NHL Forsberg, Avalanche agree on 1-year pact

The league's MVP wants to finish his career in his native Sweden.
DENVER (AP) -- Peter Forsberg wasn't sure if he wanted to come back for another season.
Sure, he's still one of the best players in the NHL and he's coming off perhaps his best season, but his heart is still in his native Sweden.
A trip home with have to wait -- at least for one year.
Forsberg signed an $11 million, one-year contract Wednesday, ensuring he will play at least one more season with the Colorado Avalanche.
"I suspect this will be an annual event with him," said Don Baizley, Forsberg's agent. "I don't think Peter knows how long he's going to play. I think he's going to take it a year at a time."
After becoming the first Swedish player to earn the Hart Trophy as NHL MVP last year, Forsberg said he wasn't sure if wanted to play a 10th season with the Avalanche or return to his homeland.
Going home
Forsberg was eligible to become a restricted free agent next Tuesday and has indicated he would like to finish his career in Sweden, where his father coaches MoDo of the Swedish Elite League.
He put off his decision until after the World Hockey Championships last month in Finland and has spent the rest of the off-season in Sweden.
"I suspect that in his mind he was leaning to that [coming back] as a possibility, but he really wanted to be sure that he was ready to do everything that goes with it," Baizley said.
"The only way he could be would be to get away and get back to his roots, so to speak, and think it through. Once he got back, he decided 'Yeah, I'm ready to do it.' "
Forsberg has been one of the NHL's best two-way players since entering the league in 1994-95, the franchise's final season in Quebec before moving to Denver.
Honors and injuries
With a rare combination of grace and power, Forsberg won the Calder Trophy as the league's top rookie and was named to the All-Star team seven straight years.
He has scored at least 80 points six times in his career, including more than 100 twice, and helped the Avalanche win Stanley Cup titles in 1996 and 2001.
But injuries have taken a toll in recent years.
Forsberg was knocked out of the 2001 playoffs with a ruptured spleen and missed the 2001-02 season after undergoing surgery on both feet.
Forsberg did return to lead the league in scoring during the 2002 playoffs, but the physical toll and Colorado's first-round loss to Minnesota in this year's playoffs had him contemplating retirement from the NHL at 29.
"I'm excited to be staying in Colorado and looking forward to the 2003-04 season," Forsberg said in a statement. "I'm truly enjoying myself in Denver. The team has had tremendous success since 1995 and I'm expecting a very exciting and successful season. It will be challenging and everyone should be up for it."