Well, the NHL trade deadline has come and passed, and number thirteen for the blue and white is still taking the first face-off each game. Yes, by now we are all aware that Mats Sundin decided not to waive his no-trade clause, opting to remain a Leaf for the rest of the season. Personally, I was torn on the issue up until the captain’s decision. On the one hand, Leaf’s GM Cliff Fletcher could have likely wielded a valuable return for the big Swede, a good start to the rebuilding of a bottom feeding hockey club. On the other, Mats has been the face of this franchise since the departure of the beloved Doug Gilmour and Wendel Clark. Mats has stuck it out through thick and thin, the good years and the bad, and certainly has not always been credited by Leafs Nation as the great captain that he is today. Leafs fans have been hard on ol’ Mats. He has been criticized for not having the feistiness of Dougie or Wendel, because he doesn’t like to drop the gloves, and unfortunatly, for his lack of being Canadian. Captain Mats, however, has been able to over come all of that, and win over the hearts of Leafs Nation. What Sundin brings to the table is confidence, patience and as his nickname “Captain Clutch” would suggest, an unrivaled ability to score when it’s needed the most. Mats has done this consistently for the past thirteen seasons with the Leafs, scoring an average of a point per game. So last season, when the Leaf’s management signed Sundin with a no-trade clause, they did so because they knew what they were getting, and because he had earned that right. Sundin has carried this team on his back for too long to be thrown out the door as a rental player for picks and prospects that might not turn out. His loyalty to the team, a team that hasn’t always treated him they way ought to have, is admirable. I guess, when your talking dollars and statistics, Mats’ choice was not the right one for the Leafs. But add in the value of a leader that has such loyalty to his teammates, fans, and the organization as a whole, that he would rather sink with the ship than take a run at the cup, and you end up with somthing that can`t be measured in a tangible way. You end up with a captain the epitomizes the meaning of sportsmanship. You end up with a captain you can be proud of. In what could be his last season, Mats was faced with difficult choice, a choice that was going to anger people, whatever his decision. In the end I think he made the right choice. Glad you stayed Mats, you’re the man.
