Thursday Mail Bag

Another week, another packed mail bag.

The fighting debate sparked anew in recent weeks figures prominently this week, with the battle raging on over the meaning of a Harris-Decima poll this week that showed a slight majority of Canadians - not necessarily Canadian hockey fans - support an end to fighting in the NHL. I’ve been gratified by the responses to the issue all week, both for and against fighting. When people are passionate but also respectful of the point of view of others, the quality of the whole debate goes up.

What seems pretty clear to me is that while both sides are passionate about their beliefs, I haven’t yet heard from a single person who once decried the presence of fighting in the game but now embraces it, while many have written to say they once didn’t mind boxing on skates but could now live without it.

Seems to me pro-fighting folks need to do a much better job as persuading others that they hold a logical position. Being louder isn’t working.

Now on to this week’s mail bag:

Q: Damien, I know my wife would vote against fighting in the NHL but, I also know that even if fighting were banned in the NHL, she wouldn't be buying a ticket to a game ever or watch it on TV. I don't think we should change the game to suit people who couldn't care less about it. Let’ ask hockey fans (the ones that pay the $$$ to watch) what they think and I'm sure the result would be different.

Dan Henry, Vancouver

A: Personally, I think it’s useful to know what people in general think, both rabid hockey fans and those who aren’t so rabid. I’m not really one for simply dismissing the thoughts of those who disagree with what I think. I think it’s worth trying to understand them, and put them in perspective.

From my point of view, I don’t dismiss at all the results of this latest Harris-Decima poll that showed 68 per cent of those who identify themselves as a passionate NHL fans want to keep fighting in the game. That said, from the way the fighting crowd talks, I would have thought it was more like 90 per cent, and it also means that basically 1 in 3 hardcore NHL fans could live without fighting. That’s a significant number that shouldn’t be ignored.

I agree the game shouldn’t be changed to fit the interests of those who don’t like hockey. At the same time, I think any sport should always be trying to build - not stay stagnant - and it’s a fact that in cities like Toronto fewer kids are playing the game today, which could affect the game over the long term. Really, I could just as easily say that asking people who already like a certain sport about a specific element of that sport isn’t going to tell you that much either. So the idea is to try and get a larger cross-section of public opinion, and see what that tells you.

So Much for Being the Majority

For years now, I've argued that a silent majority of Canadians would prefer to take fighting out of hockey.

For just as many years, I've been shouted down by the pro-fighting crowd, told to go watch badminton or ballet if I'm not manly enough to like fighting and don't understand that the vast majority of people love it and understand it's part of the game.

Well, that bubble burst today, didn't it? At least to some degree.

A new Harris-Decima poll suggests a slim majority of Canadians believe fighting should be taken out of hockey. These kinds of polls depend on what precisely the question asked was, to some degree, and certainly not all those who responded are diehard NHL fans.

But at the very least, even the fight fans would have to acknowledge that they're not quite the overwhelming majority they claim to be.

Interestingly, on the weekend NHL commissioner Gary Bettman argued that his league's fans love fighting and want it to stay. This poll, however, suggests that even in hockey-mad Canada, keeping fighting in the game might actually be costing the NHL, and hockey in general, fans and paying customers.

Some of this, of course, is a reaction to the death of Don Sanderson. Well, what's wrong with that? in life and society, it's usually a drastic event that draws people's attention to a problem, and in this case, Sanderson's death surely put to rest for good the old saw that nobody ever gets hurt in a hockey fight.

In a Globe and Mail report today, former Leaf captain Rick Vaive was quoted as saying tough new sanctions against fighting are needed, and on the FAN 590, former coaching great Scotty Bowman echoed Vaive's thoughts and suggested its time to get rid of designated enforcers who can only play a few minutes a game.

The tide does seem to be rising against fighting, but it may be a momentary thing. What seems logical, however, is that the NHL general managers need to take more than a cursory look at the issue at their March meetings.

I've long argued that we already know how well hockey sells, or doesn't sell, with fighting as part of the package.

What we don't know is how well it would sell without fighting, and the NHL has never had the courage to try and find out.

This poll suggests they might be missing out on customers. It took the NHL lockout to get these people to change the game, and now you have to wonder if a deteriorating economy and plummeting NHL ratings might finally force the league to take a new harder line on dropping the gloves.

A Rule Enforced

MONTREAL--Everyone's heading home from all-star weekend, some nursing hangovers, all preparing for the next important stretch of the NHL season, the period that stretches from the all-star break to the trading deadline.

