In an article written in the Ottawa Sun two league sources have reported that the Senators organization also made inquiries about the Swedish blueliner's availability for next season. Though Ottawa has not been as aggressive as some other teams around the league, GM Bryan Murray has made at least three calls to Sundin's agent, J.P. Barry, expressing an interest.
With $52 of $56 million of the salary cap already dedicated to players' salaries for this year, it is reported that the team would somehow find a way to make it work were Sundin willing to come to Ottawa. This would involve some sort of trade down the line to free up cap space to sign the 37-year-old winger.
Barry is quoted as saying, "I'm not going to confirm or deny that (the Senators) are among the teams interested...I'm not going to get into the teams that are interested because right now it doesn't make any difference until Mats makes a decision on whether he's going to play or not.
"If Mats decides that he's going to play, then we'll follow up with the teams that have shown an interest."
Sun Media also reported that Senators owner Eugene Melnyk has taken a serious interest in Sundin as a way of inflicting some psychological damage on Leaf Nation. However, at the conclusion of this week's charity hockey tournament in Toronto, Sundin flew to Montreal to speak with Habs GM Bob Gainey as well.
Sundin also has offers on the table from Toronto and Vancouver, who offered him a two-year, $20 million contract back on July 1.
At this point, it looks like Sundin won't be making any decision about his playing future until Christmas. Fans in Ottawa can only wait and hope to see if Mats switches sides in the Battle of Ontario. It's a long shot, but there's no shame in trying.
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