Sundin is a CANUCK

[Inamorato]

It's official.

http://www.tsn.ca/nhl/story/?id=260123&lid=headline&lpos=topStory_main

After six long months, the Mats Sundin saga is finally over as the unrestricted free agent has agreed to a contract with the Vancouver Canucks.

The signing ended months of rumours and speculation around the coveted centre, who was undecided on whether or not he would return to the National Hockey League for an 18th season.

The Montreal Canadiens were given exclusive rights to talk to Sundin this past summer in the week leading up to the free agent signing period. The club's negotiating window passed without an agreement and as many as six NHL teams lined up to acquire his services.

Among the teams interested over the last six months were the Canadiens, Chicago Blackhawks, Philadelphia Flyers, Ottawa Senators, Toronto Maple Leafs, Vancouver Canucks and the New York Rangers.

The Canucks had the most lucrative offer for Sundin, with a two-year, $20 million contract that was never pulled off on the table.

Sundin, 37, finished with 32 goals and 46 assists for 78 points in 74 games last season with the Leafs, leading Toronto in scoring for the fourth straight year.

The franchise leader in goals and points, he has played 13 of his 17 NHL campaigns with the Maple Leafs, who acquired him from the Quebec Nordiques in 1994.

Sundin has 555 goals and 1,321 points in 1,305 career NHL games since he was drafted first overall by Quebec in 1989. He re-wrote Toronto's record book over his 13 seasons in blue and white, scoring 420 goals and a franchise-best 987 points.

I suspect the deal was done days ago, but they waited until the Linden celebration was done to announce it.

 

[specialty69]

Greed ....

Its all about the money ..... another "Mark Messier" in the making. I guess the Rangers could not make enough cap space for this dinosaur.

 

[87112]

The NY yankees method of winning a championship used to work, not anymore. Mike Gillis should know that.

 

[Inamorato]

Its all about the money ..... another "Mark Messier"

I don't think so.
If it was truly about money, he would have signed during the summer. By waiting, he has left about 4 mil on the table.
And, he has far more gas left in the tank than Messier did when he came to Vancouver. 78 points in 74 games on a shitty team last year.

He gives the Canucks 2 solid scoring lines, and forces them to make another move because they have too many forwards on the roster. Look for a trade for a defenceman next...

 

[BDAClub]

I don't think so.
If it was truly about money, he would have signed during the summer. By waiting, he has left about 4 mil on the table.
And, he has far more gas left in the tank than Messier did when he came to Vancouver. 78 points in 74 games on a shitty team last year.

He gives the Canucks 2 solid scoring lines, and forces them to make another move because they have too many forwards on the roster. Look for a trade for a defenceman next...

Yea he probably does have some gas left in the tank of course he only started training serious a couple of weeks ago......Messier was finished by the time he got here but he did bring 5 or 6 Stanley Cup rings with him....he was a great leader that new how to win and had the resume to go with it.....what does Sundin have

He better be all Gillis hopes he is or in 2 yrs when Gillis is shown the door he can look back at this trade as his "Defining Moment"

 

[Inamorato]

He better be all Gillis hopes he is or in 2 yrs when Gillis is shown the door he can look back at this trade as his "Defining Moment"

Well said.

Gillis promised "bold moves" when he was hired.
Now he's made one, and he should be praying that it works out.

I hoped it would end up being just a one year deal. If the salary cap goes down next year, as predicted, he will be in a tough spot with 2 guys (Luongo/Sundin) costing $17 mil.

 

[Paul81]

Damn!
He is so over priced and over rated.
He ain't gonna do much for Canucks.
What a waste off money!!

 

[Arrrg]

lol, we have the money, who else are you going to spend it on for free? (ie: not costing us prospects). It's only one year, he already stated he wants a one year deal... Keep his options open next year to goto Detroit or something

I'm really surprised we got him and we finally have two real scoring lines. Demitra and Sundin will rock together. Definitely will make Canucks hockey a little more interesting. I just hope the team continues to work and not sit back and try to 'watch' Sundin.

So who's the odd man out? I hope Pyatt.