The lasting impact of this game, at least in terms of how it affects the season, will be the decision by NHL commissioner Gary Bettman to enforce the unofficial league rule that forces players who miss the all-star game to sit out a game after the break.

Some think this is a silly rule, notably Detroit GM Ken Holland. Sidney Crosby, on the other hand, was treated to a roaring ovation just for appearing in street clothes at the game Sunday, a signal of both his popularity in the province where he played junior hockey and a response to the respect he showed Montreal hockey fans by showing up.

ASSOCIATED PRESS

NHL wouldn't back down and so Nicklas Lidstrom will miss one game.

Nicklas Lidstrom, most assuredly, doesn't deserve to be centred out for skipping the all-star game, or penalized. Pavel Datsyuk? Less so.

But here's what matters. Now that this rule has been enforced, Bettman can probably count on never having to enforce it again, at least not in the near future.

When it impacts the best team in the league and arguably the best defenceman of the past quarter-century, you can bet other players around the league will take it seriously in the future, as will their coaches and GMs.

Even if the Wings lose without Lidstrom and Datsyuk tomorrow against Columbus, it will have a negligible impact on that teams season. So in a way, Lidstrom and the Wings were the perfect combination to be used as an example here. If it were say, the Blue Jackets and Rick Nash involved, you could legitimately say enforcing this rule was having a negative impact. As such, rivals of the Jackets for the final playoff berth in the Western Conference might argue they are being penalized indirectly, but that's a bit of a stretch.

Penalizing the Wings and Lidstrom will mean nobody can possibly complain at the next all-star game in two years - unofficially scheduled for Phoenix if the Coyotes are still around - if they try to pull their players out of the all-star game.

The standard has been set, and it's a high one. No exceptions.

Building a Blueline

MONTREAL--The Maple Leafs have two defenceman participating in this weekend's all-star festivities, veteran Tomas Kaberle and rookie Luke Schenn, but there's another blueliner here that's on the club's radar.

That would Jay Bouwmeester of the Florida Panthers, a brilliant skater and Canadian Olympian who has thus far been unable to make a major impression on the NHL because he toils for the little-watched Panthers. Bouwmeester has turned down a long-term contract offer worth more than $6 million per season from Florida and is scheduled to become an unrestricted free agent in July at only 25 years of age.

The Panthers are looking a trade possibilities and hoping to get a first round pick, another top selection and a top, NHL -ready prospect if they move Bouwmeester. The Leafs don't have the wherewithal to put that kind of package today, although its believed GM Brian Burke might be willing to part with the team's first rounder this summer if he could first negotiate a long-term deal with Bouwmeester.

Barring that, if Bouwmeester gets to unrestricted free agent status, you can expect the Leafs to be at the front of the line of teams vying for his services. Interestingly, the Leafs would be well-positioned given that they currently operate almost $10 million below the salary cap. There's a threat the $56.7 million cap could drop significantly after next season, leaving teams with fewer salary committments - like the Leafs - potentially in a position to have far more flexibility over the next two years.

Even if Bouwmeester is traded before the March 4 deadline, he might still become unrestricted July 1st, as was the case with Marian Hossa.

Hey Buddy Can You Spare A Dime?

PAUL CHIASSON/CP PHOTO

NHLPA Executive Director Paul Kelly responds to a question as Vincent Lecavalier of the Tamapa Bay Lightning, Joe Thornton of the San Jose Sharks and Alex Kovalev of the Montreal Canadiens (l-r), listen during a news conference Friday, January 23, 2009 in Montreal.

MONTREAL--If NHL players didn't understand the ramifications of agreeing to a salary cap linked to league revenues four years ago, they will now.

Each and every player, NHL Players Association boss Paul Kelly said today, should expect a 13.5 per cent pay cut this season because of declining league revenues. The cut takes the form of escrow payments, monies withheld from players to make sure the union collectively does not make more than its share of the money the league takes in.

In all, players will collectively lose about $217 million in pre-tax earnings this season because the league's revenue growth has dropped to about two per cent from 12 per cent a year ago..

"The players aren't happy about it," said Kelly. "But they understand it."

Kelly admitted that in this case, the escrow will have the effect of being a salary rollback the same as that the players were forced to accept after the 2004-05 lockout.

"It does work that way," he said.

