It's do or die for the Raptors tonight, the Jays are second in the AL East and the Leafs haven't been seen in over twenty days, but the big sports story in this city today is the status of Mats Sundin's hip. According to this article by Steve Simmons, Sundin's future as a National Hockey League player is in question after it was learned yesterday that the Maple Leafs captain requires hip surgery.
John Ferguson Jr. is denying the story, as is Sundin's agent, but there's a lot of smoke here for there to be no fire at all. Sundin is no spring chicken, and hip surgery is pretty serious, so if this is true it's a pretty big story in Leaf Nation.
Sundin will turn 37 during next season. As good a player as he is, there's no support for him on the Leafs and he clearly can't carry us to the post season on his own. Maybe Sundin's hip is trying to tell us something. Maybe Sundin's hip is telling MLSE to let him go and to radically alter the persona of this mediocre team.
There will be some rough years ahead, but we've had rough patches before. By the time my son is ten we could have an exciting and competitive team with a legitimate chance to end a 45 year drought. It all starts with our captain's hip.
Leafs Nation, dont shed no tears. No Sundin, no cry.
