Vancouver fans know that Thomas Gradin was out in Frolunda, Sweden (or some other city in Sweden) scouting Forsberg to see if he might be able to make a Mats Sundin-esque impact on the Canucks. Boston, Philadelphia and the Rangers also had scouts over there taking their own look.
It's nice Forsberg won't be here at any point in the season. When I think Forsberg, I remember the 2005-06 season when Forsberg was picked up by a Nashville team that was playing as good as anyone in the league at the time. Nashville gave up Scotty Upshall, Ryan Parent and picks to get the Swede, but it was seen at the time to be worth it. And what happened? First round exit in the playoffs.
The blame can't be placed solely on Forsberg, but it does bring back memories.
But when Canucks fans heard that management was taking a serious look at an aging Swede, we think automatically of the disaster that was Mats Sundin.
But was Sundin ever really that bad? He came in at the exact halfway point in the season and put up 28 points. If he would've signed at the beginning of the season and scored just under 60 points, would Canucks fans be upset? Probably not, except for the ones who care about money. The thing is, the money was there to be spent and there was nothing else they could've done with it. The money didn't matter.
Sure, Sundin's arrival came just around the same time the Canucks went on one of their worst losing streaks in franchise history. Then he look bad. Really bad.
Then, either Sundin found his touch again, or his abilities as a leader paid off, or a little bit of both, and the Canucks were the best team in the league and ended up winning the division with the recognition of being a serious Stanley Cup contender, especially with the first round sweep of St. Louis. It's just too bad that money couldn't be spent on David Backes. Nice try, Gillis.
And what would've happened if Sundin did sign at the beginning of the season? We can't be sure, but it's pretty obvious he would step right in as team captain. The Canucks didn't need a guy to step into captaincy when he's only going to be there for a maximum two seasons. Think Mark Messier.
So would Forsberg's arrival have been a good thing for the Canucks? It's tough to tell. But it is hard to tell anyone that the team would be any worse with his addition, especially with their recent rash of injuries.
We will, though, see what we might of missed in February when the Olympics roll into Vancouver, with a roster spot most definitely being held for Forsberg.
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