Peter Forsberg hopes to win a few krona in the next week. "For once, I'll have a home course for golf," the Colorado Avalanche center said of the team's trip to Sweden for training camp and two exhibition games. "So now it's going to be even easier beating guys."

	Can Peter Forsberg return as "Magic Boy" for the Avs?

When the NHL last January announced that the Avalanche would be appearing in Sweden and Finland for training camp and three exhibition games -- in Stockholm on Saturday and Sunday, then one one in Helsinki on Sept. 18 -- there was no way of knowing that Colorado would land in Europe as the reigning Stanley Cup champions.

It just worked out that way.

Last year, the Canucks went to Sweden with the Sedin twins and Markus Naslund, all of whom also hail from Forsberg's hometown -- Orskoldsvik, about 300 miles north of Stockholm -- and Mattias Ohlund. Vancouver played AIK, MoDo and Djurgarden. The last time an NHL team played in Finland was 1994, when the Winnipeg Jets visited with the Finnish Flash, Teemu Selanne.

For the Swedish portion of the Avalanche's tour, it's more a case of singular star power than it was a year ago, since Forsberg is the Avalanche's only Swedish player.

But one is enough for the NHL -- even if the one is recovering from that trauma-induced internal bleeding and emergency spleen removal surgery after Game 7 of the Western Conference semifinals against the Kings last May. It's Foppamania in Sweden this week, although nobody ever has adequately explained the origin and meaning of Forsberg's "Foppa" nickname. This is a 28-year-old whose biography -- with a title that roughly translates to "Magic Boy" -- has been through several printings in Sweden.

So when the NHL needed to pick a team to head to Stockholm and Helsinki this year, the choice was an easy one. (Unless Nick Lidstrom makes noises about retiring after this season, wouldn't the Red Wings be a safe bet to make the trip next season? Or the Maple Leafs, with Mats Sundin?)

As an entrepreneur, Forsberg is constructing a golf course near Ornskoldsvik, and he contributes heavily to Swedish charities. His private life is to the Swedish papers what Jennifer Lopez's love life is to the U.S. tabloids, and the pressure is on to find out everything about Forsberg's new Denver resident flame. And, oh, yes, the hero of the 1994 Swedish gold medal victory at Lillehammer, is going to try to show that he has recovered from the spleen removal and is ready to help lead the 2002 Olympic team in Salt Lake.

"I'm a little nervous," Forsberg said in Stockholm. "It's been awhile. But it's going to be great to be out there again with the guys. It has been kind of a short summer for those guys, but a long wait for me."

Forsberg said his abdomen was "fine. It's the beginning of the season, so you never know how it's going to feel, but I've been skating up until now."

Forsberg's turn with the Stanley Cup was a three-day stint in Ornskoldsvik that ended Saturday. It even was a chalice to toast his brother, Roger's, 30th birthday in a tour of Orsnskoldsvik nightspots. The length of Forsberg's Cup possession was an acknowledgment of past service more than anything else, because he wasn't able to play in the final two rounds of the postseason.

"Of course, it's a little less (special) for me when you don't play the final two rounds," Peter said. "But I tried to see the positives still. I've been part of the team for so long now, and we've been so close for so many years. So I felt like I did what I could until I got hurt. That was not my fault that I couldn't play anymore. I wanted to play, but they wouldn't let me play."

The excitement over the visit to Helsinki, though, will be tempered by the national sadness and concern over Saku Koivu's illness. And the fact that the battle facing the popular Finn is an international concern is an unfortunate confirmation of the sport's pervasive popularity and the face of the modern NHL.

The two Avalanche games in Stockholm sold out quickly, and it takes a lot of krona to obtain tickets from scalpers. (Roughly 10 krona to the dollar, in case you were wondering.) Their appearance in Finland also is a hot ticket, and the Avs' second-year winger, Ville Nieminen, now is solidly installed as the banger on the Forsberg-centered line. They periodically tease each other about national origins -- including past wars and hockey results -- but are complementary players.

The excitement over the visit to Helsinki, though, will be tempered by the national sadness and concern over Saku Koivu's illness. And the fact that the battle facing the popular Finn is an international concern is an unfortunate confirmation of the sport's pervasive popularity and the face of the modern NHL.

Nieminen's turn with the Cup was last week in Tampere, and he took the trophy to the grave of his father, Esa, who died four years ago; to the hospital to visit a family friend who has been diagnosed with leukemia; to the dedication of a local hockey museum; and then to the local sports pub for a visit with his friends.

Again this week, the Cup will make the European tour along with the Avalanche.

Surprisingly, the NHL hasn't yet done more of this in the exhibition season, further taking advantage of the international nature of its talent pool to strengthen and nurture marketing efforts in Europe.

It is both good public relations and also savvy marketing in an era in which the consumer can be sitting halfway around the world, following the NHL on television and on the Internet.

Is it directly measurable as a financial boon to the league? Not really. And it doesn't have to be just about the money. Exhibition games are shaky commodities in the first place, and this is a small way to simply acknowledge that fans are worldwide. Fans read ESPN.com worldwide, they read Denver newspapers online in Sweden, and we have become accustomed to receiving e-mails from readers in Europe who apologize for their English -- but then are more eloquent in their second language than many Americans are in their first.

Even the news tip about this trip came from a Swedish reader who sent an e-mail and asked: "Did you know that they wrote in the paper here today that the Avalanche was holding training camp and playing exhibition games here next September?"

Uh, no, responded the Denver writer, and then confirmed the story in Colorado five minutes later.

So the Avalanche will work out in Stockholm's Hovet Arena this week, then play the Sweden elite league's Djurgarden on Saturday and Brynas Gavle on Sunday. Then the Avs journey to Helsinki for a day of practice and a game against Jokerit before returning to Colorado on Sept. 19 -- Cup in tow.

Terry Frei of The Denver Post is a regular contributor to ESPN.com. His feedback email address is ChipHilton23@hotmail.com.