Mats Sundin

At 53 years old, Mats Sundin has this physical status:

Mats Johan Sundin (Swedish pronunciation: [mats sna]; born 13 February 1971) is a Swedish former professional ice hockey player who spent the majority of his time in the National Hockey League (NHL), retiring in 2009. Sundin, who was first drafted first overall in 1989, spent his first four seasons with the Quebec Nordiques in the NHL. He was later traded to the Toronto Maple Leafs in 1994, where he spent the majority of his time as team captain during 11 seasons. Sundin was the longest-serving non-North American-born captain in NHL history at the 2007-08 season. Sundin last played for the Vancouver Canucks in the 2008-09 season before announcing his retirement on September 30th. In ten of his 18 seasons, he appeared in the Stanley Cup playoffs for ten years.

Sundin, who played at least 70 points in any season of his career, was excluded from his rookie season, the shortened lockout season, and his half-season with Vancouver, and he led the Maple Leafs in points in every season he was with the team, with the exception of 2002-03, when Alexander Mogilny defeated him by seven points. Sundin made history by becoming the first Swedish player to score 500 goals on October 14th. He is the Maple Leafs' all-time leader in goals (420) and points (987). Sundin's average was less than a point per game in 1,346 NHL games).

Sundin gained three gold medals with Sweden at the World Championships and a gold medal at the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin.

Sundin was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame on June 26, 2012, his first year of eligibility. He was the second Swede, after Börje Salming (another long-serving Maple Leafs player) was selected into the Hall of Fame. In 2013, Sundin was inducted into the IIHF Hall of Fame. Sundin was named one of the '100 Greatest NHL Players' in 2017 in a 'Best NHL Players' category.

Personal life

The City of Toronto is home to a burgeoning hockey industry, and Sundin, who is a private person, was certainly the city's most scrutinized celebrity. He routinely denied any probes into his personal life, and he barely spoke negatively of his colleagues in public. Sundin's four-bedroom house up for auction in May 2006, sparking a flurry of media rumors that he was dissatisfied with the Leafs and wanted to move (and play) somewhere else. Sundin's longtime girlfriend Tina Fagerström had parted ways, and Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment CEO Richard Peddie said that the real estate market was extremely hot and that Sundin's house was "an awfully large house for a single guy." The following NHL season, Sundin spent time with the Leafs. When Sundin announced that he and his partner Josephine Johansson were engaged to marry on April 30, he was receiving a leadership award at Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic High School in Guelph, Ontario. The two people have been together for about a year.

Sundin announced an endorsement contract with PokerStars in September 2008. He goes by the name "MatsSundin" and will donate any money to charity.

Sundin married fiancée Josephine Johansson on August 29, 2009, and she died on the 29th of August. Hundreds of current and former colleagues were on the guest list, which included several current and former employees. Bonnie, her sons, Nathanael and Julian, are the parents of his daughter Bonnie and two sons.

Sundin was also a Goodwill Ambassador for the Adopt-A-Minefield Campaign, an organization that raises money and awareness of the human and economic pain posed by anti-personnel landmines.

Sundin was a member of the Rotation Standardbred harness racing horse, which won the coveted Maple Leaf Trot at Mohawk Racetrack in 2003.

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Playing career

Sundin was drafted by the Quebec Nordiques with the first overall pick in the 1989 NHL Entry Draft, becoming the first European-born player to be drafted first overall in NHL history. Sundin was playing in the Swedish second-tier Allsvenskan for Nacka HK at the time. He spent the following season for Djurgrdens IF in Sweden, helping the team reach the Le Mat Trophy as the league champions.

Sundin made his NHL debut with Quebec during the 1990-1991 season, finishing second on the team behind Joe Sakic with 59 points. In his first NHL game against the Hartford Whalers on October 4, 1990, he scored his first NHL goal against them. He led the Nordiques with a 114-point season in 1992-93, becoming one of the league's best young players after rising to 76 points in his second NHL season. He had 84 games with the Nordiques before being dealt to the Toronto Maple Leafs at the 1994 Draft.

