After Peter Forsberg, who might be either the Avalanche’s Godot or Hamlet, depending on your literary preferences or flexibility in drawing analogies, stepped on the Pepsi Center ice Saturday morning at 7:39, the throng this time was one Denver TV photojournalist, two Swedish reporters . . . and me.
For the most part, we could hear the pucks drop as Forsberg skated with David Koci, Peter Mueller, Ryan O’Reilly and Avalanche assistant coaches Steve Konowalchuk and Sylvain Lefebvre.
Five hours later, the Avalanche put on another desultory performance in a 3-0 loss to the Anaheim Ducks — so desultory, in fact, that with a four- game road trip upcoming and a playoff spot starting to slip away, it was obvious that this team requires a jump-start.
Could that be Foppa to the rescue? Actually, as this slide continues, the positive for those who love stirring comeback stories is that if Forsberg does sign with Colorado and helps rally the franchise back into a playoff spot again, it would add to the magnitude of his legend.
Forsberg wasn’t made available to the media Saturday, which wasn’t all that upsetting if both the questions and especially his responses were going to be similar to those of the last two weeks. When the Avalanche later confirmed that there would be no announcement made about Forsberg on Saturday, that shifted the focus to today, in conjunction with Colorado’s 9 a.m. practice at the Family Sports Center and then its departure for Phoenix.
“I do think it’s a good time for our team to get on the road, maybe get away from some distractions and just be together again,” Avalanche coach Joe Sacco said.
I asked Sacco if that was a reference to the circus atmosphere involving Forsberg — an atmosphere that’s certainly not the Swede’s fault — in Denver.
“Not at all, not at all,” Sacco said. “This is obviously right within our team. I’m not saying there’s any distractions, I’m just saying that when you get on the road, you’re away from things maybe that you normally don’t have to worry about during the course of the day. But that’s not one of them.”
After the Saturday loss, a disconsolate TJ Galiardi scoffed at the notion the Avalanche might be distracted by the wait for Forsberg. “No, that has nothing to do with it,” the young forward said. “I don’t think anyone in here is thinking about that. If he ends up playing for us, that would be great. If he doesn’t, this is our team in here.”
Said veteran winger Milan Hejduk, Forsberg’s longtime teammate: “If it’s yes, it’s great. If not, it’s not the end of the road. It’s more like a bonus right now. I don’t see it as any distraction at all.”
At one point during the morning session, Sacco stepped onto the bench and watched Forsberg, who again did a lot of one-on-one work with O’Reilly, 17 years his junior. “It stands the same as I say every day,” Sacco said. “I see improvement every day. I think he looks better and better every time he steps on the ice. I think his conditioning is getting better. Now it’s up to Peter. It depends on how his foot feels and where he’s at.”
In recent days, Forsberg has led most of us to draw the inference that he would make up his mind and sign a contract or say “no go” this weekend. That makes perfect sense: He can’t travel with the team to Phoenix and on the road trip without being under contract. While this seems wildly impractical for several reasons, he could travel on his own and meet the team in each city — but then he might as well be a sportswriter. I suppose it’s possible if he’s determined to keep a decision on hold while participating in practices and morning skates. But it still seems likely the announcement will come today — one way or the other.
He again looked good Saturday morning, within the parameters of what could be done in such a limited workout. Now, though, the clock is running. Colorado has 30 games remaining, and that would be down to 26 if he returns to the lineup for the Feb. 14 home game against Calgary. And if this team doesn’t start looking more like the energetic Avalanche that won six straight in mid-December than a reprise of the awful 2008-09 team that finished last in the conference, it almost becomes: Hey, Foppa, why bother?
SPOTLIGHT ON
Eric Staal, C, Hurricanes
It’s fair to say that most who attended or covered the All-Star Game festivities last weekend in Raleigh, N.C., came way with additional respect for the oldest of the NHL’s Staal brothers.
It’s not as if the Hurricanes’ captain was underexposed or unknown before, given he played for a Stanley Cup champion five years ago, in his second year in the league, has been one of the top forwards in the league for several years, and was on the gold-medal Canadian team at the 2010 Olympics.
But what stood out last weekend was his poised demeanor and grace in handling the roles as one of the name-supplying captains for the All-Star Game’s two teams, and as what amounted to the “host” for the rest of the players in his home market.
Staal, 26, surely knows that many of his Canadian countrymen still believe most North Carolina residents don’t know the color of the blue line, and during seasons past, that Prince George, B.C., is more “worthy” of an NHL franchise than is the “Triangle.” He has done a good job of speaking up for Raleigh-Durham-Chapel Hill as a hockey market in the past, and he did it again last weekend while serving in the captain’s role.
After Team Lidstrom’s 11-10 victory over Team Staal last Sunday, Staal said of those attending the game in Raleigh: “I think they were probably surprised with the response that the community had given this event. I think we felt the energy, the buildup coming into this weekend. . . . The fans have been excited, and then they delivered.
“I’m very proud of our fans and how they showed their support for this event and came out in throngs and were tailgating and doing all the things we know they do. And I thought it was pretty awesome, and I’m sure the guys thought the same. It was exciting to be just a part of it with them and enjoy the whole experience.”
