The Toronto Star

(2008-06-21)

Sports
Au revoir, Capt. Mats; Maybe the Canadiens, maybe not but unless he's a masochist, don't expect Sundin back in Toronto
Graphic: RENE JOHNSTON TORONTO STAR FILE PHOTO Leaf captain Mats Sundin has likely waved his last goodbye to Toronto fans after being dealt to the Montreal
Canadiens on a conditional basis. ;

Cliff Fletcher gave birth to the Mats Sundin era, and now he's snuffed it out.

Talk about a day of local sports history being turned on its head. With Fletcher in charge of Toronto's NHL entry, Cito Gaston back calling the shots for
the Blue Jays and Sundin essentially no longer a member of the Leafs, it really is like 1993 all over again.

Well, minus a whole bunch of terrific ball players and smart hockey players.

The Sundin decision will be analyzed and interpreted in many different ways, but the fact is that Fletcher and the Leafs, having failed to persuade Sundin
to accept a trade in February or to re-sign with the club this week in a final flurry of talks, dealt him sometime in the last 48 hours to the Montreal
Canadiens on a conditional basis.

"It took you guys a while to find out," said Fletcher last night. "It would have been better if you hadn't found out."

That deal may yet fall apart if the Habs can't sign the classy Swede by midnight, June 30, and the Leafs wouldn't get the unidentified compensation upon
which the two clubs have agreed.

But if Montreal can't convince Sundin to sign, don't expect the romance to be rekindled between No. 13 and the Leafs.

The leading member of the soon-to-be-disbanded Muskoka Five would have to be an utter masochist to return to a lousy team that has done all it can to trade
him twice in the past four months.

"At this point Mats hasn't decided if he wants to play, let alone where," said Sundin's agent, J.B. Barry.

Montreal GM Bob Gainey started his pitch to Sundin with a phone conversation Thursday night, undoubtedly suggested the powerful pivot might enjoy playing
on the league's best power play and probably added a little extra enticement yesterday by acquiring skilled winger Alex Tanguay from Calgary.

With Tanguay, the Kostitsyn brothers, Chris Higgins, Alex Kovalev, Tomas Plekanec, Saku Koivu and Andrei Markov, the Habs can offer the 37-year-old Swede
a wide variety of talented attackers to play with that he could never have enjoyed with the Leafs.

Adding to the symbolism of the day for the Leafs, meanwhile, was the aggressive move to jump up two slots in last night's entry draft in order to select
hardrock Kelowna defenceman Luke Schenn with the fifth overall selection, perhaps a player who will eventually grow into a leadership position with the
Leafs.

Maybe he's Adam Foote, maybe he's Luke Richardson. We'll see.

"When I went and saw him play for Kelowna in the playoffs, he was definitely a take-charge kind of player," said Fletcher of the Saskatoon-born blueliner.


With the Detroit Red Wings having won the Stanley Cup early in the month with an appealing level of speed and skill, yesterday was a stirring day of activity
on which a variety of talented offensive players were on the move.

Olli Jokinen went to Phoenix from Florida for a package revolving around defenceman Keith Ballard.

Mike Cammalleri was swapped by the Kings to the Flames.

R.J. Umberger, a post-season scoring terror for the Flyers, was dealt to Columbus for draft picks.

In the draft itself, brilliant junior pivot Steven Stamkos went first overall to the Tampa Bay Lightning and its bizarre new ownership/management operation
under Hollywood movie producer Oren Koules.

Then, after four defencemen were grabbed, there was a run on skilled forwards including Russian Nikita Filatov, Danish-born speedster Mikkel Boedker, American
collegian Colin Wilson and Canadian juniors Josh Bailey, Cody Hodgson and Kyle Beach.

The Leafs, meanwhile, are almost certainly headed in a very different direction. A team without much offensive might well now be losing its best offensive
player, and would also dearly love to get rid of winger Darcy Tucker and defenceman Bryan McCabe, both formerly significant offensive threats.

Only Russian prospect Nikolai Kulemin, who is expected to join the club by next fall, is a new player likely to add offensive pop.

Face it folks, we're heading into a long, dry period here.

Jays can't hit, Leafs won't be able to score.

Yeah, maybe it's not like 1993 all over again at all.

Damien Cox

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