What's worse is that the escrow is expected to increase to 20 per cent or more next season when NHL revenues are expected to take a larger hit. The team-by-team salary cap, set at $56.7 million now, is expected to stay at about the same level next season but then is likely to drop substantially for the 2010-11 season, which could be multiple players losing their jobs as salary cap casualties.

In the first three years of escrow payments, the players received all their money back at the end of the season plus a little bit more, and in the other year they got about 98 per cent of it back. League revenues are expected to hit about $2.6 billion this season.

In all, it's clear the general economic downturn has now hit NHL players square in the pocketbook, and hard.

They other piece of tough news the players are expected to have to deal with is that Detroit Red Wings Pavel Datsyuk and Nicklas Lidstrom are expected to be forced to sit out Detroit's first game after this weekend's all-star game for pulling out of the all-star event at the last minute.

"There's a strong likelihood they will not be allowed to play," said Kelly.

Pittsburgh captain Sidney Crosby was apparently so convinced he wouldn't be permitted to play next Wednesday against the Rangers for pulling out of the all-star game that he is expected to arrive in Montreal today and participate in events. It's expected the league will then allow him to play next week without missing a game.

The union officially announced today it would not exercise its right to re-open the current collective bargaining agreement at the end of this season.

Thursday Mail Bag

If the NHL Players Association has its way, we may soon see the end of the NHL All-Star Game as an annual event.

TORONTO STAR FILE PHOTO

Glenn Healy now taking care of deals for the players.

The union, you see, has a grander plan, one in which an annual break in the NHL season would take place every February, and depending on the year it would be filled by the Olympics, a World Cup, an all-star game or perhaps a spectacular hockey convention.

“It would be a win for everybody,” said former NHL goaltender and broadcaster Glenn Healy, now the NHLPA’s director of player affairs. “We’ve got to sell the game.”

Part of the selling of the game, to the union, is the World Cup of Hockey, which took place in 1996 and 2004, and is now tentatively scheduled for 2011. Healy says the players are “overwhelmingly” in favour of having a World Cup, and the union would prefer that it took place in February of 2011, rather than in the August/September slot in which the Canada Cup, and then the World Cup, has taken place.

“(February) is the time when we believe it would be the best time to do it,” said Healy. “That way every February the fans would know they’re getting something special - the Olympics, the World Cup, the all-star game or something else.”

According to Healy, however, the NHL isn’t onside with taking a break in the season every February for a week to 10 days, with the Olympics, World Cup and all-star game filling the open period.

“The league isn’t with us on February yet, but there is potential,” he said. “They worry it would be devastating to their business. We think it would be invigorating.”

The 2004 World Cup, which took place just before the players were locked out for the entire 2004-05 NHL season, generated about $7 million in profits, which was split evenly between the league and the union. But Healy rejected the criticism made in this space earlier in the week that the tournament is just a convenient cash grab for the union when it needs to build reserves to fight an upcoming labour battle.

The 2011 World Cup would take place a year before the current NHL-NHLPA collective bargaining agreement expires.

“It’s not a cash grab,” said Healy, saying the union’s share of the World Cup is relatively small compared to the size of a war chest needed when there’s the threat of a major labour confrontation with the league.

“In an ideal world, this league needs owners and it needs players, and there’s a deal somewhere out there to be had.”

Now on to this week’s bursting mail bag:

Q: Your thoughts on the Claude Lemieux signing? Here is a top three club, solid seemingly in all areas, yet go out and bring in Claude Lemieux. For what? I don't think this team needs a spark or anything else this guys provides. I not going to buy his playoff performances in the past as part of your answer.

Michael Nestlehut, Harper Woods, Michigan

A: It’s a fascinating move by Sharks GM Doug Wilson. On one hand you have a veteran pro well past his prime being injected into the lineup of a team that has been the NHL’s best so far. On the other hand, Lemieux is one of the better playoff performers of the past 25 years in the NHL, and the Sharks have for several years now lacked the critical ingredients to get it done at playoff time. There’s little precedent for this kind of maneuver to work, and it seems very unlikely that Lemieux will be able to contribute in a major, meaningful way. But if he’s on the San Jose roster at playoff time and getting shifts in big games, it will be a fascinating process to watch.

Q: Hi, Damien.

I was at the World Junior Hockey tournament in Ottawa as you were. I watched Leaf prospect Jimmy Hayes who played for the U.S. team. My view was that he is going to be a long term project. He has the size to be a possible productive power forward, scoring a couple of goals around the net, but he does not seem to have soft hands or any special hockey sense. What is your impression?

