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Mats Sundin may be getting all the ink, but he is not the only established, prominent NHL player unsure of his plans for the coming season.
Without nearly the same interest or fanfare, three of his contemporaries — Joe Sakic, Teemu Selanne and Brendan Shanahan — are all facing a similar predicament.
Call them the 4-S club, a quartet of future Hall of Famers pondering what a life without hockey might be like and not sure whether the time is right to walk away.
How dramatic would their departures be? Consider that with Jaromir Jagr shuffling off to Russia, that group represents four of the NHL's top six active-points leaders. All, except Sundin, have won the Stanley Cup. All are still capable of making a difference on a team, either tangibly on the ice or through their influence as leaders in the dressing room.
Related Information
- Anaheim Ducks
- Colorado Avalanche
- New York Rangers
- St. Louis Blues
- Washington Capitals
- Tony Amonte
- Peter Bondra
- Sidney Crosby
- Peter Forsberg
- Jaromir Jagr
- Patrick Kane
- Brian Leetch
- Scott Niedermayer
- Dion Phaneuf
- Joe Sakic
- Teemu Selanne
- Brendan Shanahan
- Mats Sundin
- Jose Theodore
- Pierre Turgeon
Sakic — Sundin's teammate in their early days together with the Quebec Nordiques — has the blessing of his employers, the Colorado Avalanche, to take as long as he needs to make his decision on the grounds that if he plays, that's great, and if he doesn't, it isn't as if they can find a replacement for him on the dwindling free-agent market anyway.
Colorado, for decades a Stanley Cup contender, was probably the most undermined by off-season moves.
The Avalanche lost starting goaltender Jose Theodore as a free agent to the Washington Capitals, and they are pretty sure that even if Peter Forsberg does play again, it won't be until after the first half of next season. Sakic has been the face of the franchise since it landed in Denver, which is why the Avalanche are accommodating him in the same way the Anaheim Ducks did last season with Selanne and Scott Niedermayer when they were facing their career crises.
This time, Niedermayer has already to committed to returning, and the Ducks want an answer from Selanne before training camps get under way in mid-September.
Sakic's decision, meanwhile, is expected before the end of the month, according to a source in the Avalanche's front office, and the hope is that the longer he postpones the retirement decision, the greater the chance he will follow Steve Yzerman's advice and return. Yzerman made a good point earlier in the summer — if you're not sure, then play on, because retirement lasts a good long time.
Even though Shanahan's skating isn't what it once was and he played a greatly reduced role for the New York Rangers down the stretch and into the playoffs last season, some club will give him the opportunity to play again.
The St. Louis Blues, for whom he played a big chunk of his career, want him to return and help mentor their younger players. The Blues are unlikely to challenge for a playoff spot this coming season, however, so presumably that makes New York a more attractive destination, provided the Rangers want him back.
New York's interest in Sundin has been well-documented for months now. Even if the Rangers are within a couple of million of the salary cap already, there are ways for wily general manager Glen Sather to manoeuvre payroll to accommodate a player of Sundin's stature, if he opts to play again and chooses the Rangers over four or five other suitors. That's the Rangers thinking pragmatically.
At 37, Sundin is coming off a 78-point season in which he showed no signs of age slowing him down.
Shanahan, meanwhile, put up 46 points and looked to be fading down the stretch. Shanahan is 39, and his intangibles will keep him around, even if his days as a consistent 40-goal scorer may be behind him.
In three full seasons since the lockout ended, the one clear trend to emerge is that the NHL has become a young man's league.
There was a stampede to the exits when the NHL resumed play in 2005-06 by players who'd missed a full season and didn't think they could return (Mark Messier, Ron Francis, Al MacInnis and Scott Stevens). There was another important class that followed after one full or partial postlockout season (Steve Yzerman, Brett Hull, Brian Leetch and Luc Robitaille), but last year the pace of departures slowed, with the likes of Pierre Turgeon, Tony Amonte and Peter Bondra leaving.
There is always an issue, when a veteran player ponders retirement, about the timing — and whether it's better to leave one year too soon as opposed to one year too late.
No one likes the picture of a storied player reduced to spot duty and unable to play at the level that we're accustomed to seeing him at. But in the case of at least three of the 4-S club, that diminished capacity hasn't arrived yet, which means their decisions revolve mostly around motivation. If the legs can keep up but the desire flags, then the end result could be pretty ugly.
Even in an era of Sidney Crosby and Alex Ovechkin, Dion Phaneuf and Patrick Kane, the NHL still needs a few of the weather-beaten faces and voices of the recent past.
If they go (and they might), then the game will be poorer as a result.
