The Mats Sundin Watch. He Deserve One? Maybe.
Tags: Free Agents, Mats Sundin
At the trade deadline there was a ton of speculation about Mats Sundin. The Toronto Maple Leaf center was asked to waive his no-trade clause and accept a trade to Detroit, the New York Rangers and possibly Vancouver. He declined.
Along with a number of other Leafs who declined to agree, he finished out the disappointing season. Sundin became an Unrestricted Free Agent this summer and unlike many other players, he didn’t sign in the first few days. In fact, he is still unsigned and, like Avalanche center Joe Sakic, is highly sought after. Sundin is 36 and is still productive. His point totals are actually increasing after a slide into the 50-point range a few seasons back. (It is pretty amazing that he never notched 50 goals in a season, yet scored over 500.)
Take a look at his stats courtesy of HockeyDB.com:
He had a decent season in 07-08. Even though he has missed the playoffs the last 3 seasons, he has been productive in the games he has played; nearly averaging a point a game. Supposedly, Sundin has an offer from Vancouver for $20million over 2 years. I personally think he should take the deal, but is probably looking for a longer deal. A 4 year deal for $35million could probably land him, but is he worth that much money right now? It is doubtful that he’d be worth that much in the last two years. Sidney Crosby is making around $8million and should get about 110-120 points per season over the next 10 season. Any team signing Sundin at $7-10 million will end up handcuffed by his salary. A deal around the $4million a year range would be a good signing. Signing him for anything more would be a mistake.
2 Comments, Comment or Ping
Patrick
I’m confident in saying any deal he ends up signing will include a no-trade clause. Sundin is very much a ‘rhythm’ player. As everything around you stays constant, you can continue to produce. Unfortunately, that wasn’t enough in Toronto last season.
I think the biggest thing to note here is he can still make players around him better. If he can still do that, produce a point-per-game average at age 36/37…sign him up. In all honesty, he’d be a great fit for the Canucks, I’m just not sure its a great fit for Mats. Is Mats or Henrik Sedin the #1 Center? Ryan Kesler is a natural center, but has played wing off and on for a while, where does he fit in all of this?
Other than returning to Toronto, I don’t see Mats going anywhere else (L.A. perhaps, because they can afford to throw money at him like Vancouver).
Jul 17th, 2008
Karthi
Agree with the 4 million assessment. Derek Roy of the Buffalo Sabres makes about 4 million and put up slightly better numbers, playing nearly every game. There’s no guarantee Sundin would make it through, say, 80% of an NHL season, especially in the West with the addtional strain of travel put on players.
Vancouver is so desperate for offense, they’re willing to exhume Bobby Orr, if they have to and pay his bones 13 million a year.
Irony, is that the New York Rangers, the model of overspending, and underperforming, hasn’t made a pitch to Sundin, yet. And they need offense way more than Vancouver does, if they want to get out of the offensively strong East to the finals.
Jul 21st, 2008
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