The Captain Speaks

By: Patrice L. Leonard

After practice at the Skate Zone on Tuesday, Flyers captain Peter Forsberg spoke to the media. Of course, everyone wanted to know what his thoughts were regarding newly named Head Coach John Stevens and his staff. When he was asked how he thought his team would respond during the Thursday night game versus the Atlanta Thrashers, he simply stated, “We’ve got to give John a great start.” No truer words have been spoken yet this year.

Practices have been different under Stevens also. “I think it’s good.” He says of the lines changes being made. “Different lines, different practices. Whether it’s bad or good, we’ll see.”

He is practicing with the team with a sprained wrist. He is hopeful of his return for Thursday’s game. He is not participating in any physical drills. He laughed as he said, “I don’t have the best shot in the league, so it’s okay. Maybe I can fool some goalies that way.” We all know that when it comes to his shot, he is always dismissive of it. Truth be told his shot is a good one and he definitely has the ability to fool a goalie or two. He prides himself on his unselfish passing, done with utmost accuracy and precision. Other teammates appreciate this; just ask Simon Gagne and Mike Knuble who had career years last season because of it. But, there comes a point in his career where he just needs to admit that is one of the greatest to ever play this wonderful game, in all aspects.

As expected the questions turned into inquiries about Ex-coach Ken Hitchcock. He was hesitant and pensive with his answers. You could just see that he didn’t want to burn any bridges with any of his responses. But as captain of this team he knows that he is the collective voice right now. Other players have spoken out already; its Peter’s words that will carry the most weight. How he deals with this will be a measuring stick of his leadership ability. So, a few simple sentences were all he offered the media that day.

“I don’t want to say one bad thing about Hitch. But, sometimes you need a change. I’m not saying it’s all Hitch’s fault; it is also the responsibility of the players. When you doubting him, you start having problems. That’s what we did.”

Diplomatic but direct. Now it is up to him, John Stevens, and Craig Berube to take this team into the next chapter. They will need to close the book on the Clarke/Hitchcock era in Philadelphia as soon as possible. The view from the rear-view mirror is not pretty. The view straight ahead out the windshield is all sunny horizons. I mean, it can’t really get much worse, right?