The Detroit News’s Ted Kulfan and Mark Falkner interviewed former Toronto Maple Leafs captain Mats Sundin as part of Sundin’s release of his memoir, “”Mats Sundin: Home and Away,” and Sundin has revealed that Red Wings captain Nicklas Lidstrom tried to recruit the long-time Leafs forward for the Red Wings’ 2008 Cup run:
They combined for one of the greatest goals in Swedish hockey history, and they almost wound up doing the same thing with the Detroit Red Wings.
In Mats Sundin’s book, “Mats Sundin: Home and Away,” the former Toronto Maple Leafs captain revealed for the first time that Red Wings captain Nicklas Lidstrom recruited him with a phone call in February of 2008.
Teammates with the Swedish national team at the 2006 Olympic Games, where Lidstrom scored the winning goal on a drop pass from Sundin for a 3-2 victory in the final against Finland in Turin, Italy, Lidstrom asked Sundin if he would waive his no-trade clause and consider joining the Red Wings at the trade deadline.
Sundin was 36 at the time and at the end of his 18-year NHL career, but the 6-foot-5, 225-pound center still produced a 76-point season in 2008, which would’ve put him third with the Red Wings behind Pavel Datsyuk (97 points) and Henrik Zetterberg (92).
“I was very honored to have Nicklas call me,” Sundin said on The Detroit News/Detroit Red Wings podcast, OctoPulse. “He knew me so well, what kind of player I was and he knew if I was going to join Detroit, he understood what value I would bring to the table. I felt very comfortable with that.
“But for me and remembering my feelings at the time, I spent so much time in Toronto and the fans hadn’t won a Cup since 1967, that was the purpose that drove me getting ready for a new season. Even though we were in a rebuild mode, I wanted to win a championship with the Toronto Maple Leafs.”
Continued; here’s the podcast…
And if you recall, there was a rumored trade for Sergei Fedorov from the Washington Capitals in the works at the trade deadline, too, but it was quashed by the front office.
