Just A Quick Comment On Sundin - Turn The Page
May 29th, 2008 by Steve
LET HIM GO.
Change the face of the franchise. Sundin’s time has come and gone.
Yes we got absolutely nothing in exchange for him, but on the plus side we won’t have to pay him $5.5 million, and then stress out over whether or not he’ll let us trade him in exchange for prospects. That ship has sailed… kiss it goodbye and get on with your lives.
I don’t personally think bringing Sundin back accomplishes anything. Yes he’s respected, and yes he’s one of the best Leafs of all time, and yes he’s been a great leader on and off the ice for years. So what? The Leafs stink, and none of their young players will develop without the opportunity to do so. Let the younger kids carry the torch. If they drop it along the way, keep bringing in more young kids until somebody picks it up and carries it forwards.
Also - I care far less about who they hire as GM than I do about the fact that Richard Peddie needs to not be involved in the hiring process. He needs to stay very far away from everything sports related. The fact that he doesn’t do so is a large part of why the management in the SPORTS side of the organization sucks.
My prediction - The Leafs will over pay to bring Sundin back, I think he’s just throwing out the “I could play elsewhere” card to up his price. Toronto will pay Sundin more than anywhere else would be willing to… if for no reason other than that’s what Toronto seems to do best (overpay aging free agents).
Again I repeat - LET HIM GO. So what if he signs on for the Habs? Then we get another Canadiens player to hate, it adds to the historic rivalry etc. The part of this that’s a tad silly is, he had the chance to go to one of these teams and win a cup THIS season, but he apparently thinks being there for the whole year is very important. If he ends up in Montreal, I will continue to refuse to want them to win the Cup. LET HIM GO!
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7 Responses to “Just A Quick Comment On Sundin - Turn The Page”
By Down Goes Brown
on May 29, 2008
At this point, I’m not sure where I want to see him wind up. But I see where you’re coming from.
Here’s my question: If you’re a Habs fan, do you really want to pay $8M for a guy who wasn’t interested in helping you win a Cup only a few months ago?
By eyebleaf
on May 29, 2008
he wasn’t interested in being a rental player. that’s why he didn’t want to go to montreal. sub in any city you can think of, it had only to do with being a rental player.
as for sundin coming back, we got him on the cheap last year. $6 to $7 million is not overpaying for his calibre. the dude’s a top flight centre in the NHL. and who better to mould the future Leafs? and we all know they need a lot of moulding.
By Troy
on May 29, 2008
I’d sit on a fence in this instance. While you want the young guys to lead you into the future, there is a reason to keep him; primarily his massive point production still. Knowing the Leafs, I’d bet on a deal near 6-7 million next year to keep him in Toronto
By dan
on May 29, 2008
keep him and we finish anywhere from 7th to 10th in the East. I gotta figure that a new coach is going to give us a few more points than this year past. I also figure that getting rid of Raycroft will be at least 5 more points for this team. In any event, the team will not be where we need it to go forward.
Let him go and we sink to anywhere from 9th to 15th. So what do we have to lose? I kind of agree with Steve on this one. Let him go and move on. If Sundin really wants to move on, then the way I see it, his loyalty can only be renewed on a yearly basis. WTF is that? We’ll see how this one plays out.
In any event, Sundin is the best free agent out there to build a team around. Hossa’s a decent winger, but not a guy I’d want on my team to lead in to battle. And definitly not a player worth anything above 5 million. The team has to try to win, even if it means living in the middle of the pack, the money means nothing at this point because there is nothing to spend it on, unless they can score a big trade.
Instead of buying out contracts this year. They may as well sit tight for one more year, wait for Burke, sign Sundin, and look towards next year. It gets them no where, but they kind of do have to try to win. I’d perfer to try to change the face of the team, but it isn’t what is going to happen this year.
By Steve
on May 29, 2008
Just in case we’ve all forgotten - John Tavares is available in next year’s draft. The Leafs finished 12th in the East this past season. Why would anyone assume we’d finish above that next season? Lets look at the East for a second here. Montreal, Boston, Ottawa, Pittsburgh, Philadelphia, Carolina, Washington, Buffalo, NY Rangers are all likely better than Toronto next year. Toss in Florida, and NY Islanders for good measure, and you begin to wonder WHY we’d bother bringing back Sundin.
It doesn’t GAIN the Leafs anything. It’s just another salary to keep us close to the cap. LET THE TEAM CHANGE ALREADY.
Seriously - look at Barcelona in the Spanish La Liga (Soccer/Football for those that don’t follow it) - They’re getting rid of the guy that was the best footballer on the planet 2 YEARS AGO, and the best African on the planet 2 YEARS AGO… because they finished in 2ND PLACE OVERALL. We’re holding on to Sundin because of what? We finished in 12th? LET IT GO. This is pathetic. We’re like a bad ex-girlfriend that wants to pretend the magic is still there… what’s wrong with you guys?
Just a reminder.
By scotty
on May 29, 2008
I have to agree. I’ve been cheering for Sundin for the last 14 years and his window for winning has passed, which is sort of sad. Between 2002 and 2004 was the best opportunity to win with Sundin and Quinn sold the future and used the financial advantage we had over most teams to try to win it then. We momentarily had Leetch, Nolan, Roberts, Noodles, Mogilny but still couldn’t find the right recipe (although Ottawa was always a good piece of roadkill). Currently Sundin could score every game and it wouldn’t be enough. I wanted him to leave at the deadline and now, even though he still has some good hockey inside of him, there’s little reason to have him around. The young players will have to learn to play without him. Antropov could probably get some decent youth as well if he plays like last season and if McCabe would just follow his wife to Long Island maybe one reliable defenseman could come back in return. Even Toskala could go (he may get the most back if he plays like the end of last year). If the organization is serious then even more players could head for the chopping block. Of course, lingering at the bottom of the standings doesn’t guarrantee Tavares, but it would be a start of light for the future, along with Pogge and the defenseman(probably) that the Leafs will get in the coming draft. And perhaps Sundin should just sign with the Wings for $5M and try to get his name on the cup. There’s no shame in that. Many players have gone down a similar road. The only problem for Sundin is that some Leaf fans will never forgive him.
PS I enjoy your site and frequent it often.