Sundin so far...

So the wait is finally over. The prized signing of Super Swede Mats Sundin by the home town Vancouver Canucks in December stirred up a lot of interest, chatter and anticipation in the city.

Sundin has finally played a few games. He showed up in Vancouver and reported to the Club  after spending the Christmas holidays with his family in Sweden. He practiced with the team for about a week and a half and played his first game in Edmonton against the Oilers on January 7.

I’ve been hearing a lot of chatter among fans and most of it has been negative and critical of the former face of the Toronto Maple Leaf franchise. He is being criticized for seeming slow and out of shape.

I personally can’t help but shake my head and wonder what in the world these fans were expecting. Here is a 37 year old, soon to be 38 year old in the twilight years of his career who hasn’t played any high level hockey since last April.

Those people who expected him to come in, put the Canucks on his back and lead the team to first place, all while scoring at will, to put it mildly, had unreasonable expectations.

I think the more he plays, the better he will look. In my opinion, he’s currently a shadow of his former self, but he has been showing improvement with each game and you can see that the hands, vision and hockey sense are all still there.

I remember prior to the lockout when the Edmonton Oilers brought Adam Oates into their lineup in December. It was a similar situation, Oates had not played since the previous spring, and had not kept in game shape. Things did not end up well for Oates’ tenure in Edmonton, but I feel that Sundin has more left in the tank, and the fans need to show some more patience, and hopefully for the sake of the Vancouver franchise, he will start paying dividends.