Mats Sundin signs with Canucks
Well, it appears this is now official folks, Mats Sundin has signed with the Vancouver Canucks.
This from TSN.ca
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.
“I am truly excited to be joining the Canucks,” said Sundin in a team statement. “Once I made the decision to return to play a few weeks ago, the Vancouver opportunity was simply the best overall fit. I want to thank Mike Gillis and the entire Canucks organization for their professionalism throughout this entire process.”
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.
All of a sudden the Canucks have a top line centre and two legitimate scoring lines. Things are about to get interesting.
Stay tuned for more opinions, but for now chime in our messageboard!
Gotta love the “sour grapes” coming out of Toronto. God I hate that city…..but anyways:
I have a few points to make:
1) It’s obviously awesome to have Sundin on our team. If Sundin regains his form last year, combined with a healthy Luongo, combined with most others in our line-up being healthy (with atleast 5 of 6 of our top ‘D’ being healthy), then this team is a contender. Period. Having said that – Canuck fans should realize that there have been some EXCEPTIONAL teams in the past that have NOT won the cup…..and we shouldn’t be too disappointed if things don’t go the way we want to.
Ottawa, St. Louis, Philadelphia, Toronto, etc. have all iced tremendously stacked line-ups that didn’t go all the way. Even a lot of Detroit and Colorodo teams didn’t make it through. The point I’m trying to make, is that Canuck fans need to keep a level head here….even if we don’t make the 3rd round.
2) Freed-up cap space…..we still got some….who do we go for?
A Power Play Quarterback would be nice. Is Tomas Kaberle available? What about Jay Bouwmester? What would it take to get them? A guy like Raymond is a tremendous talent, but does this make him good trade bait?
Would another “checking center” allow a guy like Kesler to be freed up to play top 6? What about a guy like Michael Peca? I’ve always loved this guy for the following reasons:
-excellent PK’er
-Aggressive as hell.
-Great leadership
-Consistently raises his game in the playoffs.
The Canucks, with Sundin, should have a great PP. Would a guy like Peca make our PK great as well? Would the presence of Peca allow Kesler to play top 6? (ooops, I already said that). Like Kaberle, Peca is a great friend of Sundin’s.
Brendan Shanahan is another guy that would provide great leadership…..and with limited ice-time, could be an extremely valuable player for us. Shanahan would only cost us $$$$$.
Heck – the Canucks had the best PK back in 06/07. Is Josh Green still out there somewhere? Why not bring him back?
Just a few thoughts.