David Cameletti, Guelph, Ont.

A: Saw very little of the kid because U.S. coach Ron Rolston seemed disinclined to play him much. Leaf scouts, I can tell you, were left frustrated by that, as well. Hayes certainly has size and he can move, and his coaches at Boston College seem to like him a lot. This is going to take some time to play out, and it certainly seems like the best plan would be to leave Hayes in college for at least three seasons, let him grow and fill out, and then see where his game is then. He seems to have a bit of moxy, for after he scored against Canada in the New Year’s Eve classic at the world junior championships this year, he was the one who taunted the Canadian bench, prompting a similar response when Canada scored a few minutes later.

Another World Cup? No thanks

TORONTO STAR FILE PHOTO

Remember the Lucky Loonie from the 2004 World Cup? Turns out, wasn't so lucky after all.

Glad to hear the 2011 World Cup of Hockey is apparently on.

Not really.

Remember the 2004 World Cup? Yep, that was held right before the NHL and NHLPA went to war and ultimately wrecked the entire 2004-05 season. The funds raised from the ’04 World Cup helped the two sides wage labour war, and thus those fans who supported the tournament actually ended up feeding the fight that deprived them of the sport for a year.

Now they’re talking about a 2011 tournament, which would take place – you guessed it – right before the current CBA expires, assuming the players do as everyone expects and don’t re-open the arrangement beforehand.

Already, both sides are girding for another protracted fight, and so are more than willing to stage another World Cup to raise funds for that very purpose. The players are growing increasingly unhappy with giving back chunks of money in escrow funds every year, while the owners are already talking about another rollback in salaries, and you can bet some among the NHL ranks will be looking to kill guaranteed contracts.

So why would any hockey fan help these people kill off another season by supporting the 2011 World Cup?

It’s an international event that really only means something in Canada – sort of like the world juniors – and one that has no predictability in terms of when it will pop up on the hockey landscape. It’s the bastard child of the old Canada Cup, and an event that’s nowhere near as meaningful as the Olympics.

So be excited about another World Cup if you want. Not me.

Of Spezza, Sharks and Jim Hart

What's this? The Cardinals into the Super Bowl? Sacre bleu. And without Terry Metcalf gaining an all-purpose yard, or Jim Hart finding Jackie Smith once for a big play.

Sadly, it ends in two weeks at the hands of the Steelers. How did Pittsburgh beat Baltimore yesterday? By being even more physical and intimidating than the brawny Ravens. It was not a day for the faint of heart, watching one Ravens player after another taken to the locker room right to the end when Willis McGahee was carted off the field.

Live by the sword, die by the sword (and by the rookie quarterback).

REUTERS

Sens turnaround starts about here.

The weekend also included:

The sense that the current plight of the Ottawa Senators may be worth it if it prompts Jason Spezza to play with the urgency and fire he did against Montreal Saturday night. Spezza was a house-afire out there, and simply looked like a totally different player.

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People are going to point at Mats Sundin when it comes to the state of the plummeting Vancouver Canucks, and that's fair. When you attract that much attention, people will notice. But if Kevin Bieksa can skate backwards and doesn't get beat by Kris Russell, and if Roberto Luongo can stop Jason Williams on a shootout, the 'Nucks maybe don't lose to Columbus on Sunday night. That said, in a storyline familiar to Leaf fans, Sundin missed in the shootout. Didn't even hit the net.

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AP PHOTO

Drew Doughty: Young Kings can fly.

If you're a Leaf fan that wants to get a sense how a careful, patient rebuilding effort can piece together a promising roster over time, watch the L.A. Kings some time. Its a lineup that includes Jack Johnson, Drew Doughty, Anze Kopitar, Dustin Brown, Peter Harrold, Wayne Simmonds, etc. etc., all deployed effectively these days by underrated coach Terry Murray.

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If you're a Leaf fan and can't wait as long as it has taken in L.A., just consider that it was just over three years ago that the Boston Bruins traded away Joe Thornton and essentially got nothing for him that lasted other than winger Marco Sturm. The B's, at that time, seemed to be a nightmare going nowhere, and now look at 'em.

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Just wondering. When, or who, was Bryan Colangelo's last home run in terms of personnel? Turning Jermaine O'Neal into Shawn Marion shouldn't make the smell of the lousy deal made to get O'Neal in the first place go away.

