A brief history of Mats Sundin

Even in 1989, teams had trouble
fitting Sundin under the cap.

Mats Sundin played for three teams during his 18-year NHL career, but for a generation of fans he’ll always be a Maple Leaf. Tonight, he’ll see his number 13 raised to the rafters in what’s sure to be an emotional ceremony at the Air Canada Centre.

Sundin’s career was often spectacular, but his legacy is complicated. To this day, Maple Leaf fans can’t seem to agree on what he meant to the team. He owns several franchise scoring records, but was criticized for underachieving. He refused an opportunity to leave the team, but was accused of lacking loyalty.

Before Sundin takes his place alongside Maple Leaf immortality, let’s take a look back at the career of one of the game’s most polarizing figures.

October 4, 1990 – One year after being taken first overall by Quebec, Sundin makes his NHL debut in Hartford and records his first career goal in what to this day remains one of the most memorable moments in recent Nordiques/Whalers history.

June 28, 1994 – A blockbuster trade sends Sundin to the Maple Leafs, with Wendel Clark going to the Nordiques. Upon witnessing the outrage in Toronto over the deal, Sundin makes a mental note that Leaf fans obviously really hate it when a popular veteran captain is traded for younger players.

September 30, 1997 – Sundin is finally given the captain’s “C” a full seven months after the Doug Gilmour trade had left it vacant, a delay caused by team president Ken Dryden’s desire to “say just a few quick words” prior to the presentation.

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Ways the Maple Leafs would be different if Wayne Gretzky owned them

The new owner gets his first look
at the Mike Komisarek contract.

The slow-moving saga that is the sale of the Toronto Maple Leafs received an unexpected jolt late last week with speculation that Wayne Gretzky could have a role with a new ownership group.

Initial reports indicated that Gretzky had been approached by one or more potential buyers. Gretzky briefly seemed to confirm that, before later backtracking and denying any involvement in a deal. Confusion reigned, with various insiders trying to interpret Gretzky's words to figure out what, if anything, was really going on. And once all the smoke cleared, it seemed like the whole thing may have been one big false alarm.

But why let reality spoil the fun? After all, the mere rumour of Gretzky's involvement was enough to get hockey fans thinking: What if The Great One were to invest in the Maple Leafs? What kind of impact would he have on one of the league's most storied franchises?

The best guess is that Gretzky's arrival in Toronto would bring plenty of changes:

• Every Leaf fan you know would start bringing up the Gretzky/Gilmour high-sticking incident 10 times a day, instead of eight times a day like they have been for the past 18 years.
  
  
• Any potential NHL owner who has ever publicly argued in favour of placing a team in Hamilton would immediately start getting ominous phone calls from Dave Semenko inviting them to go for a canoe ride.
  
  
• Gretzky would use his show business connections to land Phil Kessel a starring spot on Saturday Night Live, just to ensure that somebody finally breaks his record for "most awkward SNL host of all-time".
  
  
• Edmonton Oilers fans would feel oddly conflicted when Maple Leafs ownership signs Taylor Hall and Jordan Eberle as free agents in five years.
  

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A hall of famer, a neurosurgeon, a journalist and a blogger walk into a studio...

Dryden listened intently as the random blogger
explained the finer points of hockey to him.

As those of you who follow on twitter or facebook may know, I had the opportunity last week to appear on TVO's The Agenda With Steve Paikin as part of a panel discussing hockey violence and concussions. Also appearing were Hall Of Fame goalie and former Maple Leafs' GM Ken Dryden; Professor of Neurosurgery at U of T Dr. Charles Tator; and longtime Toronto Star sportswriter Mary Ormsby.

I think it went really well, which is to say that I didn't piddle myself, drop any accidental f-bombs, or interrupt Dryden to demand an explanation for the Jason Smith trade, except for that one time and they were able to edit my outburst and subsequent tasing out of the final broadcast.

The show is now available online:

(Viewing this in an RSS feed? Click here.)

A few thoughts:

• If you're wondering how a lowly blogger winds up on a show like this with three well-respected professionals, consider that the taping coincided with both March break and St. Patrick's Day. On that note, be sure to check out the episode page (click the "Concussions" tab) for the guest descriptions. I really think TVO should have gone all the way and just put "Sean McIndoe was available".
  
  
• Speaking of which, if I told you that a former NHL enforcer was invited to appear on the show but declined because they had committed to playing the bag pipes at a St. Patty's event even though they're not Irish, who would you think it was? Not that I am telling you this. I'm just curious.
  
  
• Pro tip: If you're ever invited to be on TV, figure out what to do with your hands when you're not talking before they start filming you. Just trust me on this one.
  
  
• Actual conversation that took place after filming:
  
  Me (feeling very proud of myself for handling the whole thing very professionally): Well, excellent show everyone, this has been a great experience. I have a flight to catch so I'm going to head out now.
  
  (Strides confidently towards door.)
  
  Producer: Yeah, you're probably going to want to have your makeup removed before you get on the Toronto subway.
  
