Mats Goes West

1) To the surprise of NO One (who read this blog regularly) Mats Sundin is headed to Vancouver to play for the Canucks. As we have LONG maintained that was really his only choice from day one. Our most recent posts. Here: http://newfaux.blogspot.com/2008/12/late-week-rumours.html and here: http://newfaux.blogspot.com/2008/11/re-runs-return-of-sundin-shanahan-and.html The other rumours that have been widely circulated (especially by the idiot Eklund) is that he was imminently going to sign with the Rangers. Our sources NEVER had that deal even on our radar so we never discussed it as a possibility here. At very most we're told that the Sundin camp used the Ranger rumours to inflate his price and allow Mats to stretch this whole process out an extra couple of weeks.

2) Eklund (covering his ass) is reporting that the Rangers were trying to trade several players to make room but couldn't. Several sources tell us this is simply "bullshit'. Sather made no additional inquiries than GM's do these days anyway. No deal was even close. Our source in Dallas especially found the Rozival for Avery rumor quite laughable. He tells us "if they (the Rangers) wanted to rid themselves of Rozival they could simply send him to Hartford(AHL) We never heard from them".

3) In the end Mats went where he felt most comfortable. He stayed in Canada, which he proclaimed many years ago was his adopted country (more like his native Sweden than the US apparently). The money was right, and the Canucks had the cap space saved for this signing. It was so obvious that we are surprised that so many folks were apparently hoodwinked into thinking he would go anywhere else. Of course some like Eklund put out crap to sell "subscriptions" to his loyal minions. We wonder how they are feeling this morning having been played by Ek for the past 6 months and being WRONG on where Mats would sign. Those sources aren't working for ya buddy! LOL

4) Next the questions are will this deal tip the scales for Vancouver to become a legit contender AND will this spur other teams to deal anytime soon. ('Dominoes' as the idiot from Philly likes to say. To the former, we say NO! Mats will help Vancouver stick around to probably make the post season, but even with this addition the Canucks are merely going to be a one and done playoff team. There are simply too many other clubs out West who are still far superior to Vancouver even after this. One has to also remeber that Sundin has NEVER lifted his teams to win anything in the past. After not playing for 10 months and being 36 yrs old he is a groin injury waiting to happen! As for additional deal. Its the trade freeze until after X-mas so no derals are imminent. Our favourite asst western GM source tells us there is no more "chatter" out there than usual. No big deals are probably going to come down before the All star weekend, if then.

As always, keep it here for all the latest!