By Stephen Johns

Photo by The Blackbird.

Mats Sundin returns to Toronto tomorrow. It’ll be nothing if not interesting.
Tomorrow is also Hockey Day in Canada, which gives the game between the Leafs and the Vancouver Canucks even more unusual meaning. Canucks fans imagine the Maple Leafs to be their bitter, historic rivals. Leaf fans, on the other hand, haven’t paid much attention to the Canucks since 1994: the Canucks eliminated the Leafs from the playoffs that year en route to a Stanley Cup Final appearance, but the teams haven’t played many meaningful games since then. This doesn’t stop “Leafs suck!” chants from echoing around GM Place—nor does it make the Canucks a more meaningful foe to your average Leaf fan than, say, the Calgary Flames. Or possibly the Columbus Blue Jackets.
That changed on December 18, 2008, when Sundin eschewed Manhattan (and a contract offer from the New York Rangers) for the Lower Mainland. His Canuck career got off to a terrible start—Vancouver lost eight of his first nine games—but Sundin and his teammates have picked it up of late. They arrive in Toronto having won seven of eight.
Seeing Sundin wearing another team’s jersey is weird, like seeing an ex with their new significant other. We suspect Sundin will be booed tomorrow night, a response that would be sadly typical of a fan base which seldom gave him his due. It’s ironic, since Sundin’s accomplishments should be beyond reproach. He left Toronto as the team’s all-time leading goalscorer and point-getter; a solid argument could be made for Sundin being the greatest Leaf ever. Yet his refusal to waive his no-trade clause last season—which, it should be noted, was offered by, and signed in good faith with, the Toronto Maple Leafs—to help bail out John Ferguson, Jr’s serial mismanagement and become a rental player somewhere else is widely viewed as an act of treachery. We realize Sundin became a rental player when he joined Vancouver, yet the view that he shouldn’t be allowed to change his mind is frankly ludicrous. No matter your feelings about Sundin’s departure, they shouldn’t obscure what he did as a Leaf. If you’ll be in the Air Canada Centre tomorrow night, give the Big Swede his due by standing and cheering. The man gave his heart and soul to the Toronto Maple Leafs for fifteen years. A standing ovation is the only appropriate response.