Sundin is simply the best maple leaf ever in leaf's history!!! Think some of leafs fans didn't fully appreciated him for his leadership and commitment to the team.
If you said of the modern era, you could have some kind of a rational case, however I'd still say it would be Darryl Sittler in that case, by quite a wide margin. There is no contest between the greatest Leaf of all time between Mats Sundin and Dave Keon, none whatsoever. Sundin may well be the greatest Swedish hockey player in history, but the greatest Leaf he is most certainly not.
Haven't been able to find a favourite player since sundin left, true one of a kind player, don't think we'll be finding another player like him for a long time.
As a kid having him as a hockey idol, I wont find another player like him. You may have man crushes, but an idol as a kid is always a one of a kind thing. The only times a guy is allowed to cry is when his close family passes and his hockey idol retires lol.
the thing i'll always remember most about sundin is his smile every time he scored. it was like every goal was his first and he couldn't believe it lol.
Dionne, Park, Salming, Ovechkin, Thornton, Oates, Lindros, Bure. Thats AT LEAST 8 asshole. Being the highest scoring of a 100 franchise is misleading because many of the Leafs best players played when the schedules were shorter. Syl Apps for example.
The C of the Team, that made me a Maple Leafs fan... Great years. :D CuJo, Tucker, Kaberle, McCabe, Svehla, Mogilny, Thomas, Joe, Roberts, Domi... Man I just loved the team of Pat Quinn era... R.I.P. Pat and Cujo was also my hero :D just like Tucker... those three were so amazing... and those three are exactly what we are looking for since they hung up or left... we still need grit in 2021 :)
Mats Sundin , ( was a very Unique and a classic player 👌👍) did enjoy all those glory years he played w/the Leafs 👌 beautiful memories that I will treasure 4 Ever … A Maple Leaf For Ever 💞 !!! 💙 🇨🇦
I still think he's the greatest maple leaf ever. we'll see what happens with Matthews career when it's done. but talent-wise I think Sundin was really special.
That's quite the stretch. Dave Keon won *four* Cups with the Leafs, being a critical player in all the Cup runs, as well as being the only Leaf in history to win the only Conn Smythe Trophy.
@@sisi11 While that proves health and consistency, 23 goals isn't an impressive number. It should also be noted that as a youngster he played in the most high scoring era of our game and in the dead puck era he was in his prime. Mike Gartner has seventeen 30 goal seasons, of which 15 were consecutive. That's far more impressive and there are people who claim that he doesn't deserve to be in the HHoF. Not that I'm claiming Gartner played enough with the Leafs to be a greater Leafs than Sundin.
Mats Sundin should come Coach The Leafs, like just give it try for a few years. He was the Greatest Leader on the ice back when he was a Player, I honestly think he could be a really good Coach. He has the potential to be great, plus, he would already be very respected by the players & the fans of Toronto too. That would just be so cool to see him back with The Leafs again. Even as a Coach on the Bench. Hell even make him a towel boy! Lmao, he would still have an impact on the Leafs, for real though lol. Just his presents alone would help, & everyone will feel at ease again. Please Mats if you see this, come back to Toronto brother! Those young kids need a Leader. Show them the way!
KENT NILSSON Drafted by Atlanta Flames - round 4 #64 overall 1976 NHL Amateur Draft Drafted by Toronto Toros - round 1 #11 overall 1976 WHA Amateur Draft
What a great question. How does such a small country, to this day 2018 and beyond, continue to produce talent good enough to lead the way in the NHL? It's really is amazing how hard young guys work to achieve this for themselves and the nation.
How so? Sweden has a population of 10.5 million, while Canada has a population or 39 million. Canada has well over four times more NHL players than Sweden, including the top end talent. You don't have a case. You could try the same with Finland with far better results. Finland has a population of 5.5 million people and has well over 50% more NHL players than Sweden, comparable to Canadian statistics.
