Alex Forsberg and the Humboldt Broncos are four wins away from a playoff championship in the Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League. For Forsberg's former team, the Prince George Cougars, nothing could be better than a Humboldt victory against the Yorkton Terriers and some dominating performances by the enigmatic winger.
Forsberg walked out on the Cougars during the Christmas break. In a February interview with Yahoo Sports columnist Kelly Friesen, he said he wasn't having fun anymore and found it "tough to not be on a team with a winning attitude."
Forsberg was hoping to be dealt to another Western Hockey League club in advance of the trade deadline, which fell on Jan. 10. But that didn't happen and the Cougars gave the Waldheim, Sask., product permission to join the Broncos, one of the elite teams in the Tier 2 SJHL. The Cats still hold Forsberg's major-junior rights. It's expected they'll try to ship him to another WHL team in the off-season so they can at least get a return on a guy who was the first-overall pick in the 2010 bantam draft.
Since Forsberg became a member of the Broncos, he has been productive. In 14 regular-season games, he had 14 points on seven goals and seven assists. So far in the playoffs, he's also on a point-per-game pace, with 10 helpers in 10 outings. He's still seeking his first playoff goal and will get the chance to break the goose-egg when the Broncos host the Terriers in Game 1 of the final tonight.
Really, nobody could blame the Cougars if they were silently cheering for Yorkton in the series. After all, no team likes to be spurned by a player, particularly one that had been counted on to be a cornerstone of a construction project. But the Cats would benefit greatly if Forsberg lit up the Terriers for a ton of points and led the Broncos to a championship.
The reason is simple -- the better Forsberg plays, the more the Cats can legitimately demand for him when they start listening to trade offers this spring or summer. Forsberg's value would jump even higher if he opens the eyes of some perhaps-skeptical NHL teams and gets drafted in late June.
The Cougars, as hockey-watchers in this neck of the woods know, missed the playoffs yet again this season. But things are looking up. If the Cats can turn the Forsberg asset into an impact player for next season and beyond, that player would join a lineup that is already rich with young talent. Players like forwards Jansen Harkins and Brad Morrison, who were first-round bantam draft picks in 2012, will become full-time WHLers in the fall and should make immediate impacts offensively.
Up front, the Cougars will likely also have their top five scorers from 2012-13 back in uniform -- namely, Colin Jacobs, Troy Bourke, Zach Pochiro, Chase Witala and Jari Erricson. As for the blueline group, it looks solid. And, anchoring everything will be goaltender Brett Zarowny, who had stretches of brilliance this past season and even picked up a Canadian Hockey League goalie-of-the-week award in December.
For the Cats, losing Forsberg unexpectedly was a blow. But maybe, just maybe, he'll do them a favour by playing the best hockey of his life against the Terriers.
After all the time the Cougars spent in developing him as a player, he kind of owes them that, doesn't he?
