The real problem I have with this, is the shabby way Sundin has been treated, by some fans and management, Detroit would never treat their captain this way and it should be noted that if we receive a second round pick from Montreal, (this is what Bob McKenzie thinks the compensation will be) remember we gave away a second and a third round pick just to move up 2 spots to get Schenn, so what does a second really do to help us---Nada, it's just a bargaining chip...
Keon=Sundin
Keon was treated also in a like manner, the Leafs Abandoned him and he Abandoned the Leafs and it took 40 years to have him come back and when he finally did begrudgingly, I stood in front of my TV and yelled and shouted, with a tear in my eye and was over joyed, to see him again in a Leaf jersey. Let it be noted, that we haven't won a cup since he was dumped and it goes to the heart of why we haven't won anything since he left, it is, that a team without heart and sole wins nothing.
Leaf captains and great players seem to be treated this way and as in the case of Sittler and Clarke, who have since, forgiven and forgot their despicable treatment, so I guess they could take jobs within the organization. Other captains too, that have been dumped in the same way. Not so Lanny MacDonald who wore the "A" or Keon, two great Leafs that won't forgive their onerous treatment and now Sundin. People wonder why the really good players won't play for the Leafs, look no further than their treatment of Leaf great players, that have donned the Blue and White and there are numerous other examples as well...
It doesn't matter who signed them to contracts, whether it was JFJ or Fletcher or whoever, they should be honored, sure you can ask them to waive their NTC but if they say no, then that should be the end of it but to deliberately go out and berate them in public is unconscionable, it doesn't make them play better or raise their worth, it makes them as it would all of us, get their backs up and become malcontents and understandably so, they will pass the word throughout the NHL, that the Leafs are a team to avoid. Anyone that has played hockey or coached a team, knows that team heart and spirit and team togetherness is what makes, a championship cup winning team. All this came about maybe because we got a rookie GM and a second rate Coach, it may not be the new GM's problem but it was the people who have the last say, Peddie and the entire board at MLSE that hold the purse strings and still do, they should tell Fletcher to lay off and honor the contracts, that they ok'd. So it will take longer to become a Stanley Cup bound team but one we can be proud of in the end and not to have it marred by all this crap...
Make no mistake, hockey is a business and it is all about money, for both players and management but it's one thing to treat players, as employees and quite another, to treat them as cattle, to be shipped off to the slaughter house, or in this case somewhere they don't want to go and the reason why they signed NTC, should they be deemed expendable in the minds of some people...