“He was dangerous. He was a dangerous guy. You’d watch him play, and you knew the switch was on and you knew someone was in trouble.” – Color analyst Peter McNabb
Retired Colorado Avalanche center Peter Forsberg will ever be one of our greats — in fact, one of his nicknames
is
Peter the Great. Though he has chosen not to continue with Avalanche management as Patrick Roy, Joe Sakic and Adam Foote have — he serves as a general manager for his old Swedish club, Modo Hockey — he is still greatly revered in Colorado and amongst Avalanche fans all over. Indeed, I daresay anyone during his career has great respect for Forsberg.
This weekend Forsberg is getting inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame after an impressive career. In honor of our beloved Foppa, Mile High Sticking will be devoting most of this HHOF weekend to Peter Forsberg (with a side of Rob Blake — the Avs were blessed for awhile).
A lot of Youtube videos are dedicated to Peter Forsberg’s greatness. Here are some of the best.
Inexplicably, Peter the Great did not wear burgundy and blue his entire career. That means some of the highlights in the following tribute video showcase him in his Philadelphia Flyers uniform. Even so, his moves are wonderful to watch.
This Sportsnet Feature video not only includes Forsberg highlights, it has interviews with Foppa and Swedish players about what he means to them. It also includes footage from his draft and rookie year.
One of the moments for which Forsberg is best known happened on June 6, 1996. Forsberg scored a hat trick in a Stanley Cup game against the Florida Panthers.
This video is just a lark, a comparison of two greats from the 1990s, 2000s — Forsberg and Jaromir Jagr.
To get the tears started, here’s a video in Forsberg’s native Swedish recorded on his retirement.
Get your tissues out for the official Peter Forsberg retirement video.
Peter Forsberg has a lot of fans in the Avs Nation, and one of the greatest is our current captain, Gabriel Landeskog. In a passing of the guard, Landeskog’s first season as an Avalanche came the year after Forsberg’s last, abbreviated season. On the night Peter Forsberg’s number was retired at Pepsi Center, Landeskog talked about his great admiration for Forsberg, his longtime idol.
The Hockey Hall of Fame is in Toronto, of course, and the Maple Leafs are hosting the Pittsburgh Penguins for the Hockey Hall of Fame Game.