Preds roll the dice in trading for oft-injured Forsberg

	Peter Forsberg has 162 career playoff points -- seven more than the Preds' entire roster. Len Redkoles/Getty Images

The reports out of Pennsylvania for the past several months had been arriving almost daily: good skate day, bad skate day, pain-free, no discomfort, a new orthotic. If Peter Forsberg's quest for a skate for his surgically-repaired right foot -- and he tried 28 pairs this season before seemingly finding a solution the past three weeks -- had been vaguely reminiscent of a certain champion race horse, the Nashville Predators still thought they could ride the Philadelphia Flyers captain a long way.

Nashville general manager David Poile generally is as conservative as a talk radio, but Forsberg, the most intriguing asset in the unseemly NHL rent-a-player market, was too good for even Mr. Rep Tie to pass up.

On Thursday, 12 days before the NHL trading deadline, Poile packaged some of his surfeit of young talent and packaged right winger Scottie Upshall, junior defenseman Ryan Parent, a first round draft choice and a third rounder to the feckless Flyers for Forsberg. For the Predators, it is not go big or go home but go big or maybe go away; owner Craig Leipold is looking to sell 40 percent of the franchise to local ownership and its long-term future in a fine, funky city is hardly a lock. Forsberg was willing to waive his no-trade clause because he saw the Stanley Cup potential of a team that has never won a playoff round in its eight years in the league. Maybe now the Nashville fans will, too.

Once the ultimate blue chipper, Forsberg is now reminiscent of a junior mining stock -- despite his 23 points in his last 16 games. High reward, definitely, but still risky. Said a GM, who had discussions with Flyers about the star center, said, "He could get hurt in the warmup." Forsberg, whose foot and ankle problems have been chronic, had missed 16 Flyers games this season and had played in just 336 of a possible 548 regular season games, 61 percent, since 1999-2000. For a 33-year old who has had groin and shoulder problems and had his spleen removed during the 2001 playoffs, he has skated a lot of hard miles.

"Right now he's really playing good," said another GM who had kicked Forsberg's tires, metaphorically. "The question is, can he maintain that for the long (playoff) haul, through eight weeks? I think that would be pretty tough. He's a great player, but I'm not sure you're ultimately going to get to the pot of gold at the end with him."

Of course, there are consolation prizes in the Forsberg Derby, all are more valuable than a case of Rice-A-Roni and a set of American Tourister luggage.

A reasonably healthy Forsberg might indeed carry the Predators to a Stanley Cup -- he has averaged 1.17 points per playoff game, best among active players and fifth on the all-time list -- but he pays off long before that. Nashville is on the hook for roughly $1.5 million his $5.75 million salary, which should be covered by the two guaranteed home playoff dates in the first round for the Predators, No. 1 overall in the NHL entering Thursday.

If Forsberg, a sublime passer and physical force when his body is up to it, merely lifts Nashville to a conference title, the windfall is huge. With its improbable 11 home playoff dates last season, Edmonton, in a smallish, 16,939-seat arena, grossed $26.5 million in gate revenues, according to a Feb. 10 report in The National Post of Canada. Carolina, the defending Cup champions, grossed almost $3 million per game for its four home games in the finals against the Oilers. The goodwill from an extended playoff run by the Predators could also boost the paid crowds next season to 13,200, the total small-market Nashville needs to get its full complement of revenue-sharing money.

If he can't permanently solve his foot-and-skate problem, Forsberg, eligible for unrestricted free agency July 1, might not be back in Nashville or anywhere in the NHL next season. But after 23 years as a general manager, Poile, never really close to a Cup (one conference finalist in Washington), had to leap at Forsberg, whose 162 playoff points were seven more than all his other players combined. Before, well, the horse was out of the barn.