Mats Sundin Narrows Decision to Rangers and Flyers, but Is It Too Late?

So it appears the Mats Sundin saga may soon be coming to an end. (Thankfully, I may add.) 

The big Swede has reportedly said he wants to play for the New York Rangers.  His second choice would be the Philadelphia Flyers.

Now, as Greg (Rangers blogger extraordinaire) wrote earlier today, I will also have to eat my words if Mats does go to Broadway since I said it wouldn't happen.

But let's put our forks down for a minute, Greg. No need to sit down at the table of humility just yet.

You see, Sundin has apparently made his decision, but will it truly mean anything?

Desire from both sides aside, the NHL has this little thing nowadays called a salary cap, and it could stand in the way of Sundin's aspirations of playing in the boroughs, or in the city of brotherly love, for that matter.

The Rangers only have about $2 million left under the cap, while the Flyers at last check were over the cap by about $5 million. 

This of course would mean some serious juggling for these teams.  I really wouldn't like to speculate about who would move from either team—their respective writers Greg Caggiano and Alan Bass would do a much better job.

If I did have to say, I would suspect Jeff Carter from Philly would be on the block.  Rumours of Carter being moved have been running rampant for quite some time now. 

As far as the Rangers, your guess is as good as mine on this one. Drury and Gomez appear entrenched, Naslund and Zherdev just arrived, Prucha is a pretty solid young talent.

All in all, there could be some interesting times in New York and Philly as they try to shuffle around the cap in order to accommodate big Mats.

One thing we do know.  Mats will not be returning to the Maple Leafs.  And Montreal appears off the list as well.