What Can the Maple Leafs Expect in Return for Mats Sundin?

There is no doubt that if Mats Sundin waives his no trade clause, the Leafs' return on a trade would be tremendous.

With so many teams in contention, there will be very few sellers. With only the leading teams in each conference likely to finish the regular season where they are, there will be a lot of dogfights for playoff position over the final months to come. 

There is more in a trade for Sundin than making your team much better; it also means your competition doesn’t vastly improve either, which is why I believe a bidding war for Sundin's services will drive the price way up.  

Vancouver and San Jose no doubt have the goaltending and defensive play to make them threats, but they can’t match Detroit’s offence. Calgary and Anaheim’s top lines can score but they don’t have much secondary help, which will be needed when playing the defensive minded teams in the west. Detroit is the favourite to get out of the west but need to be involved in all the trade talks to see if they can’t keep Sundin from going to a rival and possibly ruining a great regular season by the Wings. 

In the east, both Ottawa and Pittsburgh will try to bring in Sundin, but with all the competition in the west it will be tough for any team in the east to land the big Swede. For all the Leafs fans moaning and groaning about the idea of Sundin going to Ottawa and winning a cup, just one phrase comes to mind “you couldn’t do without our captain” to jab back at Sens fans. 

So take a look at what I think will be the trade possibilities in the Sundin sweepstakes. Please leave your comments if you think I am asking too much, too little, or if I am in the ball park. 

Detroit – Jiri Hudler – F, Jaimie Howard - G, 1st and 3rd round draft picks                                   

Anaheim – Bobby Ryan - F, Brandan Mikkelson - D, Edmonton’s 1^st round pick 

Calgary – Matt Lombardi – F, Dustin Boyd - C, 1st and 3rd round draft picks                          

San Jose – Ryan Clowe – F, M-E Vlasic – D, 1^st and 2^nd round draft picks 

Ottawa – Andrej Meszaros – D, Nick Foligno - F, 1st and 3rd round draft picks                       

Vancouver – Kevin Bieksa – D, Jannik Hansen – F, 1^st and 3rd round draft picks 

Pittsburgh – Jordan Staal – F, Alex Goligoski – D, 1^st and 3^rd round draft picks