2006 Olympic gold medallist. The first European drafted first overall. The first Swede to score 1000 points. 1346 games: 564 goals and 1349 points. And now he is a first ballot Hockey Hall of Famer.
That is an impressive resume. But is it impressive enough to crown him as the greatest Toronto Maple Leafs player ever?
That is a pretty lofty title in itself. I don't know if I would rank Sundin, the Leafs all time leading scorer, over Syl Apps, Teeder Kennedy, Frank Mahovlich or Dave Keon. But I have no reservations ranking him ahead of Darryl Sittler, who I consider to be a perfect comparable for Sundin.
Sittler and Sundin both bled Maple Leafs blue, captaining the team for long tenures and without much help. They were maligned to some degree, mostly unfairly, because of the lack of team success. Neither player won a Stanley Cup, or even a major individual trophy. Those outside of Toronto suggested that both were very good and very popular players, elevated to great players only because they were the face of the franchise in the most intense market in hockey.
I tend to agree that Sundin was a very good player for a very long time, but not necessarily a great player for any extended length of time. But there are several similar players like that already in the Hockey Hall of Fame - Mike Gartner, Dale Hawerchuk, Bernie Federko, Pat Lafontaine and, drum roll please, Darryl Sittler.
Unlike Sittler or any of the other great Maple Leafs players of the past, the general consensus is that Maple Leafs fans never fully appreciated Mats Sundin. Somehow they always wanted more out of him. The Leafs did not have the most success in his era. Sundin never had a lot of help. He represented the blue and white with class and dignity. He gave it his all.
Sundin was an elegant player, blessed with size and skills. The Leafs long time captain was a quiet and classy leader. On Monday Mats Sundin will take his place in the Hockey Hall of Fame on 30 Yonge Street, forever residing in the great city of Toronto - a Maple Leaf forever.
2 comments:
As good as Sundin was when he broke through in the 1990 playoffs for Djurgården in Swedish Elitserien, I never saw him again. With the reservation that I mostly saw him play for the national team and less Maple Leafs.
I've certainly heard some Leafs fans tout Sundin as the greatest Leaf of all time, and probably once seen an article naming him such. No doubt, he is one of the great players of all time... but I have to almost feel sorry for fans who call him the greatest. A part of them must have forgotten they actually won the Stanley Cup 13 times. It would take a historian or old-time fan to remember the likes of Apps, Keon, Armstrong, Malkovich, Kelly, or Horton (not as coffee and doughnut emperor), all of whom I should place ahead of Sundin - and take it from me, a Canuck fan born in the 80s.
Regardless, Sundin is one of the best ever, and it's too bad he couldn't win that Cup.
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