Former Avalanche star Peter Forsberg officially is trying to make another comeback to the NHL.
This morning, he signed a one-week contract with his longtime Swedish Elite League team, MODO, and will play in Thursday’s season-opening game against Frolunda.
The plan is this: Forsberg wants to play three games for MODO, then sign with an NHL team. Under NHL bylaws, he can play in Europe until right before the start of the NHL season, Oct. 1, but if he plays there beyond that date, he will be ineligible to play in the NHL in the regular season.
“I’ve made six or seven comebacks, so why not make another one? No,seriously, I’ve been working hard this summer and I have had a major surgery. That’s why I want to give it a try,” Forsberg told MODO’s official web site, www.modohockey.se.
Forsberg last played for the Colorado Avalanche in the 2008 playoffs.
He returned late in the 2007-08 regular season after missing most of the year with injuries to his right ankle. After returning to the Avs, he was plagued by groin injuries as well, requiring surgery. He did not play at all in the 2008-09 season, and many assumed he would retire.
But another surgery on his ankle this summer seemed to finally give him the relief he’s been looking for, and all indications from Sweden have been that he looks a lot like his old self again on the ice.
But Forsberg’s career has been characterized by lots of apparent returns to full health, only to fall prey to injury a short time later.
Still, if Forsberg is anywhere near the player he was, there should be a bunch of NHL teams interested in giving him another shot.
Adrian Dater: 303-954-1360 or adater@denverpost.com
(Swedish journalist Anders Ronmark contributed to this story)
