Edmonton, Alberta – From Wednesday to Friday, Joe Sakic occupied a corner locker in the visitors’ dressing room of Rexall Place. Saturday morning, that same locker had a piece of blue, silver and yellow cardboard affixed that read: “21 – Forsberg.”
“How is Joe doing?” Peter Forsberg asked a reporter after taking part in a morning skate with the Nashville Predators, the team he was traded to last month. “I guess I’ll be seeing him in a couple weeks.”
Forsberg, a former Avalanche star who came to the Predators after a turbulent season with the Philadelphia Flyers, admits he is thinking a fair amount about April 7. The date the Predators will be at the Pepsi Center, and, if he is healthy, it will be the first time Forsberg will play in Denver as a visiting player.
“There’s still a bunch of games before then. But, yeah, I’ve thought about it. It’ll be very different for me,” he said. “It could be a really big game for both teams, too.”
It’s possible Forsberg could play a part in the Avalanche missing the playoffs for the first time in team history. It will be the next-to-last game of the regular season for the Avs, who are five points back of the Calgary Flames, with eight games to go, in the battle for the eighth and final Western Conference playoff spot.
The Predators lead Anaheim by one point for the most points in the Western Conference, despite having lost four of their previous five games. If the Avs can sneak into the eighth spot, there would be a decent chance their first-round opponent would be Forsberg and the Predators.
“Yes, that would be very weird,” Forsberg said. “We’ll have to see what happens. We want to get that top spot. I know the Avs are on a big run right now. They’re getting hot at a good time, it seems like. I didn’t think I’d be playing against them this year, because in Philly we didn’t even have them on the schedule. But I’m here now, and I’m enjoying it.”
The Predators could have helped out the Avs with a win against Calgary on Thursday night, but lost in overtime. Forsberg returned recently from an undisclosed upper- body injury, just the latest in a long line of ailments that have plagued his otherwise marvelous career. Forsberg said he feels 100 percent again, and isn’t bothered anymore by a skate problem, where his foot wouldn’t fit comfortably and hindered his play with the Flyers.
“The foot never actually hurt. I just couldn’t get the skate to fit, and so it moved around too much,” Forsberg said. “But that’s fixed now. I’m just really looking forward to the playoffs with this team, and hopefully we can go far.”
Forsberg doesn’t really like being called a rental player – but admits that ultimately could be the correct terminology with the Predators. He isn’t sure about anything beyond this season, whether he will re-sign with Nashville as a potential unrestricted free agent or another team – or retire.
“Right now, I just have to look at it like this is my team, and nothing more,” he said. “It’s a great bunch of guys here, and right now we’re in the top spot in the conference. So, there’s not much not to like here.
“But I don’t know what’s going to happen. I didn’t think I’d be anywhere but Philly this year, but now I’m here. Things can change fast in the game, and right now I’m just trying to enjoy this and see what happens later.”
COUNTDOWN’S ON
The Avalanche’s 4-3 shootout loss to the Oilers on Friday left it five points behind Calgary with eight games left, two of them against the Flames:
Today at Vancouver
Tuesday Vancouver
Thursday at Phoenix
Saturday Minnesota
April 3 at Calgary
April 5 at Vancouver
April 7 Nashville
April 8 Calgary
Adrian Dater can be reached at 303-954-1360 or adater@denverpost.com.
