Sunday, August 17, 2008

He has regards for Broadway, but may be more likely destined for Broad Street!


The great where’s Mats going to land drama adds another destination on this Sunday, as numerous reports peg the latest destination for the once and now apparently former Maple Leaf centre as Broadway.

This of course will send the Vancouver media into overdrive with the "I told you so’s", this of course after newly enshrined GM’s Mike Gillis’ twenty million dollar temptation seemingly has come up wanting for the Big Swede.

Sundin still spending quiet summer days and nights in Sweden, has not made a public comment in many a moonrise now, but apparently has been quick to the phone with his agent to steer the travel arrangements towards a Big Apple touchdown, or so the latest goes.

The other possibility it seems might be Philadelphia where it’s reported that GM Paul Holmgren is working the abacus to try and make some financial wriggle room to bring in the centre ice presence.

Clearly off the radar now it seems is that building with the blue and white carpeting and with it the other Canadian destination of note Montreal.

The summer long melodrama seems set to continue for a little bit longer, but the fall out will be felt first in Vancouver should Sundin decide that those twenty million dollars aren’t everything. Gillis kind of went out on the ledge in June with his Sundin gambit, a decision that left many wondering if the Canucks had a plan B in place., The answer it would appear will be, uh, er, no not really, unless of course Joe Sakic decides that he’s good to go for one more year and would rather play in Vancouver to close out his career in his hometown. It would make a pretty decent consolation prize (for some better than the original plan) and would at least save Gillis the embarrassment of having to explain how things went off the rails so fast.

For Toronto, the obituaries were crafted on Sundin’s Maple Leaf Days as the regular season was winding down, with few if any really expecting him to return to the Leafs and their latest rebuilding and rebranding operation.

Montreal probably played their best hand in the latter stages of the regular season when they reportedly were trying to work on a trade for Sundin, since those excited days there hasn’t been much in the way of follow up, with little indication that the Swede fits into Bob Gainey's plans for 2008-09.

The New York suggestion seems more of a case of finding a landing spot with a bit of panache, to give Sundin a place to play that still has a bit of intrigue and is worthy of his years of service, especially if he’s letting the Canuck’s Brink’s truck pass by without making a withdrawal.

Philadelphia certainly seems like the strangest fit of the bunch, which judging how this soap opera has played out over the summer, must surely mean that big Mats will be in Flyer’s orange by September…

No comments: