Lingering Effects

Although not unexpected, it is still jarring, the Thursday night trade which shipped team-captain-cum-franchise-savior Peter Forsberg to the Nashville Predators for two fresh bodies and a pair of hypotheticals.

However you slice it, the Flyers gave up the biggest reason to keep watching the team this season for four smaller reasons to keep interest in future years. They also gave up the player who made it easier for the rest of the team, injured or not, to go out and win games. Clearly, the Flyers skated like drunken zombies through two periods Thursday against Toronto because of the trade announcement and it showed. Clearly, they had to do everything they could to reverse that performance on Saturday, and they did by winning in New York.

However, the true effects of losing Forsberg for the remainder of the schedule are to be seen, and can only be one of two things: total disillusion that despite all best efforts and hard work, it won't be enough to win more than a handful of games; a closing of the ranks and all-f0r-one attitude in the face of continuing adversity which may thrust the Flyers into the role of spoiler for some playoff wannabes.

In Thursday's second-period intermission press conference given by GM Paul Holmgren, owner Ed Snider and Forsberg himself, a few things jumped right off the TV screen:

• Holmgren's stiff, jaw-clenching denial that Forsberg agreed to re-sign with the Flyers in the off-season as a condition for letting the Flyers deal him. Quoth the GM: "That would be tampering."
• His curious refusal to name any other team that might have been able to work a deal with the Flyers, choosing to do so "in fairness to the other clubs."
  
• Ed Snider's flat denial that the Forsberg deal signified any kind of downturn for the franchise by tersely venting "We don't understand what 'rebuilding' is."
• His dragging out of the old injury excuse as a reason for the club's misfortune, and his admittance that the Flyers are "not far away" from being a contender again with a few key signings.
• Forsberg shying away from any indication he'll play anywhere beyond the end of this season saying he "wouldn't commit to another year anywhere unless [his] foot feels right," and hinting he'd have no problem hanging it up and returning to Sweden if his skate issue is not properly resolved.

Given that Rule Number One of a European player's psychology is that it's all about comfort, I'd say Forsberg's priority, short of the skate issue, is to sign with the Flyers. He repeated that like a mantra over and over since the trade rumors began to swirl in late January, and he's got no reason to even tell a little white lie about that to an organization which atoned for its original mistake by bringing him into the fold two summers ago.

Plus, as he was clearly indecisive about wanting to leave in the first place, then forced to go by management which deemed every day he was indecisive as detrimental to trade talks, Forsberg won't be all that comfortable playing out the string as part of a powerful Nashville lineup. He looked very tentative in his first game Saturday night against Minnesota (a 4-1 Wild victory). Sure, he'll contribute to what figures to be a deep Preds playoff run, but after the trauma of being traded for the first time in his career is compounded by his departure under duress, it might take until the summer before he adjusts mentally - just in time to rediscover how much the Flyers may want (or need) him back.

Holmgren's refusal to mention the "other clubs" who wished to trade for Forsberg seemed to accomplish two goals - taking the heat off the front office if the beat writers deemed another potential deal as benefitting the Flyers more, and to keep the heat off Peter himself if cornered and pressed on where he would have liked to play if not Nashville. It was traumatizing enough for him to leave when he did; he didn't need the added pressure of a dozen microphones or tape recorders shoved in his face asking if he'd like to be in Carolina, Dallas, or wherever.

Also, regardless of whether the Flyers want to bring Forsberg back, whether he really will consider it, or whether he can find a skate boot in all the universe that will keep his foot and ankle stable, Snider is clearly setting the media and the fans up for another signing bonanza in the summer. In addition to Forsberg, Chris Drury, Sheldon Souray and Paul Kariya are three big names on the unrestricted market and would be killer additions to a lineup the organization feels needs only a few veteran voices to back-up a "stellar" young core.
Taken in the context of something like the Curt Schilling deal in 2000, the Forsberg-for-four deal on Thursday appears to be a move to reshape a roster with small future payouts.

But why would you need two players and two draft picks unless you're willing to deal one or more in the future for better gains? It's what the Flyers have done for years under the old system, and it's not likely that they won't try to work a steal under the new system. And why wouldn't they settle? Because to the Flyers, "the future" only means two years down the road, and "the future" also means constant reloading with roster tweaks to continue the illusion of a perennially-contending team.

Unfortunately, if the club chooses to view things through more practical eyes, re-signing an injury-prone Forsberg wouldn't really be a smart move. There are other players less talented, but built for the long-haul with more luck and longevity than Forsberg has displayed throughout his career. If nothing else, though, the Flyers have been an excessively loyal franchise, willing to give those who gave hearts and body parts to win, unlimited opportunity.