Colin Forbes played nine NHL seasons and played with some of the best players in the world. I was lucky enough to sit down with Colin for an interview this week on The Broadway Hat Podcast to discuss his great career. After getting drafted in the 7th round of the 1994 NHL Entry Draft, Colin found himself playing in the Stanley Cup Final just 3 short years later. Colin talked about the incredible talent on those late 90’s Flyers teams. How dominating the Legion of Doom line was of Eric Lindros, John LeClair, and Mikael Renberg. He also played alongside Hall of Famers such as Paul Coffey, Dale Hawerchuk, and Lindros. In his rookie season, Forbes led all Flyers rookies in scoring with 12 goals. Forbes saw action in 132 games for Philadelphia scoring 22 goals in a Flyers jersey.
Moving on from the Flyers
At the 1999 NHL trade deadline, Forbes was traded to the Tampa Bay Lightning. He teamed up with 1998 first overall pick Vincent Lecavalier and scored 3 goals with Tampa Bay to close out the season and matched his career-high of 12 goals.
Eight games into the 2020 season Forbes was traded to the Ottawa Senators. He played alongside Hockey Hall of Famer Marián Hossa and Senators legend Daniel Alfredsson. His second year in Ottawa saw the return of NHL superstar Alexei Yashin after he took a year off from hockey following a dispute with team ownership. Forbes tells a great story about pranking Yashin at the team’s Christmas party.
Playing on Broadway
Just before the 2001 trade deadline, the New York Rangers acquired Forbes from the Senators. The Rangers were loaded with veteran talent but were struggling. The Rangers acquired Forbes to help stabilize the bottom six of the line-up. With the Rangers, he played alongside Hall of Famers Mark Messier and Brian Leetch. The Rangers also had NHL legends, Adam Graves, Mike Richter, Theo Fleury, Peter Nedved, and Valeri Kamensky.
Up and Down with Washington
Forbes signed with the Capitals for the 2001-02 season and played 38 games, scoring 5 goals. Forbes became a reliable forward for the Caps and was a top penalty killer, he also scored his second career shorthanded goal. He got a front row look at two of the best players of that era and Hall of Famers Jaromir Jagr and Adam Oates.
The next few seasons Forbes would bounce between the NHL and AHL. In total he would play parts of four seasons for the Capitals, totaling 54 games played. In his final North American pro season Forbes won his first championship. Helping lead the Capitals AHL affiliate, the Hershey Bears, to an AHL Championship. Forbes produced 14 points in the Calder Cup playoffs to help the Bears.
German Hockey Star
After 11 professional seasons in North America Forbes signed with Adler Mannheim in the Deutsche Eishockey Liga, the highest-level ice hockey league in Germany. In his first season Forbes would lead them to a DEL Championship. He led the team in postseason scoring raking up 14 points in 11 playoff games. He played 4 seasons with Adler Mannheim and was named captain of the team in his final season there. Forbes would play his 16th and final professional season with another DEL team, ERC Ingolstadt. During his time in Germany Forbes would play in two Spengler Cups with Adler Mannheim and represent Team Canada at the Deutschland Cup.
16 Years
The British Columbia product ended his career in 2011 after playing in 1,075 professional games. Out of the 10 players drafted by the Flyers in the 1994 draft Forbes was the only player to actually play in an NHL game for the Flyers. A pretty remarkable career for a 7th round draft pick.
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