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Mats Sundin decided to slip a bodycheck from the new coach of his old team rather than fire back with a shot of his own about leadership. That was left to Matt Stajan, a candidate for Sundin's job as the captain of the Toronto Maple Leafs.
Ron Wilson, the Leafs' new head coach, made headlines a couple of days ago when he said the Leafs lacked leadership among the players for the past three years. He did not mention Sundin, who was the team captain for more than 11 years until he became a free agent on July 1. But it was hard not to draw a line from the coach to Sundin and last season's alternate captains, Bryan McCabe and Darcy Tucker, who were both dropped by the team, and Tomas Kaberle.
Wilson also said the fact the Leafs regularly blew leads in the third period last season was "a direct reflection on leadership."
"That's his [opinion]," Sundin said last night. "I don't know what to say about that. I'm very happy to have been captain of the Toronto Maple Leafs and been here for 13 years.
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"I'm sure in those 13 years we've had years when we've had good dressing rooms and some years haven't been as good."
Stajan, 24, is entering his fifth NHL season and is usually mentioned in discussions about the next Leafs captain. He looked uncomfortable doing so, but disputed Wilson's opinion about the quality of the team's leadership.
"Mats has been a great leader from my first game on," Stajan said. "I don't think our dressing room was ever a problem.
"I don't think you can judge how we did as a team, not making the playoffs, just on leadership."
Last season, the third consecutive year the Leafs missed the playoffs, was not regarded as one of those good dressing room years by interim general manager Cliff Fletcher. He vowed to change the culture of the team and shipped out 10 players.
Sundin could make it 11 departures if he decides to play again and sign with another club. But he said Wilson's remarks would not play a role in his decision, which is still a long way off. He also said nothing of substance was said in a meeting between him and Fletcher yesterday morning.
Fletcher and Wilson have both said they would welcome Sundin back if that is what he decides.
So would the fans, even though several thousand turned up at the Air Canada Centre last night for Sundin's appearance in a charity hockey game. But the sparse crowd was well aware it might have been Sundin's last appearance at the arena and gave him a loud standing ovation.
Sundin appeared touched by the show of affection and doffed his helmet to salute the crowd.
Another player at the game was not surprised to see the new Leafs coach set off a controversy before taking the ice for his first training camp. That was just Wilson being Wilson, said Joe Thornton, who heard more than a few tirades before Wilson was fired as the head coach of the San Jose Sharks last spring.
"Oh, Ronnie, he says what he thinks," Thornton said. "That's what I respect about him the most. He doesn't hold anything back and he's going to tell you what he thinks about the team."
Wilson did hold back on naming names when he threw his leadership darts. If you were to cut the coach some slack on this, it would not be unreasonable to assume McCabe and Tucker were more in the line of fire than Sundin.
After all, they were the ones Fletcher went to considerable trouble to remove from the team. He played hardball with McCabe to get him to waive the no-movement clause in his contract and agree to a trade to the Florida Panthers. The Leafs were so eager to get rid of Tucker, they took a hit of $1-million (U.S.) against the salary cap for the next five years.
Back in 2004, leadership was not an issue for the Leafs and Sundin was the captain then. But he also had Gary Roberts and Joe Nieuwendyk for support. They commanded respect from everyone in the room and never let certain factions divide the team.
When former GM John Ferguson let both Roberts and Nieuwendyk leave as free agents, the team's leadership suffered. Four years later, the Leafs are still looking for a solution.
