Peter Forsberg
Peter Mattias Forsberg is a Swedish former professional ice hockey player and former assistant general manager of Modo Hockey. Nicknamed "Peter the Great" and "Foppa", Forsberg was known for his on-ice vision and physical play, and is considered one of the greatest players of all time. Although his career was shortened by persistent injuries, as of 2024, he stands eighth all-time in career points-per-game and fifth all-time in career assists-per-game in the NHL, behind only Wayne Gretzky, Mario Lemieux, Bobby Orr, and Connor McDavid. In 2017 Forsberg was named one of the '100 Greatest NHL Players' in history.
His 19-year professional career includes 13 years in the National Hockey League, where he won two Stanley Cups with the Colorado Avalanche, as well as several individual honors including the Hart Memorial Trophy in 2003. As of the end of the 2017–18 season, he is the seventh-highest all-time Swedish point scorer in the NHL regular season. Before his short-lived comeback season in 2011, Forsberg never had a negative plus-minus rating, giving him an overall career rating of +238.
Representing Sweden in international play, Forsberg competed in four Winter Olympics, two World Cups and five World Championships, as well as one European Junior Championship and two World Junior Championships, where he holds a scoring record of 31 points in seven games that some say may never be broken. He won four gold medals with Sweden in his career, winning titles at the 1992 and 1998 World Championships and the 1994 and 2006 Winter Olympics. Combined with his two Stanley Cup championships in NHL play, he is a member of the Triple Gold Club and the only Swede who has won each of the three competitions twice. In 2013, he was inducted to the IIHF Hall of Fame, and in 2014, he was elected into the Hockey Hall of Fame.
Early life
Peter Forsberg was born in Örnsköldsvik, Sweden, the son of Kent Forsberg, a former coach of Modo Hockey and the Swedish national team. Forsberg was coached by his father for a significant part of his career: the two teamed up from 1991 to 1994 with Modo and later for the national team in the 1996 World Cup, 1998 Olympics and 1998 World Championship, which Sweden won.Forsberg played minor hockey alongside childhood friend Markus Näslund, who was also born in Örnsköldsvik. Born ten days apart, the two were well-acquainted while playing on separate youth teams before joining on the regional Ångermanland all-star team for the under-16 TV-pucken national championship in 1988. They went on to compete alongside each other at the junior and men's level for both Modo Hockey and the Swedish national team. Forsberg and Näslund also attended high school together and had summer jobs at the age of 18 with the same electrical company that employed both Näslund's mother and Forsberg's father.
Growing up, Forsberg's idol was Elitserien and NHL star Håkan Loob.
Playing career
Modo Hockey (1989–1994)
Forsberg debuted in 1990 with the junior squad of Modo Hockey, the club in his hometown Örnsköldsvik. During the course of the season, he debuted with the senior team in the Elitserien, the highest-level professional ice hockey league in Sweden, and scored an assist in his only game. In 1990–91, he scored 102 points in 39 games with the junior team and 17 points in 23 games with the senior team.At the end of the season, Forsberg was drafted sixth overall by the Philadelphia Flyers in the 1991 NHL Entry Draft, the first European player taken that year. The draft pick was surprising because Forsberg was expected to be selected later in the draft. The Hockey News had ranked Forsberg as the 25th best draft prospect in its 1991 draft preview, saying he was "a solid second rounder who could move into the first." The pick was criticized by the Philadelphia media, prompting Flyers' General Manager Russ Farwell and the team's chief European scout Inge Hammarström to reply that time would prove them right.
Eric Lindros was the main attraction of the draft. He was drafted first overall by the Quebec Nordiques but refused to sign a contract and, on advice from his mother, began a holdout that lasted over a year. Forsberg was included in a deal that sent five players, two first-round draft picks, and US$15 million to the Quebec Nordiques in exchange for Lindros. In hindsight, the Lindros trade is seen as one of the most one-sided deals in sports history, and the deal became a major foundation for the Nordiques/Avalanche franchise's success over the next decade.
