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What Could Have Been: Mats Sundin's Legacy

February 10, 2012, 11:36 PM ET [78 Comments]
Adam Kirshenblatt
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With Mats Sundin about to be honoured on Saturday night there has been a lot of talk about his time here. On paper, he has been the best statistical player in the Toronto Maple Leafs’ history. This is ahead of great names like Dave Keon, Frank Mahavolich, Ted Kennedy, Charlie Conacher, and more recently, beloved guys like Doug Gilmour and Wendel Clark. However, throughout his career in Toronto, his legacy has always been in question. The ever smothering media here has always asked the question “is this fair?”, and for most of his time in Toronto I would say no, it’s not. The numbers are great, the fact that he leads in most offensive categories on a storied franchise as the Leafs says so but that’s not what made him great in my books. What did it for him was the class that he was with his leadership on the team and in the community.

The impression he gave was that the city and the team came first, and the individual stats were a nice bonus. One has to understand the climate towards sports stars in Toronto was not the greatest during the 90s. The Blue Jays had Roberto Alomar, Shawn Green, Roger Clemens, and David Wells all leave their team due to their lack of success. The Raptors had Damon Stoudamire, Tracy McGrady, and Vince Carter all leave due to personality and individualistic attitudes. Heck, even the Argonauts couldn’t keep star quarterback Doug Flutie from jumping to the NFL. The Leafs, like the three other teams in Toronto, were a mediocre team in the mid-90s. One could even consider the last string of playoff appearances to be mediocre as they only got past the second round twice. While the culture of hockey in Toronto is much different than the other three sports, no one would have been surprised if Sundin did what Curtis Joseph did and leave for what appeared to be a bigger chance for the Cup.

Now as many of you can see the point I’m getting at, the fact that he didn’t leave is not the cause of my admiration for him… but the fact that it was NEVER an issue here. He had taken a lot of flak that a normal face of a franchise player would never get. First of all, the fact that he was traded for Wendel Clark had never endeared himself to most fans from the early 90s. Secondly, his toughness was questioned throughout his tenure as a Leaf (probably again because of Clark). Lastly, he was subject to trade rumours long before the drama at the end of his career (I remember one crazy one that involved him heading to St. Louis for Keith Tkachuk). The thing is, he never gave the appearance that it bothered him at all. The appearance he did make was that he wanted to prove everyone wrong and win the Stanley Cup here. That’s what I admired most during his time in Toronto. It seemed like he would rather win here, or not win at all.

However, that all changed right at the end.

The story at the end is a well-publicized drama. The Leafs were going nowhere and had been for a long time. During this time the Leafs were lucky to be ninth in the conference to even just be competing for a playoff spot. When Sundin’s contract was expiring, the city was abuzz with the idea of trading him to start a true rebuilding process similar to the Penguins and the Black Hawks. The problem with that idea was the members of the Maple Leafs with the no-trade clauses, aka the Muskoka Five. Sundin refused to waive the no-trade clause and to be honest that was fine with me. Like I said, what I admired most was the concept that he wanted to win in Toronto or nowhere. So for me there was only two choices that I would find acceptable as a fan. Either he accepts a trade and allows the Leafs to send the clear rebuilding message, or he stays and retires a Leaf and stay true to that concept that I admired.

He did neither.

The problem was that he was completely unsure about whether he could or wanted to come back to play in the NHL. If he did, the Leafs seemed like they had no intention to spend that type of money and cap space on him, and he didn’t want to be a part of a rebuilding situation. The length of time he took to make his decision infuriated his admirers and the decision to join the Vancouver Canucks made me really disappointed. The concept of not wanting to win anywhere else is an idealistic, and naïve thing and I even knew it then, but that’s what I felt the city needed, and still needs that type of athlete. It would be that type of person (not athlete) that I would want future hockey players to look up to. So he played the half a year in Vancouver with little to show for it, getting ousted by the Blackhawks (again) in the playoffs. He did make his only trip to the Air Canada Centre as a visitor, where he scored the game winning goal in the shootout against the Leafs to a standing ovation (this made me sick to my stomach as I cringe when fans cheer for anyone on the opposing team no matter who they are, but that’s a story for a different day).

So now as the Leafs are getting ready to honour his number 13 to the rafters at the Air Canada Centre, I have mixed feelings about it. I want to bury the hatchet and not be angry at him for the pointless stint with the Canucks, but the level of respect I had for him will forever be gone. He’s now just another athlete, a great one who did great things for this team, but when the true test of his character came, one that could have made him a great role model, he chose the easy way out. I respect everything he’s done for the team but I will always feel like he could have been more that he could have been more. I know there will be some, who will likely comment, disagree with that but that’s just one person’s point of view.

The next question surrounding Mats Sundin will be whether or not he should be inducted into the hockey hall of fame when he's first eligible this year. In my mind there are two “no doubters” which are Joe Sakic and Brendan Shanahan. Sundin, I believe, is next on the list even though he never won the Stanley Cup. The gold medal in the Olympics in 2006 is big, and for some is just as big as the Stanley Cup. The fact that he captained that team is also a big part of the equation. However, there are other qualified guys out there who are similar. Jeremy Roenick and Curtis Joseph are also first time eligible to be inducted into the Hall of Fame. Also, there are still players such as Alexander Mogliny, Eric Lindros, Dave Andreychuk, Pavel Bure, or even an old-timer like Carl Brewer (would be #1 on my list to get in, as it’s outrageous that he is not).

But what say you? Does Sundin get into the HHOF and if not who does instead?

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