Tomorrow night, the Toronto Maple Leafs will honour their long time Captain, Mats Sundin, by raising a banner with his number on it, up into the rafters of the ACC. Despite the way his days ended in Toronto (with just about every single fan calling for the team to find a way to convince him to allow the team to trade him to a team like Detroit to help expedite the current re-build of the franchise), for the most part, fans have chosen to overlook the ending, recalling how good a player he actually was during his time with the team. I will try to quantify his contribution to the team as best I can, by going over the beginning, middle and end of his tenure with the team.
*Bryan Fogarty was a record breaking point producing defenceman whom the Nords drafted 43rd overal in the 1989 draft. He had a hall of fame OHL career, breaking records set by Bobby Orr and Denis Potvin. He was consumed by his alcoholism to the point where he would go on benders drinking so much that he would have to be carried back to his hotel room each night around 3 am and yet he would somehow be the first player out on the ice at 6 am practise that same morning as if nothing had ever happened. He would be out of the NHL by the late 1990's and ended up battling alcoholism for the rest of his days. He retired from professional hockey in 2001 and was actually clean and sober for the final year of his life before going on a fishing trip with his wife's uncle. He and the uncle apparently got really really hammered after checking into their motel. He was not able to awake the next morning and it was determined that he died of an enlarged heart on March 6th, 2002.
It wasn't until after having had 2 unsuccessful playoff runs with the Nords that Quebec and Toronto pulled off a blockbuster deal with the Maple Leafs acquiring Sundin on June 28, 1994. The Nordiques sent Sundin, Defender Garth Butcher, prospect Todd Warriner, and a 1994 first-round draft pick (which had been acquired through the 1992 Eric Lindros deal but was then traded to the Washington Capitals, used to pick Nolan Baumgartner) to the Leafs in exchange for then Leafs Captain Wendel Clark, Defender Sylvain Lefebvre, young prospect Landon Wilson, and a 1994 first-round draft pick (used to pick Jeff Kealty).
Despite having had 2 successful playoff runs, culminating in losing in the conference final in back to back seasons (in 1993 against Wayne Gretzky and the Kings and in 1994 losing to the Vancouver Canucks), Cliff Fletcher was convinced that, for the betterment of the Franchise (long term) it would be best to deal for one of the top young centers in the game. Sundin had just come off of 2 of his best seasons ever and was widely considered to be a cornerstone to build a franchise on for the next decade afterward. It turned out to be 13 good years instead.
Fans resented him at first (Some would say there was a special part of Leaf Nation that never stopped resenting him), but eventually he would become the face of the franchise. After the 1996-97 season, the team had traded away their best player in franchise history when they had dealt Doug Gilmour (then team Captain) to the New Jersey Devils at the trade deadline. It was clear that the team was going to build anew around Mats so the most logical thing for the team to do was to offer him the chance to be the captain of the team.
At first, Sundin admitted, he wasn't sure if he should take on the responsibilities of being the Captain of the most scrutinized Hockey team in the world. He choose to ask his boyhood idol, and former Maple Leaf great Borje Salming, what he should do. Salming's advice was to take it as he too had been offered the chance to be Leaf Captain in the early 80's (after Darryl Sittler had been traded to the Philadelphia Flyers) and had refused. It was his one and only regret he had in his time with the Leafs and Salming's words forced Mats into action as he accepted the next day.
He was the first European trained player taken 1st in the NHL Draft and the first to be named Captain of an NHL Team, a position he held for 10 years. Both of those already have made him a legend in his native Sweden. He holds team records for goals (420), assists (587) and points (987). He led the team in scoring in 9 of his 10 seasons as Captain and was widely considered to be the best player in franchise history as they were perennial Stanley Cup contenders for much of his time as team captain.
One of his only real faults in Toronto would be his career playoff stats. While he did have 70 points in 77 career playoff games, he was never able to push his team to the Stanley Cup final. In fact, both times the Leafs made it to the Conference Finals (1998-99 against Buffalo with an injured Dominik Hasek missing much of Games 1 and 2, and 2002-2003 against an inferior Carolina Hurricanes team that ended up getting swept in the Finals by the Red Wings), most people would agree that the Leafs SHOULDN'T have lost to either team.
The teams last real shot at winning anything was the 2003-2004 season when the team loaded up on veteran players (Brian Leetch, Phil Housley, Owen Nolan, Doug Gilmour, Ron Francis) and faced off against the Flyers in the first round. At this point, Future Hall of Famer Ed Belfour was in net and coming off a stellar regular season. But the Flyers were no push-overs, having also added several veterans to their line-up. Ultimately, Mark Reechi would score in OT of Game 4 and then Jeremy Roenick would seal it in Game 6 in OT, ending the last actual season that the Leafs would be led to the Playoffs by Mats.
After the 2004-2005 season was wiped out by the lockout, the Leaf Captain, having decided to take the entire year off from hockey, was unable to lead the team back to the playoffs in '05-06 and '07-08. Despite some questionable moves by the General Manager at that time, John Ferguson Jr., the team looked lost and the fans started to demand a rebuild of the team. The older veterans on the team unfortunately, including Darcy Tucker, Tomas Kaberle, Bryan McCabe, Pavel Kubina and, of course Mats, were all refusing to allow the team to deal them anywhere as per the clauses in each of their contracts (which stipulated that the team could only trade them away if they had the players permission to do so).
In many ways, these 5 players set the team back several years in their rebuild with their refusals, which of course led to fan resentment. The 2007-2008 season was the final season of Sundin's contract which made him an even more attractive option for Cup contenders at the trade deadline. Instead of helping the Franchise which had paid him nearly $70 million over the 13 seasons he played for them, he opted to invoke his contract clause, angering many of his once loyal fans.
So in the summer of 2008, Sundin was granted permission to speak to other teams before his contract ran out, including speaking with the hated Montreal Canadiens. Thankfully, he did not sign with them but when he did return, Sundin signed on with the Vancouver Canucks and played 41 games out west, scoring 9 goals and 19 assists in the regular system as well as another 8 points in 8 playoff games. An undistinguished end to a glorious career.
Once he finally retired, things seem to have finally relaxed a bit with regards to the venom that many in this city were spewing towards him. Even in the one game he came back and played with Vancouver against the Leafs, the fans gave him a 5 minute standing ovation after the team displayed a tribute video on the jumbo tron during a commercial break. When CBC came back from commercial, the standing ovation was only half way through and continued on and on.Clearly, many members of Leafs Nation felt it was time to start forgiving right then and there. Others took more time.
Earlier this year, on a request from Tie Domi and some others, Mats returned to the city for the first time and attended a game in the stands with the very same fans he used to thrill and entertain on a nightly basis. Even the team appeared to be surprised when they learned he was in attendance and, again, a tribute video was displayed with the caption on the screen announcing that the team would be honouring Mats by raising his number to the rafters tomorrow night. Clearly, Tie Domi and others had set up Mats in order to spring the team honour on him in front of a full house, which, once again, gave him a long loud standing "O".
It may have taken some members of Leaf Nation longer then others, but clearly Mats is recognized as one of the classiest and most genuine in his time as a member of the Leafs. Even in his staunch refusal to leave, he showed a strength of character that, although at the time seemed a bit self-serving, showed that his belief in HIS team never wavered. His NHL career will easily land him a spot in the Hockey Hall of Fame but it is the class with which he always conducted himself that will live on in those whom he played with and against throughout his career and his life.
Congratulations Mats, You deserve it.
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