Dan Hinote was Peter Forsberg’s best friend in his final years with the Avalanche. The two were roommates on road trips, and Hinote lived at Forsberg’s house when the two played for Modo of the Swedish Elite League during the NHL lockout.
Whether or not Hinote was being diplomatic because his employer remains the Avalanche, the scrappy winger said all is not lost despite the departures of Forsberg and Adam Foote this week.
“It’s unfortunate that under the current system that we’re not able to keep these kinds of guys,” Hinote said. “But if you’re going to look on the bright side, it’s a little injection for some of the boys to go out and stick it to people who might underestimate us now.
“It’ll give a lot of guys more incentive to have to step up their games. If we can catch teams thinking, ‘Well, maybe they’re not so good anymore,’ we’ll make them realize differently. We still have a great team, a great core of guys.”
That said, Hinote was not about to say the Avalanche is a better team than five days ago, when the team still had exclusive negotiating rights to Forsberg and Foote.
“This is one of the detriments of a cap system, keeping a team like Colorado together.”
Hinote said he had been in contact with Forsberg throughout the summer, and said he did his best trying to talk him out of leaving.
“But in the end, it’s his decision,” Hinote said. “I know, as a person and a player, the last thing he wanted to do was leave Colorado. If it was at all possible, I have a strong feeling that if he could stay in Colorado, he would have. I’m very confident our management and our owner did everything they could to keep those guys in the city.”
Hinote called Forsberg “a warrior” of a player who cared deeply about the Denver community. The two, along with Foote, were active in many charitable activities in Colorado.
“He’s a great guy, a great player and a better friend,” Hinote said. “Obviously, I’ll miss sharing the same dressing room with him and Adam.”
