Master of the Universe
(Insert He-Man theme here)
Mats Sundin, the legendary Leaf, or Duck, or Ranger, or Canadien, or whoever. Mats Sundin, the greatest player to ever lace them up for the blue and white. Mats Sundin, practically a Canadian hockey player with his gritty, drive to the net game. Mats Sundin, bleeds blue and white… and lots and lots of green.
Consider the fact that Mats Sundin is the third highest paid player in the last 20 years in the NHL. From 1990 to present, he has made a total of just over $74 Million, and has accumulated 1321 points in that time frame. Only two other players have made more than Sundin – Joe Sakic at just over $87 Million since the 1988-89 season, and Jarmir Jagr (go figure) who made just under $100 Million since the 1990-91 season.
If you break it down, Mats Sundin has been paid $53 thousand dollars a point throughout his career and since joining the Maple Leafs has been paid just over $72 thousand per tally. Not a bad wage considering he’s only once broken the 100 point plateau, and he was wearing a Nordiques jersey at the time. Only one season with the Leafs has he ever topped 90 points and that came over a decade ago. For a guy who’s totaled an average of high 70s in points per season, he’s more than made his fair share.
He’s been proclaimed by many to be the greatest Leaf captain to ever play the game. Considering Sundin has never won a cup, or even brought the Leafs to the Stanley Cup finals, it’s difficult to claim Sundin is the savior of the Maple Leafs franchise, but let’s take a look at a few other “franchise saviors” in the last 20 years.
Joe Sakic. He has made more money than Sundin during the same time frame. Throughout his career, Sakic has reached 1829 points, breaking the 100 point plateau on six separate occasions and just missing it by a few odd points on three other attempts. Throughout his career, on average, Sakic has been paid by the Quebec/Colorado franchise just over $47 thousand dollars per point. Sakic has won 2 Stanley Cups.
Steve Yzerman collected just under $65 Million over the course of his career and broke the 100 point plateau on six consecutive seasons and brought Detroit 3 Stanley Cups to drink from. He hit 1755 points and was paid an average $37 thousand dollars for each tally.
Finally, let’s take a look at a man who has played with both Ed Belfour and Joe Nieuwendyk on occasion. Mike Modano has tallied 1283 points over 18 seasons in the NHL. He’s also made $70 Million dollars in that time, just $4 Million short of Sundin’s career cash figure, and in that time has lead the Dallas Stars to Stanley Cup victory. Per point, Modano was paid just under $55 thousand dollars, and since the 1994-95 season (when Sundin joined the Maple Leafs) Mike Modano has made just over $67 Million and tallied 974 points – equivalent to just under $69 thousand dollars a point ($3 thousand less than Sundin).
It’s easy to say Mats Sundin didn’t have the players the other mentioned names had to play with, but there has always been a top goaltender in Toronto (other than Raycroft) and Sundin has been joined by Gary Roberts, Alex Mogilny, Doug Gilmour, Owen Nolan, Eric Lindros, Jason Allison, and even Wendel Clark at various times. The Leafs have tried to get the right players to join him on the top unit, but no one could ever play with him.
While Mats Sundin claims his career was never about the money, even taking a so-called “pay cut” in the last few seasons he’s played, it certainly doesn’t show by the numbers. In the last 3 seasons as a Maple Leaf, Sundin made on average $6.5 Million dollars and produced no more than 78 points a season. That is equal to just over $83 thousand dollars a point since the lockout.
The fact is, while many critically claim Sundin will not sign in Vancouver regardless of the amount of money they throw at him, there’s two ways you can look at it. The first – Sundin has always played for the top dollar based on his performance. Making over $6 Million as a 70 point 35, 36 and 37 year old is quite the retirement plan, and $20 Million for two more 70 point seasons is a pretty decent check for a 37 year old. The second – Sundin has already drained every possible penny he’s earned out of MLSE and now that he’s got an 8 digit bank account, he is more than capable of playing for a low amount, or rather a fair amount, to try and win a Stanley Cup.
Regardless of the jersey Mats retires with, he’ll always bleed green.
Micheal A. Aldred
michealaldred@hotmail.com
November 8th, 2008 at 5:03 pm
This is one of the most biased posts I’ve read.
1) One person cannot win the cup.
2) You name player he’s played with, yet they don’t compare to the talent that Stevie-Y, Joe Sakic, or Jagr had at one time. Everyone knows Sundin never had proper support.
3) You relate his pay strictly to point production! Did you know there’s more to a good hockey player than points?
4) The money he made in the past isn’t relevant when the guy never went to arbitration, never held out, and as you stated, he took a pay-cut. Would YOU turn down money saying, “6.5 million? No I’ll do it for 5″?
