doktordave

"You heard it someplace, not here."

NEWEST SUNDIN FOOLISHNESS

Can you believe it?
Good ol' Ek posted that a source (no e-rating)....is suggesting Sundin may want to play for the Rangers so baddly that he'll play for as little as $2 million. [my face is still sore from laughing at this one]

Never mind that Mats this week publicly stated that he's still wrestling with whether he want to play in the NHL this year and expects that it may still take a while to figure that out....the unnamed source is suggesting that Mats would happily be the 9th highest paid Ranger, in the same budget range as Peter Prucha and Paul Mara.
It just doesn't sound plausible, not unless he's always dreamed of ending his career playing with Markus Naslund... if he were willing to play for that kind of money, as Paul Kariya and Teemu Selanne did a few years back, I'm sure there are other more interesting possibilities than the Rangers. Maybe a year playing with Ovechkin, or Crosby, or becoming the 35th centerman in Tampa's new no-D line-up?
Play in Detroit for $3 million and see just how high the team could run up the score every night?
End his career in Philly for free cable and $300 a game because he's always respected Darryl Sittler as a person and wants to emulate the end of that former Leaf's career?
(snicker) sorry about that last one...we've already heard that he's talked with some former NHLers who've told him that they wish they could have ended their careers with the teams they were longest associated with. Advice that has carried some weight with him apparently and made the whole decision making process longer and more difficult than many would expect. ( Gainey, Sather, Holland, Gillis, Fletcher, etc..)

C'mon....we know by now that money is NOT the prime motivator for Mats, but I can't see him setting up a situation where some player going to arbitration next year and seeking a raise based on a 50 point season is met with a team stance that Mats Sundin got $2 million a year and put up more points.

Or a situation where Wade Redden gets more than triple Sundin's salary coming off what many describe as a very ordinary year with Ottawa. Naw, Mats isn't about the money, but he does value respect for his seniority and this kind of deal just doesn't sound like it would be respectful of a guy coming off one of his best years this decade. Had he wanted to do this sort of deal, you likely would have seen it with Toronto last year where he could have basically given the team an extra $5 million or so in cap room to get him some support up front.

Naw...this rumor is just funny.
I wouldn't rule out the Rangers, but certainly I'd rule out this sort of discount rumor.

Give me a break Ek. Bring back the Ek rating system for these Sundin rumors, or add to the current system:
(-e-1 ) rumor passed on by a zamboni driver or snack-bar worker at a small town rink.
(-e-2) rumor passed on by somebody claiming to have slept with an NHL player/ GM/ parking attendant.
(-e-3) rumor from a New York post employee/paper carrier.
(-e-4) rumor from somebody speaking a foreign language that I don't quite understand, but who clearly said a word that sounds kinda like "Sundin"...probably Swedish.
(-e-5) straight from the singing frog....honest!

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