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AP PHOTO

Pumped over Wings-Sharks.

Detroit-San Jose is now the NHL's best rivalry. Saturday night's 6-5 Sharks win was a classic, all accomplished, somehow, without a fistfight. Of the many impressions left from that game, one was that Detroit's blueline didn't look very sharp at all. Nicklas Lidstrom isn't having the year he usually does - so far - and that may leave Detroit in need of defence help before the playoffs.

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How cool is it - at least for tennis enthusiasts - to have a Canadian singles player actually seeded at a Grand Slam event for the first time in a long time? That honor falls to Quebec's Alexandra Wozniak, seeded No. 30 at the Aussie Open, which began yesterday.

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Cameron Wake has left B.C. to sign with the Miami Dolphins. And not a single other CFL team is sad about it.

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Amazing, really, how the fighting debate has taken off again in hockey in the wake of Don Sanderson's death. Those in favour of fisticuffs are clearly on the defensive, which means as usual their only verbal strategy is to call people who disagree with them names like pansy and granola eaters. Yawn. Just imagine for a second an NHL that didn't carry all the controversy that fighting brings with it, but instead was able to somehow free teams to make more trades again and thus attract more attention that way.

A Mimico Plugger Still Plugging

AP FILE PHOTO

Shanny returns.

"I almost felt like a bridesmaid in Mats Sundin's wedding."

So says Brendan Shanahan, and with good reason. Indeed, it's been a little hard to understand why a 37-year-old forward with 555 career goals was so sought after for the past six months while a 39-year-old winger with 690 career goals and three Stanley Cup rings fell, it seemed, right off the radar screen.

For Sundin, there was no end of speculation as to where he might end up. For Shanahan, well, there was no speculation, really, for weeks upon weeks, and certainly no sense that this was a player who was viewed as a difference maker, a player for whom teams would clear salary cap room to obtain even if it meant dumping players to do it.

Sundin ended up signing with Vancouver Dec. 18 for a deal that will pay him more than $5 million this season, including a $4 million bonus payable today.

Shanahan, on the other hand, agreed to a deal with New Jersey this week for a pro-rated $800,000 salary, which means he'll gross about half that figure.

"They told me what they could afford, and I said I'll take it," chuckled Shanahan in an interview with The Star yesterday.

While there was a possibility Shanahan would play his first game with the Devils tonight against Columbus, he put himself down as "probably doubtful." When he practiced with the club on Thursday, he was the extra forward on a line with Bobby Holik, Jay Pandolfo and Mike Rupp, a humbling experience, one might think, for the future Hall of Famer.

"I just don't see it that way," he said. "I'm not an idiot, so I know I've had a good career. But I grew up feeling like a plugger from Mimico, and I still feel that way."

When he does play, he'll wear No. 18 for the Devils, not the No. 11 he wore as an 18-year-old for the Devils in 1987 nor the No. 14 he wore with the Red Wings and Rangers.

When given the option of a few numbers with New Jersey, a Devils trainer pointed out that Shanahan had worn No. 18 with Team Canada in the 1991 Canada Cup, and Canada had won that event.

So No. 18 it was.

Why it took so long for Shanahan to become an NHL employee again, particularly given the fact that he wanted to play all along while Sundin was ambivalent, is a complicated tale. Basically, he expected that Rangers GM Glen Sather would clear cap room for him in the fall, and when that didn't happen, he went out searching for work, hoping to find a job with a team that would allow him and his young family - three children under the age of 7 - to continue living in Manhattan.

"I didn't want to take that away from them," he said. "As a dad, I didn't want to do that."

There were other offers, including three, Shanahan says, that he could have accepted but would have meant have to move away from his family for the hockey season. The Devils had expressed some interest early on, and he and GM Lou Lamoriello, who had drafted him more than two decades earlier, kept in touch.

There were no bad feelings left over from the summer of 1991 when Shanahan left as what was then known as a Group One free agent for St. Louis. Lamoriello, of course, netted Scott Stevens as compensation. Their relationship continued through the years, and when Shanahan did play his 1,000th NHL game for Detroit in New Jersey, after the game he autographed his own jersey and gave it to Lamoriello as a gift.

"I did joke that Group One free agency had actually been good for him," said Shanahan. "He got Stevens for me, and the next year he got Dave Barr and Randy McKay for Troy Crowder."

