Mats Sundin: Forever With the Toronto Maple Leafs...and Leafs Nation

    The Captain of the ship is never the first one off the Titanic—Glenn Healey, February 1st.

    And with that, the stage was set for Mats Sundin to remain a Maple Leaf.

    Oh captain, my captain. 

    He never asked to be traded, refuted the rumors of where he was going, and finally told the public how he truly felt.

    He wants to be a Maple Leaf.

Like Wendel Clark and Doug Gilmour before him, Mats Sundin will never be able to take the Blue and White out of his blood.

    To those who say he's "not a real hockey player" for not wanting to win a cup—they couldn't be farther from the truth.

Sundin wants to win, but he doesn't want to do it as a replacement player.

    When he announced his intentions to stay in Toronto, he also said that "winning a cup is a journey from October to June, and it's not the same unless you see the journey the entire way through".

    Of all of the sound-bytes to come from hockey, Mats Sundin gave the Toronto media one of the most noble quotes in the world.

(Now wouldn't it be strange if he somehow resurrected this team and led them to the playoffs? On second thought, that's too strange, scratch that.) 

    What of those who say he's "crippling" the team by not allowing the Leafs to trade him.

    How is keeping your only consistent player crippling your team?

    How is keeping a player who wants to be there crippling your team? 

    How is keeping a leader and a teacher for younger players like Alex Steen, Matt Stajan, and Jiri Tlusty around for another few months crippling your team?

    In trading Sundin could the Leafs have gotten better? Yes they could have. But there are some invaluable things that you get from keeping a player of Sundin's calibre that you can't go out and get in a trade.

    Like impressing the importance of committing to a team to the up-and-coming youth in Toronto.

    You'd never think someone would get crucified for showing commitment would you? 

    What would you say if the Baltimore Orioles had traded Cal Ripken? If the San Diego Padres had traded Tony Gwynn? If Green Bay were to trade Brett Favre for three first round picks? Yes all of these players would be shipped out to "help the future of the franchise", but how many fans wouldn't be upset?

    That's the kind of impact that Mats Sundin has had in Toronto. 

    Is the team in shambles? Sure it is. But as Mats did (or didn't, who really knows) say, it isn't his responsibility to fix John Ferguson Jr.'s mistakes.

    But Sundin has tried. My God has he tried.

    Last season when the Leafs were barely in the playoff hunt, Sundin played out of his mind, turning Alex Ponikarovsky and Nik Antropov into bona-fide first line players. 

    The Leafs missed the playoffs due to a New Jersey loss, and Sundin was ripped apart for only scoring one goal in the last 20 regular season games (although he was playing at a point-per-game average).

    Sundin's been trying to fix other GM's mistakes though, not just JFJ's. How else do you explain players such as Josh Holden, Tom Fitzgerald, Jonas Hoglund, and Mikael Renberg spending time on his line? 

    Better yet, how do you explain them posting better numbers on his line (and for some of them, career numbers) than wherever else they played on the team.

    The situation in Toronto has never made sense for Sundin, but he stayed. They couldn't get him the top tier of NHL talent, but he stayed. They couldn't get him to the Stanley Cup final, but he stayed. Hell, they blamed him when the world fell down around Maple Leaf Nation's collective ears...and he stayed.

    He stayed because he could never be a bad example for his teammates—because if the Captain gives up, then who the hell do you believe in?

    But the fact he's not going anywhere this trade deadline has as large an impact as the one he would have made had he agreed to a trade.

    Sure he wasn't traded, but no one said "that's it, I'm giving up on this team because of the fact he's staying" (to my knowledge). On the contrary, fans are at least acknowledging how lucky they are to have one of the real human beings in the sport, who recognize the game of hockey as a privilege, rather than a job—that attitude has restored an iota of hope amongst fans.

    Whereas if he was traded, I could tell you at least three fans from amongst my friends alone who would have thrown in the towel.

    In a lot of ways, Sundin is the same as Ray Bourque. 

    Yes Bourque was traded, but ask around. It seemed like the Bourque trade was the last straw and many Bruins fans gave up on the team after that deal—that's the kind of impact Bourque had—he had enough talent, enough commitment, and enough of that special, endearing quality, to push fans over the edge when he was dismissed and give up on the team.

    Ask Bourque if, while he was lifting the cup in an Avalanche jersey, there wasn't a little piece of him that was saying "If only it were Boston...if only".

    With Mats Sundin there will never be an "if only". There will be a wish that he had brought a cup to Toronto in his time here, but he will never wear an ill-begotten Stanley Cup ring around on his finger, flaunting his "success".

Flaunting how he "latched on at the right time".

    That's not Mats Sundin. 

    Mats Sundin isn't like that. He's never been like that. Or else why did he stay in Toronto? 

    If he was solely concerned with winning, then he could have (and probably would have) jumped ship a long time ago. And he probably would have been successful.

    And the Leafs? Well they'd probably be worse off than they are now.

    Hard to believe isn't it? That one man can make that much of a difference to a city?

    Well Mats Sundin can. 

    Oh captain, my captain, forever and for always with the Toronto Maple Leafs. 

    Thank you Mats.