Me and some friends played land hockey on asphalt against him in Sollentuna in Sweden. Maybe it was in -79 or -80 or -81, possibly in 1982. Sundin and his friends were slightly older than us so their team was "The Cool Street". They named our team "The Dry Street". We could only obey.
This is an odd question maybe, but when young Swedes of that era played street hockey did they do faceoffs without a referee? And if so, did they try to make it fair by clapping the blades of their sticks three times?
@@BudSchnelker haha yeah we clapped our sticks 3 times and played without a ref, we also put all of our sticks in a bundle and one guy sitting with his back towards them tossing them to two sides to choose team haha, good old days :)
@@lyxxor Ah yes, the sticks in a pile method. Hockey has international rituals. It sounds like Sweden was no different than upstate New York in the early 80s. Although, Mats Sundin or not, my friends wouldn't have let the boys from the next street over give us a name!
Sundin definitely ranks up there with the best of the best who donned on the Blue and White; that said, it's hard to bestow one over another. Names like Clark, Gilmour, Sittler, definitely deserve a place in the annals of greatest Leafs.
29:46. It can't be understated how that game 1 OT goal turned things around. The Leafs had nearly collapsed toward the end of the 2000-2001 season and only a very good first half of the year had allowed them to sneak into the playoffs. I remember the Toronto media to a man predicting a Senators sweep. It was savage. Up steps Sundin with that slap shot, 1-0 Leafs win, 1-0 lead in the series, and you knew in the pit of your stomach that the Senators would fold. Had the Senators won that game the opposite would have happened, the Buds would have been buried.
Really wish he could have won a cup with the Leafs when they came so close those couple of years in the beginning of the 2000's, especially in '02 when they lost the conference finals to eventually champions Carolina. So sad, a city like Carolina winning the cup over a city like Toronto (or anywhere else in Canada) where it would truly be appreciated and wanted...
I was watching Sundin's highlights earlier. Sundin's had a very tricky slapper that always seemed to fool tenders. Nowadays, shooters have to get their clappers goals off of one-timers....the thing about Sundin is that he could beat goalies with a purely visible windup from near the blue line even if the goalie was not contending with traffic or obstructions. There is no better pure shooter out there that was also an all-around player. Sundin had it all, just could never be on a stacked team until the late 90's early 2000's, but still nowhere near as stacked as Edmonton was and how Pittsburgh is today. Sundin could have had a couple of Art Ross' if they had a few more goal scorers to play with Sundin and Antropov or Tucker for those few years when they were dominating teams physically, but couldn't put the puck in the net. It's hard to win a cup though in a league over 30 teams. Plus the GM and team made many mistakes. Not keeping Mogilny, not keeping Jason Allison after he had solid offensive output...just little things over the 2000's that just wasn't done correctly
Since pretty much 2010 when you went to the final, no one cared when you were horrible back in allsvenskan.. Canada is not the same, leafs fans etc are religious and they haven't won in many decades.
technically he did get 'close' when the leafs reached the conference finals in '99 and again in "02 so he did come 'close' by being one round away from the nhl finals twice. but yes disappointing. he did win a gold medal in the Olympics though for sweden
Bigger than Gretsky who not playing in a shitteam. We give you Mats,what you give us? Korrupt Canada Cup,Sweden must cross US and Canada stay home. Refereeres and Canada Cupleader hate us screaming chicken Sweden! Gretsky staying in front of the keapers,nobody can touch him. But Peter Forsberg you destroy. Shame on you Canada!
Terrible player in retrospect. Would just get his one goal a game then stop working hard for the rest of it. And then Kessel came along... looks like Toronto's destined to be cursed with lazy players!
+Carey Price? Doesn't have a ring to it ??? What... Leafs has not won anything since the 60's, Canada has not won anything in 25 years except the Habs. Move it from loser town to USA...
Carey Price? Doesn't have a ring to it Let me break it down. Leafs has not won anything since the late 60's so you are right. Leafs sucks and has for a very long time. Sundin is not the problem.... Kessel bringing the Penguins down at the moment but still Leafs suck.
