On a day filled with other Blue Jackets news, the re-signing of Anton Forsberg may be the best news of the day. The Calder Cup winning goalie is coming off of an unheard of playoff run, where he passed Joonas Korpisalo on the depth chart. What exactly is the future for Anton Forsberg?
In 87 career #AHL appearances (regular season and playoffs), @antonforsberg1 is 55-19-6 with a 2.08 GAA, a .924 sv% and 7 SO #CalderCup
— AHL Communications (@AHLPR) June 17, 2016
The young goaltender agreed to a one year two-way deal, surely with high hopes that he might make an impact on the big club in Columbus. Plainly, when playing in the state’s capital, Forsberg hasn’t been particularly good. His save percentage while in the NHL is way below the league average and he never really had a strong performance. I have pointed out in articles in the past that Forsberg’s NHL numbers aren’t as bad as they seem with some bright spots in places you wouldn’t normally expect like high-danger save percentage. His AHL numbers are where he tends to shine, in 2014-15 he posted a .927 sv% in the regular season, a great mark. This past year, his AHL numbers were down but with multiple other factors at play, he was a serviceable net-minder with a .914sv%. The playoff run is obviously the shining star on his resume and will be applauded for a long time in Ohio but it was clearly unsustainable.
Forsberg is probably somewhere in between on this one, not as bad as his NHL numbers indicate and not as good as his most recent AHL playoff run indicates. Unless something revelatory happens to Forsberg’s skillset, expect him to be a fringe NHLer in the years to come. Regardless of where his career ends up, he will always have that one night in Cleveland, right?
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