Also, Gilles is a genius simply for doing not much and somehow having more faith than all the Canuck fans put together that we'll be atop the division at this point in time!! We'll see how it looks at the end of the season!

 

[stickboi]

He makes the Canucks better without them having to lose any players. Who cares if it's alot of money or not? It's not coming out of your pocket is it?

 

[smackyo]

Yea he probably does have some gas left in the tank of course he only started training serious a couple of weeks ago......Messier was finished by the time he got here but he did bring 5 or 6 Stanley Cup rings with him....he was a great leader that new how to win and had the resume to go with it.....what does Sundin have

He better be all Gillis hopes he is or in 2 yrs when Gillis is shown the door he can look back at this trade as his "Defining Moment"

according to gino odgick, messier was a horrible leader for them that totally destroyed their team dynamic. they took the C away from linden without telling him (he found out about it while listening to the radio) and gave it to messier and their team chemistry took a nose dive. odgick says the locker room was always tense and very players on the team liked the guy.

lets not forget that messier did not win those rings and cups all by himself. he had a lot of great players around him. what has sundin been surrounded with almost his whole career?

sundins numbers are great and he doesn't need the C to play here. he's always been a lead by example kind of guy and a point a game player. if he's healthy and gets into the groove of things quickly, he does nothing but improve this team.

 

[LittleAsianGuy]

I agree but he's less harm than other overpriced players. Since it's only for 1/2 a year contract. We're not stuck with him next year if he sucks ass

Damn!
He is so over priced and over rated.
He ain't gonna do much for Canucks.
What a waste off money!!

 

[KYG]

Lots of teams have overpriced players. Is Gomez on the Rangers worth 8 Million? No.
Is Jeff Finger in Toronto worth 4 million a year? No.
Is Sean Avery worth 4 milllion a year for another 4 years? NO.

Sundins contract is short term. Its a fair deal considering he's unrestricted

 

[BDAClub]

according to gino odgick, messier was a horrible leader for them that totally destroyed their team dynamic. they took the C away from linden without telling him (he found out about it while listening to the radio) and gave it to messier and their team chemistry took a nose dive. odgick says the locker room was always tense and very players on the team liked the guy.

lets not forget that messier did not win those rings and cups all by himself. he had a lot of great players around him. what has sundin been surrounded with almost his whole career?

sundins numbers are great and he doesn't need the C to play here. he's always been a lead by example kind of guy and a point a game player. if he's healthy and gets into the groove of things quickly, he does nothing but improve this team.

Gino Odjick is a puck and the only thing he ever won was an arm wrestling competition in a bar somewhere for 8 free pints....what does he know about winning and leadership.......more than that Messier was more than just a good player surrounded by good players when Messier went to the Rangers from the Oilers and Nedved was dogging it it was Messier that put him up against the wall in the dressing room and told him if u can't give 100% it's time to go and that was the end of nedved when things weren't going well in a game he was a respected voice in the dressing room that would have something to say....not only did he call the win against the Devils in the Rangers run to the Cup but he scored the goals to make it happen.....when Gretzky left during the Pocklington cluster fuck he got everyone focused and won another cup....he had a ton of respect in the dressing room people respected not just the talk but he walked it to.

Until you win and win consistently your just a good player who played with some good players Sundin has a chance to ad to his Legacy as a guy that came in put a team on his back and won the Stanley Cup Messier did that....Sundin has the chance to do that!!

 

[Voyeur]

Damn!
He is so over priced and over rated.
He ain't gonna do much for Canucks.
What a waste off money!!

do you follow hockey? have you seen him play?

the nucks have the cap money, they generate the revenue to pay him, and the contract is 1 year. i'm sorry, where is the downside to this signing?

Sundin is still a point per game player - and with him taking slightly less than 10 mill per year that was offered initially, the nucks have cap space to add another player closer to the trading deadline, including absorbing 2.5 mill in salary (or over 6 mill pro-rated over a season).

stop trying to take a stand just to make a point. educate yourself first. =)

 

[BJhunter]

do you follow hockey? have you seen him play?

the nucks have the cap money, they generate the revenue to pay him, and the contract is 1 year. i'm sorry, where is the downside to this signing?

