For the next two days, we're running 13 of our top memories of Mats Sundin as a Maple Leaf. There are more to choose from but Sundin captaining Sweden to Gold in 2006 and his years as a Nordique won't make an appearance on the list. For help, I enlisted Mats Sundin's biggest fan Eyebleaf to help come up with and number the list. It's far from exhaustive and your mileage may vary on our choices but these were the 13 that came immediately into our minds so consider it a small token of our appreciation for one of the greatest Leafs of all-time.
The amazing thing about Sundin's tenure in Toronto was seeing him knock down so many milestones. I think that it really hit home how lucky Leafs fans were to watch him.
On March 10, 2003, in Edmonton, Mats Sundin registered his 1000th NHL point, a game-winning goal against the Oilers. As fate would have it, I was in the crowd that night, on a business trip with my brother, one we'd planned to coincide with a Leafs's western road-trip. We were seated behind the glass that night in Edmonton, near the Oilers's net. Sundin scored the goal - scored his 1000th point -- right in front of me. Literally. And I went wild. I couldn't, frankly, believe my luck. After getting to 998 points on Feb. 25th of that year, Sundin went into a slump; he put up one point - an assist - in six games leading up to that night in Edmonton. Sundin waited for me. Thank you, Mats.