Forsberg remained in Sweden, playing for Modo for the following three years. In 1993, the team was eliminated in the playoffs quarterfinals against Malmö, but Forsberg won the Guldpucken for Player of the Year and the Guldhjälmen for Most Valuable Player of the Elitserien, an award decided by the players. He won both prizes again in 1994 when, after barely making the playoffs, he led his team to their first final since winning the Elitserien playoffs in 1979. In a five-game series, again against Malmö, Forsberg scored in overtime in Game 2 to put his team one win away from the title. However, he suffered from the flu and Modo lost the remaining games of the series and the title. By this point, Forsberg was thought to be the best player in the world outside the NHL. After losing the deciding game 3–1, Forsberg expressed his frustration on the ice, first by breaking his stick and then in an interview where he criticised the game's referee, Börje Johansson, for giving Malmö many power plays, resulting in their first two goals, and then increasing the tolerance level. Forsberg's words that he wanted to give Börje a hit has become popular in Swedish ice hockey areas. Börje later denied calling the game in favor of Malmö and stated that Forsberg hadn't given him a hit.
During the summer of 1994, Forsberg decided to play in the NHL after previously signing a contract with the Quebec Nordiques in October 1993. It was a four-year deal worth $6.5 million, including $4.275 million given as a signing bonus. However, a lockout delayed his NHL debut until 1995, and Forsberg returned to Modo to play 11 more games before going back to North America.
Quebec Nordiques / Colorado Avalanche (1995–2004)
After the lockout ended, the 1994–95 NHL season began on January 21, 1995. That day, Forsberg made his NHL debut against the Philadelphia Flyers, the team that drafted him, and recorded his first NHL assist. His first NHL goal came six days later against the Buffalo Sabres. His rookie season in the NHL was impressive—Forsberg was able to combine a good offensive performance with responsibility on defence as well as physical play. He scored 50 points in 47 games, including a 14-game run in which he scored 26 points, and was second in scoring on the Nordiques, behind Joe Sakic. He missed only one game, due to the flu. The Nordiques won the Northeast Division and had the second-best record in the league in the regular season, but lost in the first playoff round against the New York Rangers. At the end of the season, Forsberg won the Calder Memorial Trophy for best rookie in the league and was selected to the NHL All-Rookie Team.On July 1, 1995, it became official that the Nordiques' owner Marcel Aubut had sold the team to the COMSAT Entertainment Group, which moved the franchise to Denver, Colorado. The franchise was presented as the Colorado Avalanche on 10 August 1995. It turned out Forsberg had scored the last goal in Nordiques history in Game 6 against the Rangers.
Forsberg was on a team that included center and captain Joe Sakic, defenceman Adam Foote and, in the near future, Vezina and Conn Smythe Trophy winner Patrick Roy. In its first year in Denver, the Avalanche won the Stanley Cup after finishing the regular season with the second-best league record and winning the Pacific Division. Forsberg scored 116 points in the regular season and 21 more in the playoffs. Forsberg finished second in points on the team and fifth overall in the league in the regular and post-season. During Game 2 of the Stanley Cup Finals against the Florida Panthers, Forsberg became the sixth player in NHL history to score three goals in one period. Not only was the 1995–96 NHL season Forsberg's highest-scoring year, but it would also be the only NHL season in which he played in all his team's games.
In the 1996–97 season, Forsberg played in only 65 regular-season games and 14 of Colorado's 17 playoff games due to a bruised thigh. But he recorded 86 points as Colorado earned its first Presidents' Trophy and the third consecutive division title for the franchise. On March 16, 1997, Forsberg participated in the only fight of his NHL career against Detroit Red Wings winger Martin Lapointe. The fight occurred 10 days before the famous Red Wings–Avalanche brawl. In the playoffs, Colorado lost in the Conference Finals against Detroit; Forsberg scored 17 points.
The same year, Forsberg was chosen to be on the cover of NHL 98, a video game made by EA Sports.
In 2001, the Avalanche won their second Stanley Cup. After the Avalanche defeated the Los Angeles Kings in the second round of the playoffs, Forsberg had to have his spleen removed and could not play again in the playoffs. Based on doctors' advice and his overall deteriorated health, he decided to take the following season off to recuperate. He returned for the playoffs, though, and he again led the playoffs in scoring with 27 points, but his team lost to the Detroit Red Wings in the Western Conference finals.
2002–03 was a banner year for Forsberg. He centered the highly productive "AMP line" with wingers Alex Tanguay and Milan Hejduk as part of the Colorado Avalanche's "one-two punch" offensive plan led by centers Forsberg and Joe Sakic. Much healthier and more rested than he had been in the previous few years, he went on to lead the league with 106 points, for which he was awarded the Art Ross Trophy, as well as the Hart Memorial Trophy for league MVP. The Avalanche lost to the Minnesota Wild in the playoffs.