To Play Or Not To Play

Editor's Note: Mats' indecision has long since passed a threshold that could rightly be called ridiculous. Now, with this recently uncovered excerpt it looks like Mats might be thinking of avenging his father's murder.

Excerpt from Mats Sundin's journal, dated December 3, 2008:

To play or not to play, that is the question;
Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer
Training camp with children seeking outrageous entry-level fortune
Or to take arms mid-season against a sea of trap-playing Devils
And by opposing, end their season in the first round.  To cry, to golf;
No more; and by the front nine to say we end
The heart-ache and the thousand torn ACLs
That flesh is heir to - 'tis a consummation
Devoutly to be wished.  To cry, to golf,
To golf, perchance to birdie.  Ay, there's the rub,
For in that round what scores may come,
When we have shuffled out of the first round of the playoffs,
Must give us pause.  There's the respect
That makes calamity of so long and distinguished a career
For who would bear the poor wingers and scorns of Leafs Nation
Pat Quinn's wrong, Don Cherry's contumely,
The pangs of despised playoff performances, the referee's delay,
The insolence of rookie general managers, and the spurns
That patient merit of Jonas Hoglund takes,
When he himself might his retirement make
With a mere gesture?  Who would continue to bear,
To grunt and sweat through 8 am practices,
But that the dread of life after retirement,
The undiscovered idleness that from which none
But those named Lemieux or whom have toiled for the Ducks of Anaheim returns
Puzzles the will
And makes us rather bear the multi-million-dollar contracts and screaming coaches
Than to fly off to a fanless fate we know not of?
Thus conscience does make cowards of us all,
And thus the native hue of resolution
Is mitigated by the terms of the fore-offered contract,
And pro-rated salary along with available cap space to add complimentary pieces,
With this regard non-contenders turn away,
And lose the name of action.