Mats Sundin was in a familiar place. Also everything was very different.
Period February 2009. The former captain of the Toronto Maple Leafs was back in his second home, only this time as a member of the opposition.
Sundin had signed with the Vancouver Canucks after 13 seasons in the brightest lights of hockey's largest media market.
The Swedish center jumped out of bed in the lodge that cold Saturday morning. Sweat dripped from his forehead. In his mind, a scenario had just played out in the Leafs locker room. The crowd was roaring. His team needed him.
And the laces on Sundin's skates kept breaking.
“For a team captain there is no worse feeling,” he writes. “It's my perfect nightmare.”
That scene opens Sundin's book “Residence and Away,” which follows a path that began with his parents and two brothers outside Stockholm and ultimately led him to the Hockey Hall of Fame.
He dives into the pressures and anxieties of being the first European overall pick in the NHL draft, being traded by Quebec Nordiques to Toronto for franchise icon Wendel Clark, and the turbulent end of his time with the Leafs.
It is those campaigns with the Unique Six club, including his last 11 as captain, that make up the bulk of Sundin's engaging prose with co-author Amy Stuart.
“The history of the Maple Leafs is long, rich and complicated,” he writes. “Leafs Nation is bigger than hockey. It is its own universe.”
Sundin came to Toronto in 1994 after the trade for the tough Clark. Things didn't go as planned from the beginning. There was a feeling in many hockey circles then that teams with a lot of European talent couldn't win.
“The first few years were a shock,” Sundin said in a telephone interview from Stockholm. “Wendel Clark, the most popular Leaf at the time…being traded for him. “Many challenges to try to earn the respect of the fans.”
That respect would come eventually.
Sundin finished as the Leafs' all-time leader in goals (420) and points (987), although current captain Auston Matthews is on pace to break both marks. His 1,349 points in 18 NHL seasons rank 30th in league history.
However, the team's success would never truly materialize with Toronto.
There were some memorable playoff runs and a trip to the 2002 Eastern Conference finals, but Sundin couldn't overcome a club with a Cup drought dating back to 1967.
And then, with his career coming to an end and Toronto nowhere near contending in the winter of 2008, uncomfortable questions began to arise about his future. A media circus ensued.
Sundin had a no-movement clause in his contract. General manager Cliff Fletcher, who made the deal for Clark in 1994, was back with Toronto and aiming to restructure the roster.
The veteran executive met with Sundin in the team lodge before a game in Carolina and asked him if he would agree to be traded to a contender.
Sundin understood the situation, but the Leafs weren't that far away from a playoff spot. He rejected management's request as the deadline for changes approached.
“The reason it was even harder was because I had a really good season,” Sundin told CP. “And after 13 years with the team, 11 years as captain, there was a lot of effort and will to try to win a Stanley Cup as a Toronto Maple Leaf.
“It seemed like the right thing to do.”
He also understood the gambling business.
“Toronto had a chance to get some youth,” continued Sundin, who now lives in Stockholm with his wife Josephine and their three children. “But I always saw myself trying to win that Cup for the Maple Leaf fans.”
The club, however, failed to make the playoffs and Sundin missed the end of the season due to an injury. He took the summer to contemplate his next step, which he thought would be retirement.
But eventually the fire was rekindled, Sundin returned to training and signed with the Canucks.
A few months later, he was receiving a standing ovation at the Air Canada Center in Toronto.
Later that night, the game was up for grabs in the penalty shootout. There was no chance for Sundin to fail.
“I spent 15 years imagining my last game in Toronto,” he writes. “In my dream version, my last game was playing in the Stanley Cup. “We won the Cup in front of our fans and an entire city was unleashed before our eyes.”
Sundin played his final NHL season in Vancouver. The Cup never materialized, but that night was special, if not strange.
“I did score the winning goal,” he adds later. “But it was not the end of the dream. There is no Cup to lift, only a flight to take.”
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