In a trade on June 28, 1994, the Maple Leafs acquired Sundin. Sundin, Garth Butcher, Todd Warriner, Todd Warriner, and a 1994 first-round draft pick (used to select Nolan Baumgartner) to Toronto in exchange for Wendel Clark, Sylvain Lefebvre, Landon Wilson, and a 1994 first-round draft pick (used to select Jeff Kealty). Sundin's Toronto debut was postponed, but he returned to Sweden to play for the Djurgrdens IF again as a result of the 1994-1995 lockout. Sundin made an immediate impact when NHL play returned to the Leafs this season, leading the Leafs in scoring at a point-per-game pace of 47 points.

Sundin's third season with the Maple Leafs saw his 42-goal, 94-point season, his second-highest season on record and his most prolific during his time in Toronto. Sundin was appointed Gilmour's successor during the 1996–97 season, becoming the 16th Maple Leafs captain and first European captain in team history.

Sundin led the Maple Leafs into the 1999 Stanley Cup playoffs as the fourth seed in the Eastern Conference after an 83-point campaign in 1998-99. The Leafs advanced to the Conference Finals against the seventh-seeded Buffalo Sabres, but were defeated in five games, despite being motivated by forward Steve Thomas and goaltender Curtis Joseph's acquisitions in the previous off-season. In 17 playoff games, Sundin led with a career-playoff record of 16 points. Sundin made another appearance in the Eastern Conference Finals with the Maple Leafs in 2001-02, but lost in six games to the Carolina Hurricanes.

Sundin was fired by Alexander Mogilny, who led Sundin's 72 points with 79 points, in 2002-03, after eight years as the Maple Leafs' top scorer in the regular season. Mogilny sustained a serious hip injury that required him to miss 12 weeks, allowing Sundin to regain his spot as the Maple Leafs' top scorer.

Sundin, however, was the object of League controversies during his 2004 campaign, against the Nashville Predators. Sundin threw it away in disgust after breaking his stick on a failed shot. The stick inadvertently entered the crowd rather than striking the glass. Sundin was suspended for a single game after being caught by the NHL in a reckless move. He gave the fan that had broken the stick a brand new autographed stick after the game as an apology.

Sundin was out of action in the ensuing 2004-05 NHL lockout, choosing not to play in Sweden like many of his countrymen. Sundin was seriously injured in the first game of the season but not breaking his orbital bone, but not quite missing his eye. After a month of leading the team in scoring with 78 points, he returned to the lineup. However, Toronto did not have the same success and missed the playoffs for the first time in seven years in 2006. It would also be the first time any of Sundin's last three seasons with the Leafs without a post-season appearance.

Sundin was only the 35th player in NHL history to reach the 500-goal mark at the start of the 2006-07 season. With a hat-trick effort against Miikka Kiprusoff of the Calgary Flames, he reached the record on October 14, 2006. He scored his third goal of the game, shorthanded, over Kiprusoff's blocker in overtime, defeating the Flames 5–4. In a 2–1 victory over the New Jersey Devils, Sundin scored 900 points as a Maple Leaf with a two-assist effort.

Sundin's 2008–08 season marked the start of a new one as a Maple Leaf. Sundin scored his 389th goal with the Ottawa Senators on October 4th, tying Darryl Sittler's team record in the second game of the season. Sundin scored his 917th point as a Maple Leaf in Toronto's fifth game of the season on October 11th against the New York Islanders, breaking Sittler's franchise all-time record. He scored his 390th goal in the third period of the game, taking sole possession of the all-time goal-scoring lead. He was formally named first, second, and third player of the game at the end of the game. Sundin became the first Leaf to score 400 goals in a game against the Montreal Canadiens on November 27th. Several days later, in a match against the Pittsburgh Penguins, Babe Dye broke Babe Dye's 83-year-old Toronto record by extending his home game point streak to 15 games.

