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Well the Mats Sundin saga is finally over. He signed a pro-rated one year, $10 million dollar contract with the Northwest Division leading Vancouver Canucks. I, for one, am angered and glad.
Last year, Sundin had a chance to be moved from Toronto to virtually any Cup Contending team that wanted him. But he didn’t go. Instead, Sundin rejected every trade possibility with his no trade clause to stay in Toronto, a team destined to miss the playoffs for the third consecutive time post lockout.
Sundin has always been a favorite player of mine. The Swedish Captain of a Canadian team, Sundin has compiled 1,321 points over his career and has recorded 12 consecutive seasons with 70 points or more. He was always in the spotlight and always scored big goals…in the regular season at least.
The thing I hate the most in sports is when a player holds out for half a season. It’s selfish and ridiculous, especially for the past three that have done it (Scott Niedermayer, Teemu Selanne, and Mats Sundin). These three players held out half a season to decide whether they wanted to play hockey or not. Come on guys, you either want to play or you don’t. Get on a team and become part of it the whole way, you’re not above them.
For Sundin, he sat back and let every NHL team have a bidding war over him. And for a player who wouldn’t move to a Stanley Cup contender last season, it seems awfully odd that he held out this long and picked one of the best teams in the league right now to play on.
According to Scott Burnside,
One GM told ESPN.com last February that he would always be suspicious of a player who, given the choice between possibly winning his first Stanley Cup and staying in a hopeless situation, chooses the latter.
And I definitely agree.
And if Vancouver thinks they’re getting great locker room leadership, think again.
When Ron Wilson took over the Leafs before the start of this season and there was much discussion about whether Sundin would deign to return to Toronto, Wilson suggested that a team that had failed to make the playoffs for three straight post-lockout seasons had lacked leadership.
While this move adds more offense to a Canucks team that could use some help, Sundin has been shut down in the playoffs many times throughout his career. The toughness of the western conference playoffs is another challenge that Sundin may not be able to overcome.
But…This year just maybe, will be different. The Canucks already have the Sedin Twins and Pavol Demitra. They are receiving good secondary scoring and anytime an NHL team can put together two great lines, they’re always going to challenge teams in the playoffs, especially if Roberto Luongo is your goalie.
Mats Sundin is scheduled to join the team on December 27th. Give him a month or two to get readjusted to the NHL and the Vancouver Canucks and then we’ll see what he brings to the table.
Now that it's over, let's take the Sundin saga for what it was -- a sham [ESPN]
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