Quoting the Star: Mats welcomes $5.5M deal Toronto captain says one-year deal puts pressure on himself and team to achieve success Jun 13, 2007 04:30 AM Paul Hunter SPORTS REPORTER Mats Sundin says he signed a one-year contract extension to keep pressure on himself. But clearly he also has turned the heat up on the Maple Leafs. By moving off talks that were headed toward a two-year deal and instead pushing for and agreeing on a one-year, $5.5 million (all figures U.S.) salary, the Leafs captain says it gives him the chance to evaluate his play, health and state of mind next summer before deciding whether to continue his career. But, he notes, it also will give him a chance to "evaluate the Toronto Maple Leafs." That way, Sundin will avoid getting himself into a dead-end situation if Toronto's stock doesn't improve this coming season. "I'll evaluate my season and the team's and we'll go from there. That's why I like this set up of one year," the 36-year-old said in a conference call from his hometown of Stockholm. When asked what a team assessment would involve, Sundin said it was about the club's competitiveness. "(I'll) just evaluate how we're doing," he said. "You want to go into the season having the feeling you have a chance to win a championship." Sundin, typically, was bullish on the Leafs' opportunity to reach that goal. He was remarkably optimistic for a guy who has just led a team through two non-playoff seasons. He said he believed the Leafs could beat Ottawa or Buffalo in a seven-game playoff series. He said he didn't think there was "a bigger chance" to win the Stanley Cup with a different organization. "I feel at the start of this season, we have as good of a chance as Anaheim or Ottawa or any other team to win the Stanley Cup," he said, noting the parity created by the NHL's salary cap. "I'm more driven than ever. I think we have good enough people in the dressing room to be part of a championship." Sundin reiterated he wants to retire as a Maple Leaf and that his extension includes a no-trade clause. He said he gave no thought to calling it quits this off-season and hopes to play beyond the end of this one-year deal. "We all know I'm at the end of my career. How many more years? I don't know. Time will tell," he said. Sundin suffered a minor tear in the labrum of his left hip this season – an ailment that didn't and won't require surgery – but the centre said it didn't bother him down the stretch when he scored only one goal in the final 20 games. He says it is not bothering him now as he works out for the coming season. While the Leafs were in no danger of losing Sundin – they held a team option on their captain – general manager John Ferguson saved a little more than $800,000 against his salary cap by negotiating this deal. "That was really critical to the negotiations," said Ferguson. "There's some ability there for us to save some money against the cap and use that to surround him with better players." The Leafs likely will have somewhere between $8 million and $10 million to spend when free agency begins July 1. With Sundin's name on a contract, Ferguson now can focus on signing 24-year-old defenceman Carlo Colaiacovo, a restricted free agent. Ferguson said he will meet with Mike Peca to evaluate his future. The potential unrestricted free agent suffered a season-ending broken leg in December. The guessing is the Leafs won't sign their other unrestricted free agents – forwards Jeff O'Neill, Travis Green, Bates Battaglia and goaltender Jean-Sebastien Aubin – but Ferguson said it is premature to make that announcement.
sigh.... sundin is indeed remarkably optimistic *cough cough* if he thinks we could have beaten ottawa or buffalo or anaheim with the team we had this yr... :S anyway, besides mike peca, the rest of the unrestricted free agents can indeed go...
Loyalty to be honest i wanted him to go and sign with a good hockey team so he can get a chance at the cup...he won't win with the leafs...leafs are FAR from being a stanley cup contender team...it's not Mat's fault ...its the managament they don't know how to sign good players to play with Mat's. I want the best for him....he such a classy player.
i don't get it....i rememebr seeing 2 year contract like a month ago...then last week its only a 1 year contract.........well sundin doesn't want to leave leafs cause its his home..and the only time he wwants to leave is retiring from NHL and playing in sweden.......LEAFS NEED A GOOOD ROSTER next season to get to playoffs
thx shinobi... finally somebody else who wants to see sundin go becuz we actually like him and want him to win the cup at least once in his career ... unfortunately, i think he's running out of time (besides retiring)... u get to a certain point and then ppl around the league have it in their heads that like stevie y, u "are" the team, making it impossible for trade or leaving...
