Mats Sundin: Hockey's King of Drama

About a week before July 1, the Montreal Canadiens were given permission to speak to Toronto captain Mats Sundin regarding a new contract. Most fans and experts alike felt that this was going to be a done deal, the Swede would soon be wearing a Habs sweater. But nothing happened.

Then word came out that Mats was waiting until July 1 for a sweet offer from yet another team from Canada, probably the Ottawa Senators. But July 1 came and went, and nothing became of that.

About a week or so later, a confirmed report came out of Vancouver that Sundin was offered a contract by the Canucks worth $20 million for two years. That’s correct—$10 million bucks per year.

He couldn’t possibly turn that much money down, could he? Well, believe it or not, but nothing came from that either.

Since then, there have been almost daily rumors about where Mats might play. This weekend, Vancouver again came into the mix as a report came out that he had actually signed a contract with the Canucks. But this report was quickly squashed by Sundin’s agent, who said that Mats hadn’t signed for anyone yet.

What’s next? A tearful press conference stating that he is retiring? Or better yet, will he accept a contract offer in the newly formed KHL and play in Russia?

Make up your mind, Mats. What is it that you want?

In other news, the Islanders officially reported that they were interviewing Paul Maurice, something that we mentioned here at Canes Country last week. Good luck to Maurice—he’ll be up against some quality competition, including Bob Hartley and John Tortorella.

The Buzz’s own Bomani Jones has officially entered into the now infamous North Carolina Sports Survey debacle. Just the mention of Bomani’s name invokes the wrath of some Caniacs, who will never forget his controversial article about fans of the Hurricanes back during the 2006 playoffs.

Everyone is entitled to their own opinion, but I question why Bomani only seems to discuss negative news concerning the Canes. On Wednesday afternoon’s show, that all might change.

More about that later.

Finally, kudos and a thank you to the Puck Daddy Blog for noting that our take on that silly survey was “rather interesting”.