#73 - Mats Sundin

Mats Sundin (Murillo Pyramid Rank = #73)

Adjusted Stats

1990-1991   Que          82 GP   21 goals   33 assists   54 points      0.66 PPG
1991-1992   Que          82 GP   30 goals   39 assists   69 points      0.84 PPG
1992-1993   Que          78 GP   39 goals   55 assists   94 points      1.21 PPG
1993-1994   Que          82 GP   30 goals   49 assists   79 points      0.96 PPG
1994-1995   Tor           80 GP   40 goals   42 assists   83 points      1.03 PPG
1995-1996   Tor           76 GP   32 goals   49 assists   81 points      1.07 PPG
1996-1997   Tor           82 GP   43 goals   56 assists   99 points      1.21 PPG
1997-1998   Tor           82 GP   38 goals   48 assists   86 points      1.05 PPG
1998-1999   Tor           82 GP   36 goals   61 assists   97 points      1.18 PPG
1999-2000   Tor           73 GP   36 goals   46 assists   82 points      1.12 PPG
2000-2001   Tor           82 GP   31 goals   51 assists   83 points      1.01 PPG
2001-2002   Tor           82 GP   48 goals   46 assists   94 points      1.15 PPG
2002-2003   Tor           75 GP   43 goals   41 assists   83 points      1.11 PPG
2003-2004   Tor           81 GP   37 goals   53 assists   90 points      1.11 PPG
2005-2006   Tor           70 GP   32 goals   48 assists   79 points      1.13 PPG
2006-2007   Tor           75 GP   29 goals   52 assists   81 points      1.08 PPG
2007-2008   Tor           74 GP   36 goals   52 assists   88 points      1.19 PPG
2008-2009   Van          41 GP   10 goals   21 assists   30 points      0.74 PPG

Adjusted Playoff Stats

1992-1993    Que         6 GP      2 goals     1 assist      3 points       0.55 PPG
1994-1995    Tor          7 GP      4 goals     4 assists     8 points      1.14 PPG
1995-1996    Tor          6 GP      3 goals     1 assist      4 points       0.64 PPG
1998-1999    Tor          17 GP    9 goals     9 assists    18 points     1.03 PPG
1999-2000    Tor          12 GP    4 goals     6 assists    10 points     0.80 PPG
2000-2001    Tor          11 GP    7 goals     8 assists    15 points     1.38 PPG
2001-2002    Tor          8 GP      2 goals     6 assists     8 points      1.04 PPG
2002-2003    Tor          7 GP      1 goal      4 assists     5 points       0.68 PPG
2003-2004    Tor          9 GP      5 goals     6 assists    11 points     1.28 PPG
2008-2009    Van         8 GP      3 goals     5 assists     8 points       1.03 PPG

Career - 1379 GP, 611 goals, 842 assists, 1452 points, 1.05 PPG
Career-Highs - 48 goals (01-02); 61 assists (98-99); 99 points (96-97); 1.21 PPG (96-97)
Avg. (18 seasons) - 77 GP, 34 goals, 47 assists, 81 points, 1.05 PPG
Peak Avg. (96-04) - 80 GP, 39 goals, 50 assists, 89 points, 1.12 PPG, 0 Cups

Playoff Career - 91 GP, 40 goals, 50 assists, 90 points, 0.99 PPG
Playoff-Highs - 9 goals (98-99); 9 assists (98-99); 18 points (98-99); 1.38 PPG (00-01)

Accolades - None
All-Star Teams - 2-time 2nd-team
Never Won Stanley Cup

It's funny that the very consistency that is so admired and revered in Nicklas Lidstrom is viewed as something of a detriment in the career of his fellow Swede Mats Sundin. By all standards of effort, consistency and leadership, Mats Sundin's was an excellent career. For a span of fifteen straight seasons, Sundin had at least 80 points in all but two years, in which he had 79. For fourteen seasons in a row, he had thirty or more goals. And yet, Sundin never once eclipsed the 100-point mark...he was relentlessly within his 80-90 point range, never beneath, but never above. Admirable consistency indeed when you are a multiple Stanley Cup winner, but frustratingly incomplete when you fall short. Such is the unfair criticism that comes towards individuals who are being judged within a team game.

Having lived in Southern Ontario for all of my life and watched the Maple Leafs for the past fifteen years (though with the distant observation that comes from not being a Leaf fan), it`s fair to say that Sundin is the star player who I have probably seen more than any other. I remember vividly the different phases of Sundin`s career, and also how the Toronto fans (among the most consistently ignorant in the NHL in my opinion) reacted to Sundin.

Sundin entered the league with the Quebec Nordiques. He was a big, physically strong center (Sundin was perhaps the best player, other than Jagr, at carrying the puck behind the opponent`s net, bringing it out in front from the other side, and unleashing a deadly backhand). Along with Joe Sakic, Sundin formed an excellent 1-2 punch for the Nordiques, yet unlike the Sakic-Forsberg combination that would follow years later, the combination didn`t lead to much team success for Quebec. So the Nordiques took a chance and traded Sundin for the Maple Leafs` hometown hero Wendel Clark.

This is critical when attempting to understand how Sundin was viewed for the first few years (and for some Leaf fans, for the entirety) of his stint with the Maple Leafs. Clark was a treasure in Toronto, for reasons largely unknown to me, and Sundin would forever be in Clark`s shadow and in the shadow of Doug Gilmour. For the first few years of Sundin`s stint with the Maple Leafs, he could do no right. It didn`t matter that he finished in the top five in scoring (in 1996-1997) or that he proved his consistency night in and night out...the team wasn`t winning, and it had to be Sundin`s fault. He had changed a winning atmosphere.

Then, with the dawn of the 2000s, things began to change. In the 2001 semifinals against New Jersey, Sundin was a man possessed, nearly singlehandedly willing the Leafs back to the Conference Finals (Toronto was up 3-2 on the Devils, but a Tie Domi cheapshot against Scott Niedermayer seemed to change the momentum...added to the fact that Curtis Joseph couldn`t close out the series with even mediocre play). Sundin had now proven he could take his game to the next level in the playoffs, and for a good two or three years, it seemed as if whenever the Leafs needed a clutch goal to tie the game or win it in overtime, Sundin was there.

But alas, it being the Maple Leafs, Sundin would never drink from Lord Stanley`s mug. In 2008, after countless more seasons of producing 80+ points for a team that was clearly headed in the wrong direction, Sundin held the city hostage with his decision on whether or not to retire. When he did decide to return, but with the Vancouver Canucks, Sundin`s popularity dipped once again in the city that never fully embraced him in the first place. And his quest for the Cup in Vancouver didn`t pan out...Sundin looked noticeably older and out of step, and although he averaged a point a game in the playoffs, it was clear that retirement was the only option left.

So Sundin`s legacy is final now, yet still difficult to pin down. There are some (like Bob McCown) who believe that if he had pushed himself even harder, Sundin might have been a truly elite player. I believe Sundin worked as hard as he could, and indeed had a very good career (he made the 2nd all-star team twice). And given how Sundin performed in the playoffs, and then for Sweden in their gold medal Olympic effort in 2006, it`s clear that he had it within him to step up for the big game (he wasn`t a Joe Thornton in other words). But if you spend the bulk of your career with the Toronto Maple Leafs and you weren`t born before 1950, there`s going to be a certain degree of failure attached to you. This is the sad reality that engulfed Sundin. I`ll remember him as a great player for his consistency and reliability, but not as an elite star. He's the Jim Rice of hockey, a star player who was unfortunate to toil for a team that is cursed.