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OTTAWA — If Mats Sundin ever ends up wearing a Montreal Canadiens' uniform, it will not be a pretty picture for long-time, long-suffering Toronto Maple Leafs' fans — unless they consider the symmetry.
Sundin began his career in La Belle Province playing for the Quebec Nordiques, starting in the 1990-91 season. He was a well-established pro in 1994, only one year removed from a 114-point season, when the Maple Leafs made what was a controversial move at the time, trading away their popular captain, Wendel Clark, in order to land Sundin, then just 23 and entering his prime. The man at the switch that day was Cliff Fletcher, who is back wheeling and dealing on behalf of the Maple Leafs now, some 14 years later — and in a round-about way, this would complete the circle.
For all that time, Sundin was the heart-and-soul of the franchise — not just for Fletcher, but for every subsequent manager. The only thing Sundin couldn't do was win the Stanley Cup. So yesterday, after it became clear that they couldn't sign him, the Leafs gave the Canadiens the exclusive rights to negotiate a contract with their captain. The window opened on Thursday — Canadiens' general manager Bob Gainey spent an hour on the telephone with Sundin — and closes at high noon on July 1, when Sundin qualifies as an unrestricted free agent. Until that time, Toronto has the same rights as 28 other teams to talk with Sundin — zero.
Gainey would not disclose what the Canadiens would give up, if he can convince Sundin to sign on the dotted line, but it could be as much as a first-round pick. Gainey characterized his conversation with Sundin as "an introductory phone call" and said they would hook up again in the near future for a follow-up chat. Gainey plans to sell Sundin on Montreal in the same way he would talk to any unrestricted free agent in July, explaining why he would be a good fit for the Canadiens and why the Canadiens would be a good fit for him.
In some ways, Gainey shares many of the same qualities as Sundin. They are both soft-spoken, resolute and like to do things in orderly fashion.
Accordingly, the first order of business for Sundin is to determine if he's going to play at all next year. Thus far, he has not provided his agent, J.P. Barry, with any guidance along those lines. Until he does, all the other talk is just a lot of white noise.
But even at 37, Sundin was Toronto's best player last season, scoring 78 points in 74 points, and it looked as if there was a lot left in his tank.
He has never won a Stanley Cup and even if the Pittsburgh Penguins look as if they'll be the class of the Eastern Conference for years to come, the Canadiens were the regular-season champions and won a playoff round before getting upset by the Philadelphia Flyers in the second round.
Gainey already bolstered his lineup once yesterday, adding left winger Alex Tanguay from the Calgary Flames, in exchange for a first-round pick. Tanguay is a reliable point-a-game producer, who won two previous championships with the Colorado Avalanche. If they can add Sundin to the lineup without surrendering a player off his roster to get him, then the Canadiens would go into next season with nine players on the roster who scored 50 or more points a year ago.
Few people realize it, but Montreal actually led the NHL in scoring this past season, with 262 goals. Defence wins championships, but you don't go far in the playoffs without scoring.
Gainey said he didn't make inquiries about Sundin back in February at the trading deadline, largely because the impetus for a move "had to come from Mats."
It didn't. Sundin never wavered from his philosophical position all last year — he didn't want to join a team at the NHL trading deadline as a rent-a-player, believing that would represent a hollow victory, if he happened to win a championship that way.
Obviously, that wouldn't be an issue if Gainey can sweet talk Sundin into signing with them in the next 10 days, so that he could start the year in Montreal. Sundin didn't want to move, largely because Toronto has been his home all these years — and it's hard to imagine that he would ever consider one of the NHL's far-flung outposts: a Nashville, a Phoenix, even New York, as a destination of choice.
But Montreal? In the province where his career started? In Canada, not the United States, so it's a comparatively easy move on many levels, including financially. It might be an attractive alternative now that his Leafs career is almost certainly over.
"Mats has always been interested in Montreal. Montreal is trying to see if they can sign him now — and then we'll go from there," said Fletcher, adding: "It would be better if you guys hadn't found out."
Maybe. Or maybe all it did was expedite Sundin's departure out of town.
If this was his last day in the organization, the only way to make it even remotely palatable is if the Leafs get something tangible in exchange, in the same way they did more than a decade ago when he arrived on their doorstep in the first place.
