Peter Forsberg Retiring

It is finally official…well at least it will be in a few hours. Peter Forsberg is going to announce his retirement from the National Hockey League today. Forsberg signed a contract last week and played 2 games for the Avalanche on the road before deciding that he couldn't keep up with the current NHL level of play. In his 2 games, Forsberg had no points, was a -4 and had 4 penalty minutes.

Personally, I didn't get to see either game because I was working, so I can't really comment on Forsberg's play. When he first announced that he was coming to practice with the Avs, I thought he might just play one game and then retire as an Av. Little did I know, that was pretty accurate. I think right now a lot of people are really disappointed and even irritated that Forsberg couldn't play just one more tonight in front of Avalanche fans at Pepsi Center.

For years Forsberg has been plagued by an issue with his foot. He has had multiple surgeries in an attempt to fix the injury and return to the NHL. His last attempt at a return was at the end of the 2007-08 season and Forsberg played in 9 games where he had 1 goal and 13 assists. At that time, Forsberg was bothered by a groin injury due to his foot not sitting right in his skates. After that Forsberg played some overseas in Sweden, but the two games he played for the Avs this year have been the only NHL time he has seen.

In 708 career regular season games Forsberg had a total of 249 goals and 636 assists. In 151 playoff games Forsberg had 64 goals and 107 assists. He played most of his career for the Colorado Avalanche/Quebec Nordiques franchise. After the NHL lockout season, Forsberg played most of 2 season for the Philadelphia Flyers and then played 17 games for the Nashville Predators at the end of the 2006-07 season.

While the end of Forsberg's NHL career has been filled with frustration and disappointment for both himself and the fans, there will always be all the spectacular years that Forsberg for the Avalanche. He was here during the glory days with Joe Sakic and Patrick Roy, winning both Stanley Cups with the team. When he was healthy and even when he wasn't 100%, Forsberg could skate circles around other players and dazzle everyone with his moves.

Peter Forsberg will retire from the NHL today after playing in just over 700 games in the regular season and 151 in the playoffs. He put up great numbers throughout his career and was always a fun player to watch (although probably not much fun for opponents to play against). His passion for the game of hockey drove him to try one last return to the NHL, but he decided it wasn't going to work out as the pace of today's game is not the same as when he last played a full season. It's disappointing that Forsberg didn't hang on for one more game and play in front of the home crowd one last time, but he made the decision not to play when he felt he wasn't at the right level. Thanks for everything Peter!