Toronto, Vancouver or Montreal: the Future for Mats Sundin

When it comes to the Toronto Maple Leafs, the sheer amount of ups and downs associated with the team is enough to make any fan of the game extremely frustrated. Whether its searching for consistent goaltending, or merely trying to find that allusive scoring touch, the Leafs always seem to have their problems regardless of the situation.

However, since his trade to the Leafs in the early 90's, Mats Sundin has remained the only shining light in the world of darkness that is the Maple Leafs. And now, it finally seems as though his time with the Buds may finally have come to an end.

Since his trade from the Quebec Nordiques in 1994, Sundin has been the cornerstone of the Leafs offence. With Toronto, Sundin has scored at least 70 points in every season since 1995/1996, and has led the team in scoring every year with exception of the 2002/2003 season where Alexander Mogilny bested him by seven points. Even though his offensive production has been very significant in each and every season he has played for the Blue and White, it is his leadership qualities that are most important in terms of his time in Toronto. Sundin is the longest serving European captain in NHL history, which demonstrates the kind of player Mats truly is. However, as integral as Sundin is to the Leafs, as stated above, his time with the team may finally be over.

With the coming of the 2008 Trade Deadline, it looked as though it was only a matter of time before Sundin was on his way out of Toronto. However that time never came, as Sundin refused to waive his No-Trade Clause, forcing Cliff Fletcher to give up his search for a possible deal.

And now, during an off-season where the Leafs are coming off yet another failure of a season, Fletcher has been busy signing such players as D Jeff Finger, LW Niklas Hagman, and C Ryan Hollweg, as well as a trade to acquire C Mikhail Grabovski, in addition to the drafting of Luke Schenn with their 5th overall pick in this years draft. The Leafs finally seem to be shifting their organization into a rebuilding phase. The big question lately has been whether or not Sundin has a place on this new Leafs squad.

As of July 23rd, Sundin has still not decided whether or not he wants to play in the u

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