Sundin is still a point per game player - and with him taking slightly less than 10 mill per year that was offered initially, the nucks have cap space to add another player closer to the trading deadline, including absorbing 2.5 mill in salary (or over 6 mill pro-rated over a season).

stop trying to take a stand just to make a point. educate yourself first. =)

You can't blame Voyeur for thinking that way, ever since the Messier debacle...$10mill for a 38 yr old? well, like you said, it's not costing any players, and we have the cap space.

But just don't jump the gun, he may or may not do anything. but he shld be an upgrade fr wellwood or raymond, who's been trying to crack this team for the past few yrs, so what does that tell u about our depth?

 

[Inamorato]

You can't blame Voyeur for thinking that way, ever since the Messier debacle...$10mill for a 38 yr old? well, like you said, it's not costing any players, and we have the cap space.

Fortunately, it's just one year. And will only cost about $6 million against the salary cap. So there's still room to upgrade a defenceman, and fill any holes that come up due to injuries.

The initial reports today sounded like it was a 2 year deal, which would have been scary, especially at $10 mil for the whole year next season.

 

[smackyo]

Gino Odjick is a puck and the only thing he ever won was an arm wrestling competition in a bar somewhere for 8 free pints....what does he know about winning and leadership.......more than that Messier was more than just a good player surrounded by good players when Messier went to the Rangers from the Oilers and Nedved was dogging it it was Messier that put him up against the wall in the dressing room and told him if u can't give 100% it's time to go and that was the end of nedved when things weren't going well in a game he was a respected voice in the dressing room that would have something to say....not only did he call the win against the Devils in the Rangers run to the Cup but he scored the goals to make it happen.....when Gretzky left during the Pocklington cluster fuck he got everyone focused and won another cup....he had a ton of respect in the dressing room people respected not just the talk but he walked it to.

Until you win and win consistently your just a good player who played with some good players Sundin has a chance to ad to his Legacy as a guy that came in put a team on his back and won the Stanley Cup Messier did that....Sundin has the chance to do that!!

hey man don't get me wrong. i'm not trying to dump on messier. oilers and team canada messier is actually one of my all time favorites. but its clear to see that his style may have worked in new york but it obviously didn't work in vancouver and i don't think that there is any denying that.

despite what you may thing of gino, he was a member of that team and privy to what went on in the locker room. he also seems to be well liked amongst the alumni canucks that he played with, so i would think his word has some validity.

you are right though, messier was more then a good player surrounded by good players. he was a great player surrounded by great and good players. what has sundin ever had? he got to play a with a few decent players on the leafs in ed belfor (near the end of his career), owen nolan (on the tail end of his career), brian mccabe (great player actually) and a few other decent players but no one of real star power.

if mats flops, well, oh well, the team had the money to spend and really, who else was out there anyway? if he does well.......................... well i guess that has yet to be seen.

 

[Voyeur]

There is absolutely NO comparisons between Messier and Sundin.

Messier was brought in to lead the canucks to the promised land. he was past his prime and was more a locker room leader than an on-ice leader at that stage in his career. It was a very bad signing that caused issues in the locker room.

Sundin is being brought in to augment the scoring. He isn't expected to take charge of the team like Messier was. this is Luo's team, everyone knows that. there shouldn't be a chemistry issue here.

 

[LoveEmAll]

Sundin - The Upside

Best part about this deal is that we get a big point-a-game centre without giving up a player and have to pay "only" $6 mil, give or take, rather than $10mil (pro-rated because of his shortened season). That $4 mil "savings" can now be put towards more trade deadline moves.

And I love the 1 year term, which really is 4 months - Jan-April. We basically get a rental, which typically costs an arm and leg of young talent in Feb at trade deadline.

Doesn't sound that bad?!

 

[InTheBum]

Prediction

I think Sundin will do quite well here...approximately 1 point per game or more. As for the playoffs...hard to say with San Jose and Detroit ripping up the Western Conference. But if the Canucks don't make it to at least the 2nd round now...Sundin will get partial blame for it.