See ya later alligator!

As the resident Flyers hlogger, I would be remiss in my duties if I didn't blog a bit about today's trade of Peter Forsberg.

First off, let me say that I am not a huge fan of Forsberg. I realize that he is a great player and playmaker, but he is not the reason I watch the Flyers. In fact, for most of the season, I routinely bad mouthed him and demanded to the hockey gods that he be traded. I drooled over all the awesome players we could get and who else we could buy with the money we'd be saving.

Well, a funny thing happened over the last few weeks. Forsberg's foot problems disappeared and he played like he was supposed to. He played like he wanted to be traded. And his level of play brought the Flyers level of play up a bit. They played like a team. And I was happy for a few fleeting days (hours?).

So today, basking in the glow of two wins in a row, I came to the realization that he was going to be traded. Yes, that's right...I was getting in my car after work and the realization hit me.

After work, I watched Daily News Live (local sports news show) and they mentioned that he had a meeting today but did not comment on the outcome. No big deal...he has had countless meetings about his contract over the past few weeks. But still, I had a nagging worry at the back of my brain.

I got to the game a few minutes late so I missed the scratches. When they announced the starting lineup, Mike Richards was in instead of Forsberg. I got an uneasy feeling in the pit of my stomach.

Then the guys came out, and they played like crap. Really. A completely different team then the last two games, which I happened to be at in person. I text messaged my first row ticket buddy because I saw that he was not in his seats. He wrote back that he was in the bar and that Forsberg had been traded to Nashville.

Whoa.

I turned to Rod to give him the news, and then the strangest thing happened to me: I started crying. Tears welled up in my eyes and I had to fight to keep it together. I felt sad for the guys down on the ice. All the hard work and challenges that the guys had overcome now seemed meaningless. They lost their captain and team mate and friend, and now they had to play like things were still the same.

I realize that this season is a total loss anyhow and that we have a lot of rebuilding to do, but it doesn't make it hurt any less when you lose an integral part of the team...