After the end of the season and with the return of the NHL, Forsberg returned to North America. The implementation of a salary cap was a blow to the Colorado Avalanche, one of the highest spenders in the league, and they were forced to let go of Forsberg and Adam Foote to save room in the cap for Joe Sakic and Rob Blake. He refused a four-year, $13.5 million offer from the Avalanche before signing a two-year, $11.5 million contract with the Philadelphia Flyers, the team that drafted Forsberg 14 years earlier.