Sundin's Final Goodbye

Mats has finally headed off into the sunset... or in his case, off to fishing and spending time with his new wife. Thank goodness for that too, because no one wanted to see him come back and play so far below his usual level, like he did last year.

My earliest memories of hockey include a young Mats Sundin, just after he had been traded to Toronto in 1994. I remember trying to copy his moves out in the driveway, and made sure that the number on the back of my jersey from then on would be #13. Now that I look back on it, he always had an unbelievable ability to make anyone who played with him a better player. Players like Jonas Hoglund, Steve Thomas, Sergei Berezin, and Gary Roberts suddenly became household names in Toronto because of the unbelievable skill level that their big Swedish linemate possessed.

Now there has been plenty of detractors through the years (my Dad included) who always faulted Mats for not leading the Leafs farther into the playoffs year after year, and here is why I think they are wrong. Mats' personality is not that of a dominant person who grabs a hold of your attention and won't let it go. He has always been (and will always be) the quiet type, who would rather lead by example than anything else. The management in Toronto just couldn't see that Mats needed other veterans around him to help be the vocal leaders in the locker room. If, for example, the Leafs would have kept Doug Gilmour as a captain and made Mats an assistant captain, the Leafs would have had much more success in grueling playoff series that required hard nosed leadership. Fletcher and co. never realized that until it was too late though, which really wasted some of Mats' best years in the NHL.

Mats brought all kinds of awesome memories to this Leafs fan, no doubt of it. I will always remember him as the reason behind my lucky #13, and the star of my favourite hockey team when I was growing up. This man is a first ballot Hall of Famer, and in my books is one of the top 5 Maple Leafs of all time.