The real Super Tuesday

Tomorrow is the NHL's trading deadline. Originally the important question here was whether the Leafs would trade Mats Sundin - since the mid-90s, their most talented and most popular player - to a team that might actually stand half a chance at winning the Stanley Cup this year, getting in return a package of young players who could help the Leafs to the same goal once Sundin is long retired.

However, Sundin announced last night that he will not waive his no-trade clause, and thus will remain a Leaf for the rest of the season.

Many Leaf fans are outraged over this, believing that if Sundin really wanted to do what's best for his team, he would allow himself to be traded.

What these fans don't understand, though, is this - Mats has no obligation to do what's best for the Toronto Maple Leafs. It was Leaf management that gave him the no-trade clause, they're in no position to complain because Mats is using something they put into his contract.

Beyond that, Mats has done so much for the Leafs over his career - do you think they'd have got as far in the playoffs as they did in the early part of this decade without him? - that he should be allowed to retire a Leaf if he wishes. Players who would rather play for a losing team then win a Cup as a "rent-a-superstar" (like Ray Bourque) are few and far between...and while I don't really understand the thought process that went into his decision, I'm sure not going to get mad at him for it.

On a related note, all the Canadian sports networks are starting coverage of the trade deadline at 8 AM tomorrow. That's a good two hours earlier than last year, when they still had trouble filling all that time until the 3 PM deadline. So I'll be watching, if only out of a perverse curiosity as to what they can talk about for that long. Of course, my watching will be interrupted a few times - twice for classes, and then once CTV's coverage of the federal budget starts, I'll be flipping back and forth between the two (my sports geekery is surpassed only by my recently-discovered political geekery, is it any wonder I don't have a girlfriend?).

--Ryan