Saturday, May 31, 2008

Wait, what?

From Terry Koshan's Sun column today:

...reports indicate that former Leafs coach Paul Maurice, who was fired 3 1/2 weeks ago, either has met with Florida Panthers GM Jacques Martin or will do so at the NHL scouting combine in Toronto this weekend, regarding the Panthers' coaching vacancy.

OK, explain this to me line I'm an MLSE board member.

Why can the Panthers talk to fired ex-Leaf Paul Maurice, but the Leafs can't talk to fired ex-Panther Joe Nieuwendyk?




Thursday, May 29, 2008

"Mats Sundin owes the Leafs nothing"

This points seems to come up a lot these days.

Howard Berger made the case back in February. Virtually every Sundin article on TSN.ca or Sportsnet will feature several comments from fans that echo the same point. Most recently, eyebleaf made it today over at PPP (edit: and again later on his own site).

He doesn't owe them a trade. He doesn't owe them a hometown discount. He doesn't even owe them a straight answer about what he wants to do next year. He doesn't owe them a thing.

Well, I'm not going to get into a long-winded argument about loyalty in pro sports, because it make me sound like a cranky old man and I'll probably wind up banging my face on my keyboard until I look like Braydon Coburn.

So I'll just say this: for the past few days I've mentioned in a few places that Sundin has made $50 million playing for the Leafs. To be honest, I pulled that number right out of my peddie, but it seemed like a reasonable guess.

Well, tonight I looked it up. And it turns out I was way off.

Since coming to Toronto, Mats Sundin has been paid $73 million by the Maple Leafs.

I know it's pro sports and star players make big money and it's not like he's going to turn it down if they're offering, but.... $73 million in twelve and a half years. No first-team all star selections, no major awards or nominations, no 100-point seasons, and all of four playoff series won with him in the lineup. $73 million.

He doesn't owe the Toronto Maple Leafs or their fans anything at all? Not a thing? Really?




The other side of the Sundin coin

I've been sour on Sundin since the deadline, and this week's speculation hasn't helped matters.

Despite what some think, I don't hate the guy. I've been a fan since he arrived in Toronto, and while I do think he's overrated by most Leaf fans, I've rarely had a bad word to say about him until this no-trade mess.

So in the interest of fairness, here's a post from MF37 that covers the other side of the story. I don't agree with much of what he's saying (as you'll see in the comments), but it's worth a read.




Wednesday, May 28, 2008

Sundin looking elsewhere?

A pal who was at Sundin's media availability today (after he accepted the Messier award) tells me that he gets the strong impression that Sundin is at least open to hearing offers from other teams.

On top of that, apparently another well-known reporter is telling people that he thinks Sundin is seriously considering signing with Montreal.

This is all speculation at this point. If I was Eklund, I would probably rate it as an e3 and then go back to filming my dog and ignoring the blogger contest.

But I'm gathering torches and pitchforks just in case. Who's with me?

Update: Sundin's direct quote, per Howard Berger:
"The best scenario would be if I ended my career with the Toronto Maple Leafs, but I'm not going to say that I won't be playing anywhere else either... I know I have a lot of options I can explore."




Tuesday, May 27, 2008

The Passion Returns!

This classic video was mentioned in the comments of the Clark-McSorely post. I mentioned (based on past searches) that the video wasn't available online.

Well, it turns out I was wrong. The full video was uploaded to YouTube a few weeks ago. God bless the webernet.

With a hat tip to youtuber "Jefflered", here's the full video:













Good times.

And seriously... Dougie, WTF?