Sundin was the subject of several trade rumors as the NHL trade deadline approached, with the Leafs falling out of playoff contention once more towards the end of the season and Sundin's deal coming to an end. Sundin's management requested that he waive his no-trade guarantee in order for the team to recruit young talent and/or draft picks to protect the team's future. However, one day before the trade deadline, he said he did not believe in being a "rental player" and that if he won the Stanley Cup, he would do it over the course of an entire season. He stayed with the club for the fourth year in a row and 12 of 13 years as the Maple Leafs' top scorer.

Sundin became a free agent on July 1, 2008, but the Maple Leafs had previously given the Montreal Canadiens exclusive rights to negotiate with him before. Sundin's newly hired Vancouver Canucks General Manager Mike Gillis gave him a lucrative two-year, $20 million deal, making him the highest paid player in the league if signed. Multiple Vancouver companies extended Swedish-centred special offers, such as a Volvo and IKEA, in an attempt to persuade him to join the Canucks. Contract offers were also made by the New York Rangers, Canadiens, and Leafs; however, Sundin decided against it for the first time in the season, despite considering retirement. He narrowed his prospects to the Rangers and Canucks after announcing that he would return to the NHL and sign with a club. Sundin had signed to a one-year, $8.6 million deal with the Canucks on December 18, 2008. Sundin's salary came out to $5 million for the remainder of the season, and he was rated as Pro-Rating for the remainder of the season. Sundin reportedly reduced his salary cap space to potentially bolster their roster before the season's end, despite taking a $1.4 million salary cut from the Canucks' original yearly offer.

Sundin scored his first goal with the Edmonton Oilers on January 7, 2009, a powerplay goal in a 4–2 loss to the San Jose Sharks, on Monday, in his Canucks debut on January 7, 2009, a powerplay goal. Sundin played his first game against the Maple Leafs in Toronto on February 21, 2009. During a break in the first period that was followed by a standing ovation, the return to the Air Canada Centre became incredibly emotional. Sundin's winning goal against his former team brought the game to a 3–2 win for Vancouver. Sundin was criticized for his regular-season play, earning just 28 points in 41 games while mostly on the second line with Pavol Demitra and Ryan Kesler, but the Canucks returned to point-per-game form in the 2009 playoffs as the Northwest Division champions. He missed Game 2 of the Canucks' first-round sweep over the St. Louis Blues due to a suspected hip injury after falling awkwardly behind the net in Game 2, but returned in time for the second round against the Chicago Blackhawks. Sundin led the playoffs with eight points in eight games as the Canucks were eliminated in six games.

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Awards and achievements

• TV-pucken Champion as part of Team Stockholm 1986.
• Swedish Champion in 1990.
• First European-born player to be drafted first overall in the NHL Entry Draft. (1989)
• Named to the Elitserien World All-Star Team in 1991, 1992, 1994, 1997, 1998 and 2002.
• Recipient of the Viking Award in 1993, 1994, 1997 and 2002.
• Named to the World Championships All-Star Team in 1992 and 2003.
• World Championships' Best Forward in 1992 and 2003.
• Named to the Canada Cup All-Star Team in 1991.
• Named to the World Cup of Hockey All-Star Team in 1996.
• Played in the NHL All-Star Game in 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003 (injured) and 2004.
• Named to the NHL Second All-Star Team in 2002 and 2004.
• Named to the Olympic Tournament All-Star Team in 2002.
• Captain of the Swedish national ice hockey team in the 2006 Olympics in which Sweden won the gold medal.
• Achieved 500 goal plateau on 14 October 2006, with a short-handed, hat trick, overtime winner.
• Achieved 1,300 points on 7 February 2008 against the Montreal Canadiens.
• Awarded the "Mark Messier Leadership Award" in 2008.
• Enshrined in the Hockey Hall of Fame in the class of 2012 in his first year of eligibility.
• Number (13) Retired by the Toronto Maple Leafs.
• Named one of the 100 Greatest Players in league history by the NHL.