Detailed Biography

Peter Mattias "Foppa" Forsberg is a Swedish professional ice hockey centre, currently playing for Modo Hockey in Elitserien.

His 19-year professional career includes 13 years in the National Hockey League , where he won two Stanley Cups and numerous individual honors. Internationally, with the Swedish national team, he won two World Championships and two Olympic hockey gold medals. He is a member of the Triple Gold Club and the only Swede of the three players who have won the three competitions twice. As of the end of the 2008–09 NHL season, he is the fourth-highest all-time Swedish point scorer in the NHL regular season. In each of his 12 NHL seasons, Forsberg has never had a negative plus-minus rating, totaling an overall career rating of plus 242.

Early and personal life

Peter Forsberg is the son of Kent Forsberg, who was the former coach for Modo Hockey and the Swedish national team. Peter Forsberg has been coached by his father for a significant part of his career: the two teamed up from 1991 to 1994 in Modo Hockey, later for the national team in the 1996 World Cup of Hockey, then for the 1998 Olympic ice hockey tournament, and for the 1998 World Championship, which Sweden won. They also own a Swedish development company named Forspro Company. The company co-funded the Modo Hockey team's new Swedbank Arena in Örnsköldsvik.

Independently of his father, Peter Forsberg also owns a company—Pforce AB—that imports and markets Crocs shoes in his native Sweden since 2005. Forsberg is also interested in harness racing, and owns or has owned a few racing horses during the years, including Tsar d' Inverne and Adrian Chip. He has also invested money in a golf course named Veckefjärdens Golf Club in his native Örnsköldsvik.

Forsberg and fellow Swede Markus Näslund founded Icebreakers, an organization that brings together professional ice hockey players for exhibition games to raise money for charities.

Forsberg's idol while growing up was Håkan Loob. Peter also follows Tottenham Hotspur F.C.

Playing career

1989–1994

Forsberg debuted in 1989 with the junior squad of Modo Hockey, the club of his hometown Örnsköldsvik. During the course of the season, he debuted with the senior team that played 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 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 "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 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. On June 30, 1992, 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 Eric 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, and Forsberg won the Golden Puck for best Swedish ice hockey player of the year and the Golden Helmet 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 in 1979. In a five game series again against Malmö, Forsberg scored in overtime in game two 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.

During the summer of 1994, Forsberg decided to play in the NHL after he signed a contract with the Quebec Nordiques in October 1993. The contract 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.

1995–2004

After the lockout ended, the 1994–95 NHL season began on January 21, 1995. That was the day Forsberg made his NHL debut against the Philadelphia Flyers where he recorded his first NHL assist. His first NHL goal came six days later against the Buffalo Sabres. His rookie season in the NHL was very good—Forsberg was able to combine a good offensive performance with responsibility in defense 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 for 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 of 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 season and was elected 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 August 10, 1995.

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 standings in team and fifth overall in the league in the regular season and post season. During game two of the Stanley Cup Finals against the Florida Panthers, Forsberg scored three goals in a period and became the sixth player in NHL history to do so. Not only was the 1995–96 NHL season Forsberg's highest scoring season, 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 his only fight in 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 .

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. 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 underdog Minnesota Wild in the playoffs.

2004–present

Peter Forsberg returned to Modo Hockey during the 2004–05 NHL lockout. He had signed a one-year contract even before the confirmation of the cancellation of the 2004–05 NHL season. Coached by his father and together with NHL players Henrik and Daniel Sedin and Markus Näslund, Forsberg played only 33 of Modo's 50 regular season games because of surgery he had after dislocating his left wrist and breaking a bone in the hand. He scored 39 points and finished eleventh in the scoring leaders race, tied with the eighth. Modo finished sixth in the regular season and lost in the first round of the playoffs against Färjestads BK in a six game series in which Forsberg only played one game.

After the end of the season and with the return of the NHL, Forsberg returned to North America. The implementation of a salary cap was a blow to the Colorado Avalanche, one of the highest spenders of the league, who were forced to let go of Forsberg and Adam Foote to save room in the cap for Joe Sakic and Rob Blake. He refused a four-year, $13.5 million offer from the Avalanche before signing a two-year, $11.5 million contract with the Philadelphia Flyers.

Before the season start, he had surgery to remove a bursa sac from his right ankle. He debuted with the Flyers on October 5 in a game against the New York Rangers. He scored two assists in his first game and 12 in his first six. Despite only playing 60 games, mostly because of a groin injury, he scored 75 points and the Flyers lost in the first round of the playoffs against the Buffalo Sabres. Peter Forsberg with the Nashville Predators playing against the San Jose Sharks in 2007.

