For the next two days, we're running 13 of our top memories of Mats Sundin as a Maple Leaf. There are more to choose from but Sundin captaining Sweden to Gold in 2006 and his years as a Nordique won't make an appearance on the list. For help, I enlisted Mats Sundin's biggest fan Eyebleaf to help come up with and number the list. It's far from exhaustive and your mileage may vary on our choices but these were the 13 that came immediately into our minds so consider it a small token of our appreciation for one of the greatest Leafs of all-time.
This entry is another that's heavy with symbolism although it does invite certain unwanted comparisons to the Auld Enemy Montreal. While they had a continuous period of success and recognisable names traversing the years to carry their closing ceremony from beginning to end, the Leafs had a long stretch of mostly dark ages before the torch passed to his hands.
Eyebleaf with les mots juste and a video after the jump.
Start the video at 6:17 or click here
The ceremony might have been tacky as hell, but when Toronto played their final game at Maple Leaf Gardens on Feb. 13, 1999, and moved to the Air Canada Centre, it was truly the end of an era. It was Sundin who took the torch passed on to him, and Sundin who led the Leafs to their new home. I can still see him waving that flag, passed on to him by Red Horner. It said "Memories and Dreams." Sundin gave us both.