it's not really the "you are the team" thing, it really is about team loyalty. and it also works for the leafs front office, by saving slightly less than a million in cap space. but honestly, the leafs have got to start building from within, and no more of this "signing old fogies past their prime." that being said, sigh, recall that antropov got extended. the leafs need some defensive D (mccabe and kaberle are both playmaking types, not much on the D side of things), as well as legitimate secondary scoring options. sundin can't be the go-to guy forever.
best of luck to him, he deserves a cup...as stated before..our management is terrible...they sign players that are aging to the point where they can't keep up to the speed the game has adapted to...we need a major overhaul if we're ever going to contend for a cup
except the nature of leafs nation would never allow the leafs to rebuild. they expect a contender every year, so jfj makes the best of what's out there (or, rather, feebly attempts to make the best of it). the same case for the habs and the red wings. neither of those teams could afford to blow it up and rebuild.
year after year of disappointment He's still a good player, but he needs NHL-calibre linemates, not some AHL-quality talents
its not always about the cup...well part of it is...but its more of the passion for the game and the team u want to play for
but why wud any player want to play for the leafs if it's not for the money? they have a ok coach now in maurice (i think), but we don't have many bona fide stars on the team, or great young potential, and we're definitely not the perrenial cup-contenders.
for sundin...that maybe true too...if he wanted to leave for a better team he could of demanded a trade YEARS ago...i guess he has grown to love the city of Toronto...but at the same time deep down inside he wants to win before he walks away the game.
i think sundin will be a great asset to Oilers a strong center like him will do them good, but i doubt he will leave toronto
but the TORONTO FANS r the BEST!!!!!...ill give u an example...when raps were doin bad in the beginning ppl didn't want to watch them and the seats were like not even near fulll...but when its a LEAFS GAME..EVERYGAME it's full of fans if its win or lose....THE FANS MAKE THE PLAYERS WANT TO STAY =)
sundin is not performing as well as he was when he was young, He should not slow down the team, and move forward. Staying in Toronto, may make him look worst...
Toronto fans are to quiet and they pay to much to see their team lose. I'm still a Leafs fan, but by a realllllly small margin. I just HOPE they can get him some good wingers this time. Whatever happened to the old Sundin line :(
what sundin line? hoglund? roberts? antropov? poni? wellwood? i liked wellwood as his winger, but that's about it. i would have liked mogilny, but that never really happened. and i know this really has nothing to do with the topic, but when kdotc mentioned toronto fans, i just thought of the pittsburgh pirates.... their fans want to organize a walkout in the third inning on saturday to protest management. think toronto fans wanna leave the acc anytime soon? -rolleyes
r u sure u're not a guy? lol..how come u know so much about sports..hmmmmmmm =p anyways...leafs fans don't need to protest cause leafs management is goood already....they're tryiin their best...and we can't only look at how leafs build their team cause we gota look at other teams building their teams as well...as leafs gets stronger other teams get stronger and tahts y leafs havne't been in the playoffs in like 3 years??? this is sooo sadddd
the pirates are hopeless. they don't have a bonafide rotation. I mean, they're all lefties. sure, that's great at PNC where left field is enormous, but dude, that's going to kill you on the road. which it already has. not to mention that most hitters are righties, who traditionally hit BETTER against lefties. kdotc: leafs management....good? whoa there, let's see how many of their picks have made a significant impact over the last few years, and were drafted in the toronto system. let's see. kaberle, and....stajan. even the ridiculously old red wings have datsyuk, zetterberg and holmstrom right from their system contributing pretty darn well to the team (datsyuk and zetterberg are still under 30). the reason why the pens made the playoffs and not the leafs is that they're using veterans in leadership roles (that, and crosby/malkin/staal are just dynamite). the leafs? those 35+ year old veterans are the CORE of the team. problems? glaring ones.
