Probably a pipe dream, but I'd love to see Anders Forsberg get a shot at a management position in the Sens organization.
Im sure most Sens fans remember Forsberg very fondly, but for the young kids and newcomers, and those who have forgotten, Anders Forsberg was involved with Hockey Sweden for years in the early 2000s, working with legendary Red Wings scout Hakan Anderson.
Anderson and Bryan Murray had a close relationship from Murray's time as GM in Detroit, and Forsberg came to the Sens in 2007 with glowing recommendations. In '08 the Sens traded up to pick Erik Karlsson, apparently largely based on Forsberg's strong insistence. In 2009 they picked Silfverberg and Lehner in the second and third round.
In 2010 they traded their first rounder for David Rundblad at the draft. Seems like a wasted pick, but no, this is the perfect example of taking a draft pick and multiplying its value in a single season. After the 2010 draft Forsberg went back to Sweden to take a head coaching position for Rundblad's team Skelleftea, and Rundblad jumped from 13 to 50 points, being named the SHL defenseman of the year, and many considered him one of the top prospects in the world. Murray was then able to swap Rundblad for Kyle Turris. They also picked Marcus Sorensen that year, who incidentally, strangely enough, finally played his first full NHL season this year at 27.
In Forsberg's first year with Skelleftea, they went from fourth place to losing in the final. They lost in the final again his second year there, before winning it all in his third. He then promptly left his championship team for greater challenges. Coached two uninteresting seasons for Modo before Tim Murray became GM in Buffalo and recruited him in 2015.
There once again, his employer placed tremendous trust in him, picking out of Sweden with their first two picks of the 2016 draft. While it is too early to write off Alex Nylander, he isn't looking terribly promising. But the second rounder, Rasmus Asplund looks like maybe a gem. In 2017, the Sabres took Linus Weissbach and Marcus Davidsson, both of whom are actually looking like pretty good prospects.
But then Murray was fired and Forsberg returned to Sweden where he attained his first head GM job with fringe SHL team Mora.
The 2020 draft, where the Sens have a ton of high picks, is incidentally loaded with Swedes. Lucas Raymond, Noel Gunler and Alexander Holtz look like high first rounders, but then the likes of Zion Nybeck, Helge Grans, Isak Garfv, Emil Andrae and Oscar Nilsson will be sprinkled through the first two or three rounds. Then for 2021 there's already a couple bluechip prospects emerging in G Jesper Wallstedt and F Isak Rosen.
Currently the Sens are without a director of player personnel. I'd like to see Trent Mann get that position, and Forsberg take his role as director of amateur scouting.
). I can definitely see why people look at a 16 year old who is 6'4 ~215lbs and immediately jump to the Lindros comp. Lindros was just a different beast with his physicality and demeanor that it would be tough for anyone these days to play like that. Like I said, maybe we'll see him up his physical play now that he's not a rookie/more established in the league.
