End of An Era

It's the end of an era for the Colorado Avalanche. Not officially for about 12 more hours, but Avs' Captain Adam Foote will be announcing his retirement from the National Hockey League. This will mark the end of an era in Avalanche history. Adam Foote is the last remaining player on the Avalanche who also played for the Quebec Nordiques. Foote is also the last player on the roster who won both Stanley Cups in 1996 and 2001 with the Avs.

Foote's retirement shouldn't come as a surprise to any Avalanche fans. Last year, it was uncertain whether or not Foote would want to play another season. In addition to all the injuries he has suffered this season, it was pretty clear he was going to be hanging up his skates. Also, if you play close enough attention things, prior to today's news that Foote would be making an announcement tomorrow morning, a story came out that Foote was going to be coaching a youth hockey team next season. It would be pretty much impossible to coach a youth team and still play in the NHL at the same time.

Adam Foote spent most of his 19 seasons in the NHL with the Quebec/Colorado franchise and only played a short amount of time with the Columbus Blue Jackets after the lockout. Foote was with the Avs for both Stanley Cup victories and also won an Olympic gold medal with Team Canada in 2002. After the retirement of long-time Avalanche Captain Joe Sakic, Foote took over as captain of the Avalanche.

Despite announcing his retirement at the end of the season tomorrow morning, Foote will try to play his final game in front of the home fans on Sunday, April 10th. He has missed many games lately due to a foot injury, but wants to play in the final game of the season. Whether or not he's able to suit up and play in the season finale, it's a classy move on Foote's part to at least attempt to play one more time in front of the home crowd. After a disappointing, injury-riddled season for the Avs, it would be nice to see our captain play one last time before his retirement.

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!