make John LeClair one of the greatest goal scorers in franchise history. Forsberg, on the other hand, has rarely flashed his all-world talent in the time he has been here, and he certainly has not improved the games of anyone around him. Instead of getting us a hero, Bobby Clarke brought us another player who was on the downside of his career.

As I was working on this article, the Flyers held a press conference between the second and third periods of tonight’s game against the Toronto Maple Leafs. Peter Forsberg has packed his bags and is now hobbling on his injured foot to the city of Nashville. The Flyers received two former first-rounder picks who are still young, along with a first and third round pick in the 2007 draft. This move will also free up some room to sign two free agents in the off-season who can be plugged into the lineup every night. Maybe this move will help the Flyers fulfill their Stanly Cup wishes in another season or two. Maybe this is the deal that will atone for trading for Eric Lindros.

The Forsberg era has ended and the results were not pretty. I’m not sad to see Peter Forsberg go because he was never the player we thought we were getting. I’m just sad we didn’t trade him to the Dallas Stars for Eric Lindros.