After the end of the season, he had surgery on his right ankle and foot to correct deformities because of an abnormal arch that caused him to stretch his ankle tendons. He was expected to have the same surgery done on his left foot and to be sidelined until January, but a doctor considered he did not need it and he was ready to play by the start of the 2006–07 NHL season. On September 14, 2006, Forsberg became the Flyers' fifteenth captain in team history, after Keith Primeau retired. The season was troubled for him: as the Flyers were having their worst season ever, Forsberg had not fully recovered from his right foot problems and had doubts about his future. With his contract ending at the end of the season and with no commitment on Forsberg's part to signing a new contract or to retire, on February 15, 12 days before the trade deadline, the Flyers traded him to the Nashville Predators, in exchange for Ryan Parent, Scottie Upshall, and Nashville's first and third round 2007 picks to boost Nashville's playoff run. At the Predators' last regular season game, Forsberg returned to Denver for the first time since leaving the Colorado Avalanche. He assisted on another former Avalanche player Paul Kariya's game winning goal that eliminated any chances the Avalanche had of progressing to the playoffs, the first time ever the franchise had failed to do so since moving to Colorado. The Predators lost in the first round of the playoffs against the San Jose Sharks, with Forsberg scoring four points in the five game series. Forsberg had an average of less than one point per game in the regular season for the first time in his career and for the second time in the playoffs.

For most of the 2007–08 season, Forsberg was an unrestricted free agent and said that he would not return to the NHL. He had surgery on his foot and was waiting to see if he was in condition to play. He said that in Europe, he would only play for Modo Hockey, and in the NHL he would probably play for one of his former three clubs. On February 25, 2008, Forsberg signed a contract with the Colorado Avalanche for the rest of the 2007–08 season.

Forsberg's first game back with the Avalanche was on March 4, 2008, home at the Pepsi Center against the Vancouver Canucks. However, he was sidelined after just three games on March 9, 2008, due to a groin injury sustained in the game on March 8. He was listed by the club as day-to-day. On April 1, against Vancouver, he scored his first goal of the season in Colorado's penultimate regular season game.

Coming back from a 10 month break Forsberg was first among all NHL players in terms of average-points-per-game during the 2007–08 regular season. With an average of 1.56 PPG in 9 games he placed himself on top over the scoring league winner Alexander Ovechkin with the second highest average of 1.37 PPG, although Ovechkin played all 82 games.

International play

Played for Sweden in: 1992 World Championships
1993 World Championships
1994 Winter Olympics
1996 World Cup of Hockey
1998 Winter Olympics
1998 World Championships
2003 World Championships
2004 World Cup of Hockey
2004 World Championships
2006 Winter Olympics

Peter Forsberg has played in 13 competitions for the Swedish national senior team and three competitions as a junior. After debuting at the European Junior Ice Hockey Championships in 1991, he played in the World Junior Championships in 1992 where scored 11 points in seven games as Sweden won silver medal. He became a World Champion in 1992, when Sweden won the Ice Hockey World Championships. In 1994, he led the Swedes to a gold medal in the Winter Olympics, scoring the winning goal of the penalty shootout that decided the gold medal game. Forsberg's "one hand, slide in" goal, a move which he borrowed from retired Swedish ice hockey player Kent Nilsson, has become popular in today's NHL. Finnish forward Jussi Jokinen is known for pulling off the move numerous times in a season; some hockey commentators call it "The Paralyzer" but Forsberg claims he has never heard it called that before. An image of Forsberg scoring this goal was later placed on a Swedish postage stamp, making him the first hockey player to be placed on a Swedish stamp. The second player and so far only one besides Forsberg to be printed on a Swedish postage stamp is former Toronto Maple Leafs captain Mats Sundin. Forsberg's famous move on Canadian goaltender Corey Hirsch has become so iconic in hockey that efforts to reproduce it inevitably draw references to Forsberg from hockey commentators.

In October 2007, it was announced that Forsberg would be playing for the Swedish national team in the Karjala Cup, though he was forced to withdraw from the team after just one practice session after experiencing continued problems with his foot. In November 2009, he did however play for Sweden in said tournament, including his 100th game for the Swedish national team against Russia on November 7.

Career statistics

Regular season and playoffs

International

All-Star Games

Style of play

Peter Forsberg is a star forward, with "outstanding" playmaking skills and "great vision" who "possesses an excellent combination of skill and physical play". He was once considered by some as the best two-way player in the world. He is capable of combining physical play and hits with skill and is responsible offensively and defensively. Said to have a "Wayne Gretzky-like" passing touch, he has been complimented by journalists and players for making the players around him better.

Injury proneness

Forsberg's style of play has led him to deal with several severe injuries. It has been said in the press that he is injury prone because he did not soften his game as he got older. In 13 seasons as an NHL player, Forsberg missed an entire regular season and played in less than 90% of regular season games in seven other seasons.

Legacy

At the end of the 2008–09 NHL season, Peter Forsberg was the fourth-highest all-time Swedish point scorer in the NHL regular season.

Records

Awards

NHL

Elitserien

International

Other awards

Awards information taken from NHL.com.