Al14 said:
When he could have really helped the team, he copped out! He should have allowed himself to be traded for the good of the team. Instead, he talked about not wanting to join a new team mid-season! And then, he goes and signs up to play with Vancouver half into the next season. He lied, and for that, I'll never be a big fan of his time as a Leaf.
Look, let's nip this in the bud right now. Someone changing their mind about something a year later does not qualify as a lie. He didn't cop out. He wasn't a liar. Every single day the guy was in a Leafs uniform he gave it his 100%. That's all we can expect from a player. Expecting a player to do accept a trade when he doesn't want one "for the good of the team" is nonsense. Unless you're more interested in your employers well being than your own you have no business expecting that of anyone.
You say "when he really had a chance to help the team". So that only applies to his last season on the team where he was above a ppg at 37 years old and the worst thing you can say about him is that he didn't want to accept a trade made advantageous to the team only because the team you think he should have sacrificed to help ran itself into the ground? His "chance" to really help the team didn't apply to his all-world play and tireless effort during the 12 years he played for the team? Scoring all of those overtime goals, carrying all of those crummy linemates on his back, that wasn't him "really helping the team"?
If Mats Sundin was the kind of player who would "cop out" on the Maple Leafs it would have happened at one of his many opportunities to go elsewhere and sign with a team where he didn't have to deal with the media headaches, clubhouse lawyers and Jonas Hoglund's of the world. Any team would have jumped at the chance to add him but he stuck it out with the Maple Leafs and only played elsewhere when the team told him they didn't have room for him.
If you look over Mats Sundin's career and don't think that he was dedicated enough to the team, that he let the team down when they needed him, then I really question whether or not following sports is for you. If you want stories about people being as dedicated to something as you expected Mats Sundin to be the corporate entity that is the Toronto Maple Leafs hockey team, read the Twilight books or some other BS fairy tale.
Mats Sundin owns just about every meaningful record you could own on the Maple Leafs. He wasn't a show-off, he wasn't a coach-killer and he never embarrassed the team. He was active in the community, dealt with the media with pretty extraordinary honesty and patience and played through pain. He scored big goals, was a great leader on the ice and did it all while representing his country as well as any hockey player.
You don't want to be a "big fan" of that? Fine. Scotiabank Place is thataway. Don't let the door hit you.