UPDATE: The Mats Sundin Sweepstakes Rolls On

rick derrico — Mon, 04 Aug 2008 18:29:30 -0400

This is just an update on the Sundin situation.

Sundin's agent has released a statement saying "The longer it takes, who knows? He is deciding whether it's time to retire or not."

"He's avoiding a Favre-like mistake by taking his time."

Now, I know that I'm not the only one who is fed up with Sundin, but we all have to be patient. His agent also said that he was strongly considering retirement.

I think the NHL should impose a rule where players must make up their mind by the end of July, in time for training camp. All the Niedermayers, Selannes, and Sundins should hurry up and make a decision.

Who's next? Sakic? That's the way it's looking so far.

This is why I like the deadline rule. If you want to play, then play. If you don't want to play, then make up your mind quickly.

Sundin is just making everyone hate him, but I'm sure the fans of the team he will go to—if he even does go somewhere—will love him.

In case you haven't read elsewhere, there are a total of six teams that are interested in his services—Montreal, Vancouver, Toronto, and three others. Nobody knows who those other teams are, apart from Sundin, his agent, and the GMs involved.

The one thing we know about those mystery teams is Detroit is not among them. Sorry to disappoint, Detroit fans. Hopefully Montreal will get him—but any way he goes, I will be happy.

So, until my next article, I will leave you guys off with one last line:

Sundin, MAKE UP YOUR MIND!

Mats Sundin: To Montreal? Vancouver? Toronto? Rangers?... Who knows

rick derrico — Thu, 17 Jul 2008 12:17:03 -0400

This is my first article so, sorry if it isn't that good.

The main question in the free agency world is "Where will Mats go?"

The answer: I don't know, but what I do know is this, it is between 4 teams from what I hear.

New York: I think the Rangers have the least chance of landing Sundin because they have already spent most of their money on other players such as Redden, Naslund, Kalinin, Rozsival, and let's not forget acquiring Zherdev from Columbus. I am not 100% sure about how much cap room they have left, but from an educated guess, I would have to say they spent most of their money on other key players. They made some important acquisitions during this off season, probably more important than getting Sundin.

Toronto: I will look at this from Mats point of view, he wouldn't want to go there after they apparently didn't treat him like the player he was. They wanted to get rid of him after all that he's done, all the records he's broken for the leafs, and they still want him to wave his no-trade clause. I'm sure he still loves Toronto, but maybe not the team's management and he is looking for a team that has a chance to win the cup and not a team who is rebuilding again (leaf fans, don't get me wrong here, every team has a chance to win the cup). Leaf fans, don't be angry at Sundin for picking another team, he will always be the captain of the Leafs who carried them for quite a number of years.

Vancouver: The Canucks have a good chance to land Sundin. I mean, if I were offered $20 million, I would jump on that offer and take the next plane out of Sweden to Vancouver, but Sundin isn't worried about the money he gets. To him, every team offered him the same amount of money, so now he is just going to choose which team is a better pick and which team has the best chance to win. Every NHL player's dream is to win the cup, so Sundin will choose a team who is ready to win a cup. Personally, I don't think the Canucks are 100% ready to win the cup, they would need someone else apart from Sundin to win the cup. However, they are very close.

Montreal: Montreal also has a very good chance to get Sundin, and he will definitely improve their roster (Then again, he would probably improve everyone's roster). He will make his teammates better and that is what the habs are missing: a big center. As most of you know, Gainey has tried to persuade him to sign with Montreal, but it didn't work. Many of you say "Well, Sundin didn't sign with Montreal when Gainey had the rights, so he will definitely not go to Montreal" now, the main problem with that, is that Sundin wasn't sure if he was even going to play! Sundin highly respects the Canadiens franchise and really respects Gainey. Plus, it's the habs centennial year, so who wouldn't want to play for them.

Other: Some other possibilities include him playing in Sweden, but we all know his goal of winning the cup, and you can't win the Stanley cup in Sweden. Another choice that he can take, is retiring. He is somewhat old, but at 37, he still has a lot of energy left in him. He can definitely go for another season or two. We all know that he is physically fit, but the question is, is he mentally fit? And that is what he is asking himself.

Note: In this article, I am not trying to bash any team. This is also just my opinion.

P.S. Thank you for reading my first article, any constructive feedback is welcome.
And here comes the angry Leafs, Canucks, Habs, and Rangers fans to tell me how bad my article is :P.

-Rick

Bleacher Report - Articles by rick derrico

UPDATE: The Mats Sundin Sweepstakes Rolls On

Mats Sundin: To Montreal? Vancouver? Toronto? Rangers?... Who knows