MATS SUNDIN: HALL OF FAMER?

by E. Spencer Kyte, Bugs and Cranks

With the Captain of the Toronto Maple Leafs shutting it down for the remainder of the season and entering the summer without a contract or an indication of what the future holds, it's time to gaze into our crystal ball and determine if Mats Sundin's future includes a trip to the Hockey Hall of Fame.

Now, there are no certainties that Captain Mats is done for good; he's done for this year, but next year is still up in the air. However, I like to speculate on things, so I'm going to go ahead and speculate on Sundin's status, using these points to help me solve the riddle:

1. The Leafs were looking to move him at the deadline
2. The Leafs haven't / didn't offer him a new deal
3. He declined to be traded to a contender
4. He has always said he wanted to finish his career in Toronto

From where I sit, all signs point to the end of the road for the longest-serving European Captain in NHL history.

If Toronto still wanted him, they would have re-sign him already and not tried to ship him out of town. And if it's about winning a Stanley Cup, Mats would have accepted a trade to a contender. Neither happened, so to me, it looks like the end of the road.

So if that is the case, is Mats Sundin a Hall of Famer?

Personally, I'm conflicted over this one and not because I have a sick passion for watching the Leafs suffer.

On sheer numbers, he's a lock. Sundin currently sits in the Top 40 All-Time in League scoring and is surrounded on that list by current or future Hall of Fame Inductees. And Pierre Turgeon. Sorry Sneaky Pete, you're not getting in.

But...

There are a couple of guys in the same general area number wise as Sundin who have yet to hear the call of the Hall that should be considered before the 1989 1st Overall Draft Pick.

How about Dino Ciccarelli and his 608 goals?

What about "The Little Ball of Hate" Pat Verbeek, the only player in NHL History with 500 goals (522 actually) and 2500 PIM?

Vinny Damphousse and Bernie Nicholls are in that points neighbourhood too and no one is mentioning them on their Hall of Fame ballot, are they?

The other part of the equation is the number of rings adorning the fingers of the big Swede. Specifically, the number zero.

For all his point per game production and 13 years of 70+ points, Mats Sundin has won absolutely nothing of consequence in the NHL. Sure, he's got an Olympic Gold Medal that will probably work in his favour, but on the grandest stage of them all, Sundin comes up way short.

Glenn Anderson ended his career two tip-ins shy of 500 goals and has five rings.
The aforementioned Pat Verbeek nabbed one in Dallas.
Mark Recchi has two and ranks ahead of Sundin in points.

In sports, it's not "What came first - the chicken or the egg?"
It's "What's more important - the numbers or the rings?"

I'm a rings guy myself.
Mats Sundin is a numbers guy.
A future Hall of Fame numbers guy, but still, only a numbers guy.