WILKES-BARRE, Pa. -- Mario Lemieux, more than any other NHL player, can relate to what Peter Forsberg is going through.

Forsberg, a six-time all-star center for the Colorado Avalanche, announced on Saturday that he will take an indefinite leave of absence from hockey.

Forsberg had surgery to remove his ruptured spleen during the playoffs in May and had surgery on both ankles this past summer. He skated for a few days at Avalanche training camp in his native Sweden before deciding his body needed a long rest.

That's how Lemieux felt on Aug. 29, 1994, when he announced he would sit out the 1994-95 season. Back ailments and his battle with Hodgkin's disease had taken a serious toll.

Lemieux believes Forsberg, 28, made a wise move.

"I certainly support him 100 percent," Lemieux said Monday at the Penguins' training camp. "I've been in that situation before, after my cancer and being depleted. He had a very serious injury. I think it's the right decision. He's still young."

Forsberg's decision caused the biggest waves in Sweden, where he is revered. Forsberg scored the winning goal for Sweden against Canada in a shootout at the 1994 Olympics in Lillehammer, Norway, but likely will not play in the 2002 Olympics in Salt Lake City.

"I guess people are going to think about the Olympics, how the Swedish team will be without him," said Penguins goalie Johan Hedberg, a native of Sweden and a friend of Forsberg's. "Of course, you can't replace him."

Hedberg said people in Sweden respect Forsberg's decision. In announcing his leave of absence, Forsberg gave up $11 million, which would have made him the NHL's highest-paid player this season.

"It think it was very fair for him to do this instead of going in there and working the season off laying on the trainer's bench and collecting his money," Hedberg said.

"People understand. He's been hurt the last couple of years, and he feels like he couldn't do himself justice out there."

Lemieux, who was 29 when he announced his leave, made one of his many great comebacks in the 1995-96 season, when he scored 69 goals and 161 points.

"I'm the perfect example that you can take a year off and be able to come back and get back in shape and get in the right frame of mind and be able to perform," he said. "He's only 28 years old. He has a lot of good years ahead of him."