  
• I ended up having the chance to spend a solid ten minutes in conversation with Dryden in the green room before the show. Did I spend most of that time engaging in a detailed discussion of the intricacies of the Rob Brown vs. Sylvain Lefevbre fight from 1992? Yes. Yes I did. I regret nothing.
  
  
• Finally, and in all seriousness, a sincere thanks to the other guests and to the nice people at TVO for making an obvious rookie feel comfortable. The entire experience was a lot of fun, mostly thanks to their patience.
  
  And again, sorry about all the tasing.
  

Maple Leafs Overtime Heroes: Gary Roberts vs the Senators

Maple Leafs Overtime Heroes is an ongoing series where we'll look back at memorable Leaf playoff overtime goals. Today's goal is Gary Roberts' triple overtime winner against the Senators in game two of their 2002 playoff series.

In the opening game of their 2002 second round series, the Ottawa Senators handed the Maple Leafs their most lopsided playoff loss of the modern era.

Oh sure, there have been games with a bigger margin of victory than that night's 5-0 Sens win. But anyone who saw the game would know that it could have been much worse. The Senators scored all five goals by the midway mark of the second period, and then shut it down. If they'd wanted to, they could have won 10-0 that night. It was that bad.

So heading into game two, the Leafs were already facing a must-win. With a long list of injured players that included captain Mats Sundin, it would have been all but impossible for Toronto to come back from a 2-0 series deficit. After all, they would be playing the next two games in Ottawa in front of 19,000 rabid fans, almost half of whom would have been cheering for the Senators.

No momentum. No captain. No hope. And no choice but to find some way, any way, to win.

Hmm... what would Gary do?

Let's review the tape:

The goal
Not much to talk about here, since the goal takes exactly two seconds. Let's just saw it's awful, and move on to everything that happens after.

Patrick Lalime's reaction
When we looked at the Mike Foligno overtime goal, I credited Tim Cheveldae with one of the great overtime "losing goaltender sprint off the ice" moves of all-time.

If you've ever wondered why goalies do that, here's Patrick Lalime to show you the alternative. As soon as the goal goes in, he does everything short of put a gun in his mouth.

Now I always thought Lalime got a bad rap from Ottawa fans, since we would have need a GAA of -1.00 to outduel Curtis Joseph or Eddie Belfour. But dear lord, Patrick, pull yourself together and get off the ice. The Sens were a young team, and nothing says "we don't really think we can win" like a goaltender who responds to one bad goal like my two-year-old realizing the Dora DVD has ended.

Of course, Lalime would later top himself in game seven of the 2004 series when he reacted to Joe Nieuwendyk's second goal by slumping to his knees, screaming something, then crawling over the zamboni and wrapping his lips around the tailpipe.

Still not the worst thing a Senator has
ever put up their nose

Wade Redden
The clearcut highlight of the entire video is the shot at 0:30 of Wade Redden sitting on the bench with his finger up his nose, reacting to the goal by saying something that looks vaguely like "that's freaking great". Don't read lips, kids!

By the way, "Wade Redden sitting on the bench with his finger up his nose" was the title of the New York Rangers 2008-09 year in review DVD.

Ken Dryden clapping
I need to get this off my chest: What the hell was the deal with the way Ken Dryden clapped? This always bothered me. It was always the same: angry face, way too much intensity, hands held uncomfortably high, and just slamming his palms together with no coordination at all.

How is it possible to look so uncool when you're clapping? Are we sure this guy was one of the greatest players of his generation? Is it possible he died in 1999 and the Leafs replaced him in the press box with a badly made life-sized puppet?

You're with me, pleather.

Rod Bryden's jacket
I don't even have a punchline.

But I do have questions, such as: Where did he get that jacket? Is there some sort of "custom made novelty leather jacket" store that only rich people have access to? Has anyone other than Rod Bryden and Michael Jackson ever appeared in public wearing a bright red leather jacket? And where is that jacket now, is it for sale, and how much do you want for it?

Walter Gretzky?
Wait, is that Walter Gretzky appearing for a brief moment in a crowd shot? This guy is practically hockey royalty. Quick, everyone be on their best behavior! And for god's sake, don't let the mascot try to hump anything!

Carlton the Beat humping the glass
Yes, OK, so Carlton humps the glass at 2:00. Look folks, he's a bear. He has instincts. If you're going to hire a bear to be part of your game day marketing staff, this is just part of the deal. If the Leafs didn't think that was acceptable behavior, they shouldn't have let him walk around wearing a jersey and no pants.

The Most Obscure Guy in the Pile
I'm launching a new feature: "The Most Obscure Guy in the Pile", where we look at famous celebrations and try to pick out the most insignificant player involved.

Our inaugural winner is... Anders Eriksson! He's the guy wearing #44 and giving Roberts an extended head rub. This completely useless defenceman played 38 career games for the Leafs, recorded no goals and two assists, was once traded for Chris Chelios, and recently won the coveted "Most Swedish Name of All-time" award. There's at least a 90% chance that Roberts has no idea who he is.

Congratulations, Anders! Now get off the ice. And, um, you may not want to brush up against the glass on your way out.