I won’t say that if he signs with Vancouver the money wasn’t a factor. That’s a lot of money. But it will only be one factor because like he said, he would like to win a cup.
That’s a funny thing though, all the haters (I’m sure you were one of them after reading this) always said Sundin didn’t care about the cup.
November 8th, 2008 at 6:50 pm
I think Troy has a man crush on Sundin.
All Sundin ever did for Toronto was take up cap space and play. As soon as the seasons were over, he was OUTTA THERE and back in Sweden. While I wouldn’t take Modano over Sundin, I would definitely not consider Sundin for my club. And not just because of this, but because he’s never really done anything for Toronto, and this past deadline was ample evidence.
Troy, you need a hug.
November 8th, 2008 at 6:53 pm
I disagree with Tory on this one. He does have good points but IT’S ALWAYS ABOUT THE MONEY! I love Sundin but I’m sure I love money waay more. I’d love to get the Stanley Cup but I’d like it more if I got 10 million bucks instead. You feel me?
November 8th, 2008 at 6:59 pm
The mentioning of Lindros, Allison and even Nolan greatly weakens an otherwise decent argument. I’m not going to approach the specifics of this as I don’t think its clear cut either way and would much rather engage in a continuous debate on the matter, but at the very least you must acknowledge that Sundin’s cohorts have been nowhere near the level of Yzerman, Joe and Modano.
Let me just reiterate that I have an issue with that particular point and it was a solid read otherwise.
November 8th, 2008 at 7:01 pm
Jacob, I don’t want to hear about your fantasies.
Yeah, he did nothing for Toronto. Maybe if he could have lead them in scoring every year he was with them but one. Shouldn’t have been difficult with no competition, right?
November 8th, 2008 at 10:42 pm
I’d have to agree more with Troy’s points here. Even if Sundin annoys me at this point with not waiving his trade clause last year due to ‘one-team-start-to-beginning stories’, yet (seemingly) joining a team 25 games in this year, I still believe he was a great player, captain and Maple Leaf… who certainly had a level of loyalty to the Leafs and was not fixated on money. He could have signed else where years ago as a UFA if he wanted more money (and he would have deserved it too).
November 9th, 2008 at 12:58 am
I would suggest you might want to take the top 100 players in the league and compare them point for dollar
You chose to compare against some pretty top notch talent.
Anybody who doesn’t think Sundin returning to the Leafs for the rest of the season is a good thing is little off in my not so humble opinion.
He will make any team a better team and I don’t think the dollars are going to have anything to do with it.
Sundin is thinking right now…. Do I go back to Toronto? Or do I go for the cup with a team that DOES NOT play in Toronto this season.
Cheers
November 9th, 2008 at 1:46 am
I usually don’t post on articles but seriously. I read the first 2 paragraphs, skipped to the end and read this.
“Regardless of the jersey Mats retires with, he’ll always bleed green.”
Micheal Aldred, you are a tool. Only one team wins the cup every year and it is the team that wins, not a player alone. Sundin gave it his all every year and has been one of the most consistent players in the league throughout his career and thats all you can ask of him. His salary has never been considered too much, and often it seems like he could have been paid more.
Please, no more posting garbage like this as this site actually does have some pretty good analysis most of the time.
November 9th, 2008 at 2:01 am
Well said Reether.
November 9th, 2008 at 3:42 am
You guys are both fucking stupid and the facts of numbers don’t lie. Obviously if you weren’t so “deeply offended” by the article you would have realized that the numbers prove it all and even a shit for braind Mike Modano was a better captain the Mats Sundin. This is a rebuttle against those who believe Mats Sundin was the greatest captain of all time.
and besides, we all like some controversy now and then, Mike Aldred is still no Howard Berger
November 9th, 2008 at 4:05 am
Yea I have to agree with Reether as I too read the first couple of paragraphs and decided I read enough and the time wasted is gone for ever.
I don’t understand what a guy gets paid for and point production have anything to do with how good a player he is. This just seems like you got nothing and grasping at straws to file a story… sorry but no dice.
November 9th, 2008 at 12:28 pm
Jacob, you don’t have many friends, do you?
November 9th, 2008 at 1:01 pm
I strongly doubt that anyone here thinks Mats is the best captain of all time, or even the best Leaf of all time. This is just a shitty article, and I for one believe that there should be more respect shown to our former captain.
If you want to act like kids and blame Sundin for taking too much money, and not winning a cup go ahead. Just know you look like tools to the rest of us.
November 9th, 2008 at 2:06 pm
Interesting read. The figures dont lie, but this year many are playing with the heart of Sundin. And that legacy is finally visable. But the Article will cut but cant dispute.