In recent months, Shanahan had trekked up to the Rangers training facility on a daily basis to pull his gear out of a storage locker and skate on his own, hoping to get another NHL chance.

"Even when we weren't necessarily getting headlines and being the target of talk radio, I knew we had good teams pursuing me," said Shanahan. "Mats was the captain in Toronto for a long time, and he's a great player who has had a great career. But I didn't want the kind of scrutiny he had, didn't want to use it as a way to drum up interest and put pressure on general managers.

"(Sundin) was tring to decide whether he wanted to continue his career. I always knew I wanted to play, and I always thought it was going to be next week."

Sundin has had a bumpy start with the Canucks, registering one goal and one assist in five games, with a minus-4 rating. For Shanahan, as with all aging players, there's the uncertainty whether the hands will still be there for him.

"I know I'm known for scoring, but I also know I can kill penalties and I know how to win," he said. "But I've always felt I had something to prove. Can I do it again? Can I do more? Can I still do it?"

Happily for one of the game's better guys, we'll now get to find out.

Mail Bag

Man, it used to be more fun to cover the NHL. You know, back in the days when trades weren’t a rarity, or only confined to certain times of the year, but a possibility at all times.

It wasn’t even that long ago. When Joe Thornton was traded to San Jose just three years ago, the deal occurred in early December, just three months after the NHL had emerged from a season-killing lockout. But with the implications of the salary cap becoming more emphatic with every passing year, including the possibility (likelihood?) that the cap will go down soon, it’s as though a chill has gone through the league.

What have we had so far this year? Lee Stempniak for Alex Steen and Carlo Colaiaicovo. Darryl Sydor for Phillipe Boucher. Hardly earth-shaking moves. Free agent signings, whether they take place in July or January, are now the biggest transactions in any hockey year, while trades are generally confined to a couple of weeks preceding the winter trade deadline, and then again at the entry draft in June.

Not sure whether Gary Bettman agrees, but there’s a growing number of people who believe this logjam needs to be cleared. Trades once generated news and controversy for the NHL, which is a league that needs all the attention it can get. Leaf GM Brian Burke has for several years now been a champion of allowing teams to take on salary commitments in trades, which used to be allowed but is strictly verboten under the current cap system. Maybe that would work. Anything’s worth trying.

Now, on to this week’s mail bag:

Q: Hi Damien, My question is simple and may clarify the story surrounding Mats Sundin for everyone in Leaf Land and how he should be received on February 21st. I believe the real truth surrounding Mats is the Leafs said thanks but no thanks.

"You didn't or wouldn't play ball with us so now we're not going to play ball with you now". Tit for Tat. I feel it is reasonable to identify why Mats didn't want to leave. Perhaps he thought they had a legitimate chance to make the playoffs and as we both know once they start, anything can happen. The other was his heart belonged to the Maple Leafs.

He has always been a positive force with the Leafs and no one can question his commitment to the organization. He also was given a "no trade" contract so it was his right to exercise it. Even Brian Burke, the new GM, says those things should be honoured.

Personally I wish he had of accepted the trade and then have Leafs resign him a free agent last July. We both know that didn't happen.

I recommend that the real story be identified, that it was the Leafs who rebuked him, not the other way around. If that is the case, then he only deserves the real appreciation and acknowledgement for the times whereby he provided us all with true entertainment. (ie A rare feat the night he scored his 500th goal, short handed and in overtime.) I doubt many other 500th goals included as much drama or significance. Just a thought, but the real truth needs to be known. Not everything is as it appears. In this case I truly believe it was he who was rejected. He does not deserve to be admonished or rejected for a second time of Feb. 21st when Vancouver visits Leafland.

Dave Strachan, Uxbridge, Ont.

A: Interesting thoughts, Dave. But really, you’re just speculating upon what you believe to be the “real” story, and there’s not really any facts to support your version. Does it really matter any more? When it came down to Sundin’s return, Vancouver wanted him badly, while the Leafs were no longer interested in re-signing him. In the summer and fall, however, Cliff Fletcher probably would have done a deal with Sundin if he’d been ready to return at that time. So it really came down to timing and circumstance, critical factors in a transaction like this. Based on what he said, Sundin was torn about the Leafs, tired and discouraged by the losing and lack of direction, but also emotionally tied to the club after years of playing in Toronto. It wasn’t an ugly divorce by any means, and those who would boo the classy former captain when he returns Feb. 21 were probably inclined to boo him before he left.