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TOROTO — The Mats Sundin Circus will not leave town until Monday at the earliest, as the Toronto Maple Leafs captain continued to struggle over the weekend with the unthinkable.
There was at least some movement on the no-trade front, though. But it didn't come from Sundin. Defenceman Bryan McCabe said he might waive the no-trade clause in his contract if interim general manager Cliff Fletcher came to him with an irresistible trade offer from a Stanley Cup contender before Tuesday's trade deadline.
"I want to stay here but I'd consider it," McCabe said.
However, this was a mere sidelight as the spotlight remained on Sundin. Will he or won't he grant Fletcher's request that he waive his no-trade clause so the Leafs can put some assets in place for next season's GM?
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Sundin certainly did not act like someone taking his final bow at home on Saturday night during the Leafs' 3-1 win over the Atlanta Thrashers. There was no lingering after his turn on the ice as the game's third star. And the fans were seemingly of the same mind, not giving him an ovation out of the ordinary.
"Actually, it didn't," Sundin said when asked if he considered that could have been his last home game as a Maple Leaf. The only thing newsworthy Sundin passed along was that he lost 10 pounds due to a case of strep throat last week.
Shortly before that, Sundin repeated for Hockey Night In Canada's television audience what he said earlier that morning and what he has said almost every day since the circus started. "My position hasn't changed," he said.
Still, Fletcher has not yet been told no definitively. And Sundin at least acknowledges he is still wrestling with a final decision.
"I have some things to think about, some things to sort out," he told Hockey Night interviewer Elliotte Friedman.
Then, in the Leaf dressing room, he faced another large media scrum.
"No matter what happens, I'll always love Toronto and I'm going to love the Toronto Maple Leafs," Sundin said. "It's been home for the last 13 years and that's never going to change.
"I hope people respect whatever decision is going to come out of this."
Once again, there was just enough waffling to keep Fletcher and Leafs Nation on pins and needles.
Your agent is still hitting his laptop with a fire extinguisher thanks to all the flames that hit the e-mail inbox following a suggestion that Fletcher play hardball with Sundin in order to get him to waive his no-trade clause. And I didn't even go as far as my friend Scott Burnside of ESPN.com, who said Fletcher should immediately rip the C from Sundin's sweater if he didn't agree to a trade.
I have not changed my mind on this — Fletcher should put the squeeze on Sundin if he gets a terrific offer — but I can also see the softer side of the argument. This is one that has to be advanced by Sundin's agent, J.P. Barry of CAA Sports or someone else whose opinion Sundin respects.
First, you have to start with Sundin's reasoning for why he wants to remain with the Leafs, which he laid out yet again on Saturday morning:
"I can't go to another team if I don't want to be with another team. I wouldn't be true to myself. That just wouldn't feel right for me. I've never believed in being a rent-a-player to start with. I've always thought that if you want to win a Stanley Cup you should be there from training camp in order to really feel a part of the team."
This is an honourable sentiment, held by an honourable man. However, it overlooks a certain reality.
Another of Sundin's goals is to win a Stanley Cup. But he is 37 years old and has long said he has no plans to play hockey beyond the age of 40. Not even the most deluded Leaf fan would say this team has a good chance to win the Cup in the next three years.
Here is where Barry, or even Phil Esposito, whom Sundin brought up several times over the weekend as offering the advice to follow his heart, needs to tell him something.
Mats, you have given your best hockey years to the Toronto Maple Leafs, the reasoning could go. In that time, you never really got close to a Stanley Cup. Sure, you made the Eastern Conference final a couple of times but you guys did not come close to winning either series. And how many times after the free-agent season ended was the big Leaf story the fact they didn't get you a winger? No, Jonas Hoglund and Mikael Renberg don't count.
So do something for yourself. Sure, winning a Stanley Cup as a rental player is something less than sweating and bleeding through the playoff grind with a long-time group of friends. But it still beats not having one when you retire.
Ask Ray Bourque. He agonized long and hard before leaving the Boston Bruins in 2000 for the Colorado Avalanche. Then he had to wait another year before winning a Cup. But he won it.
Your teammate Hal Gill was on that Bruins team with Bourque. He said on Saturday that none of Bourque's teammates resented his decision.
Gill also said Bourque told him he never regretted it.