November 9th, 2008 at 4:14 pm
Definitely interesting read. But I know you are usually always right about these things as you always prove people wrong with your leafs talk
November 11th, 2008 at 11:05 am
Your metric is wrong. Total compensation is mostly indicative of when and how long a guy played, not his motivation for playing. If you want to measure a player’s lust for money, contractual hold-outs (Yashin, Tkachuk, Palffy) would be a far better indicator.
As for Sundin’s total compensation, that can be summed up by three factors: timing, scarcity and longevity.
On timing, Sundin’s career arc was in perfect sync with the staggering rise in NHL salary dollars. Consider: Yzerman played eight seasons at a time when tickets (where the NHL gets the bulk of its revenue) were CHEAP, before Mats signed his first NHL contract.
In 1989, Scotty Bowman was the highest paid NHL executive at $300K. In 1994, Cliff Fletcher made $600K and by 1995 Fletch was earning over $1M/yr. Player compensation followed the same arc with top player salaries tripling between 1994 and 1996. : Mats was the highest paid player in the NHL just once and that was in 1989. In no other season was he even in the top 3.
In terms of scarcity, how many players played from 1992 to 2006, staying healthy for the majority of their games and lead their team in scoring for almost the entire duration?
And then there’s longevity: Had his peer group played consistently for 16+ seasons through the highest wage cycle in the NHL, they too would have earned similar, if not greater, amounts of money.
November 11th, 2008 at 11:52 am
I’m not clear on how you’re assessing Sundin’s merit. You seem to be attempting to correlate Stanley Cups won and points per dollar earned.
Marcel Dionne is 5th on the all-time career point scoring list. He never won a Stanley Cup; he also scored less than 4 dozen playoff points in his entire career. He also played on some woefully bad teams, and it would be a mistake to suggest that he was overpaid or underskilled. The bottom line is that no individual player competing in a team sport should have his or her individual worth judged by a metric that relies heavily on team achievement.
More problematic is the fact that points per dollar earned is not generally a useful metric to judge the worth of a player, or no one would ever draft a goalie, a reliable defensive defenceman or a defensive forward.
It also ignores the significant variability in total scoring across the league from year to year that has resulted from various rule changes and the evolution of coaching strategies.
It ignores the significant variation in total scoring from team to team during the same season, owing to significant differences in team strategy. Modano, for example, played for years within Ken Hitchcock’s system in Dallas, a system that was primarily team defense-oriented and no doubt had a moderating effect on Modano’s offensive output.
The superior surrounding cast with whom Sakic and Yzerman were fortunate enough to play has already been noted by other commenters. I agree with their assessment.
In the final analysis, a metric like this can’t give one a reliable guide about the relative merit of a player. You have to watch the games to get a sense of that. When Sundin came to the Leafs, I was a doubter; his bubble helmet and a questionable playoff series early in his career against the Canadiens (i.e. while he was with the Nordiques) left me with questions about his talent, and I was pre-disposed to hate him because the Leafs traded Wendel Clark to get him. Watching him play night in and night out erased any doubts I ever had about the man’s talent, his dedication to team, and his desire to win (he also ditched the bubble helmet).
He has earned the right, in my view, to play wherever he wants, for whatever reason he wants, or not at all – if he wants.
November 11th, 2008 at 2:14 pm
Oh hey, another “No cups, no respect” post.
This is ridiculous, Mats Sundin making 6.5 million post lockout seems like a lot of money until you actually, you know, look around at NHL salaries and realize how ridiculous they all are. Is this secretly a post about the NHL’s salary structure?
He also happens to be the highest scoring forward in the history of an original six franchise, the highest scoring Swedish player of all time, the captain of a gold-medal winning Olympic team, the first European born player to ever be selected first overall in the NHL, and is tied for an NHL record in career overtime winning goals with Jaromir Jagr.
Can we please cease this bullshit that he wasn’t good enough, wasn’t accomplished enough, or was holding the team down? And the team? Most of those “star” players you listed were well past their prime. Tell me about Brian Leetch’s stay as a Leaf.
This borderline racism and revisionist history is ridiculous. Go watch the history Mats has been a part of, if you’ve forgotten or never seen it. And hey, guess where Tomas Kaberle goes in the offseason? I’ll give you one hint, it’s not to his mansion in Etobicoke.
January 10th, 2010 at 5:12 pm
Percocet withdrawl symptoms….
Percocet withdrawl symptoms. Symtoms of withdrawl from percocet. Percocet withdrawl. Surviving withdrawl from percocet….
January 12th, 2010 at 12:28 am
Carbon credits for sale….
Federal energy tax credits. Credits automobiles. Rachats credits….
January 12th, 2010 at 2:53 am
Ativan buy tramadol online….
Ativan buy tramadol online….
January 29th, 2010 at 3:48 pm
…..
…..