Former Toronto Maple Leafs captain Mats Sundin still views his time wearing the Blue and White in high regard despite falling short of winning the Stanley Cup.
He made an appearance on Leafs Morning Take with Nick Alberga and Jay Rosehill to promote his newly released biography &#8220;Home and Away.&#8221; Sundin touched on several topics, including the unique challenges that come with playing in Toronto, which he noted that even during his playing days many opponents would up their game simply because they were playing the Leafs.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="550" data-dnt="true">
&quot;Toronto is the No. 1 hockey market in the world. It has the biggest &amp; best fan base.&quot;
&#8211; Mats Sundin<a href="https://twitter.com/thegoldenmuzzy?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@thegoldenmuzzy</a> | <a href="https://twitter.com/Jay_D_Rosehill?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@Jay_D_Rosehill</a> 
Presented by <a href="https://twitter.com/CharmDiamonds?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@CharmDiamonds</a> <a href="https://t.co/YM455uFpEl">pic.twitter.com/YM455uFpEl</a>
&mdash; TheLeafsNation (@TLNdc) <a href="https://twitter.com/TLNdc/status/1848758927233548439?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 22, 2024</a></blockquote>
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&#8220;Toronto is the number one hockey market in the world. It has the absolute biggest and best fan base, and saying that, it comes with a lot of interest from the fan base and media,&#8221; he said. &#8220;There&#8217;s so many players around the league that come from Ontario. They all grew up watching the Toronto Maple Leafs, that was their favourite team. So any team that comes into Toronto, you&#8217;re gonna get their best game every time. They have parents and relatives and everybody in the stands.&#8221;
Sundin later added that being recognized wherever you go adds to the list of things that Leafs players need to deal with over many months and years. But at the end of the day, he views it all as a positive because the fanbase cares about the team.
Part of that hyper-focused attention means everything the franchise does, whether it&#8217;s good or bad, gets analyzed by the fans and media. This includes their decision to switch the captaincy from John Tavares to Auston Matthews back in August, which Sundin believes was the correct outcome.
&#8220;I think just how he is as a person himself, I think it was the right decision,&#8221; he said. &#8220;If you look for the team, the next five years and in the short term future, I think Auston has proven what a player is on the ice, one of the absolute top players in the world, but also a great person and a great leader off the ice. So I think it&#8217;s a very natural thing to happen and I think it&#8217;s going to be great for the team.&#8221;
Sundin recounted many stories in his book of key people he interacted with during his 13 seasons with the Leafs, which included Tie Domi where he told Alberga and Rosehill that Tie jokingly keeps reminding him that he was the one who made sure he didn&#8217;t get any concussions in his career.  He also recounted what it was like to be couched by Pat Burns and Pat Quinn, both of whom he gained a lot of respect for them both because of the presence they carried and their abilities to be leaders.
It was easy for him to see the parallels between <a href="https://theleafsnation.com/news/mats-sundin-compares-craig-berube-to-pat-quinn-pat-burns-leafs-morning-take" target="_blank" rel="noopener">those two coaches and newly appointed bench boss</a> Craig Berube, whom he had a chance to chat with when he was <a href="https://theleafsnation.com/news/mats-sundin-happy-auston-matthews-surpass-leafs-all-time-goal-leader" target="_blank" rel="noopener">in town to take in some training camp practices last month</a>.
&#8220;I was glad I didn&#8217;t have to fight him in his in his prime there when he was chasing Tie around some of the games against Philly there,&#8221; he laughed &#8220;It was really nice to be around Craig for a few days in training camp. He&#8217;s a straight, honest man and reminds me a lot of Pat Burns and Pat Quinn as well. So you can tell there&#8217;s no facade there, you know, what you get is what you see and he&#8217;s going to do great.&#8221;
Sundin expressed that now felt like the perfect time to write his memoir with the help of Amy Stuart, a diehard Leafs fan, because his three kids don&#8217;t know about his hockey career and he wants to leave behind a memoir so they can learn about what his life was like back then. He enjoyed his collaboration with Stuart because she is also a parent who understood the challenges of trying to make it in hockey and have a positive upbringing, which was reflected in the stories he included of his childhood.
When asked if writing the book gave him any inclination to want to return to hockey in an off-ice role, Sundin says he is currently focused on raising his kids and spending time with family but the door is not closed on a second career in the sport.
&#8220;At the end of the day, I think anyone that&#8217;s been in the game and played, we know the best part about hockey is to be on the ice playing the game,&#8221; he said. &#8220;But saying that, I have so much respect for the coaching and the management jobs they do. It&#8217;s a 24-7 job. I have small kids that I&#8217;m trying to be part of their upbringing right now, but I should never say never. We&#8217;ll see what happens in the future, but it was really nice to get invited to camp this year and watch the team a little closer.&#8221;
You can watch the full interview with Sundin on Leafs Morning Take down below:
<div class="jetpack-video-wrapper"><iframe loading="lazy" title="Mats Sundin Talks New Book, Leafs Legacy, Matthews Taking Over As Captain, &amp; Berube&#039;s Arrival" width="1424" height="801" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/dKLAGDgdHis?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe></div>

Former Toronto Maple Leafs captain Mats Sundin still views his time wearing the Blue and White in high regard despite falling short of winning the Stanley Cup.

He made an appearance on Leafs Morning Take with Nick Alberga and Jay Rosehill to promote his newly released biography "Home and Away." Sundin touched on several topics, including the unique challenges that come with playing in Toronto, which he noted that even during his playing days many opponents would up their game simply because they were playing the Leafs.

https://twitter.com/TLNdc/status/1848758927233548439

"Toronto is the number one hockey market in the world. It has the absolute biggest and best fan base, and saying that, it comes with a lot of interest from the fan base and media," he said. "There's so many players around the league that come from Ontario. They all grew up watching the Toronto Maple Leafs, that was their favourite team. So any team that comes into Toronto, you're gonna get their best game every time. They have parents and relatives and everybody in the stands."

Sundin later added that being recognized wherever you go adds to the list of things that Leafs players need to deal with over many months and years. But at the end of the day, he views it all as a positive because the fanbase cares about the team.

Part of that hyper-focused attention means everything the franchise does, whether it's good or bad, gets analyzed by the fans and media. This includes their decision to switch the captaincy from John Tavares to Auston Matthews back in August, which Sundin believes was the correct outcome.

"I think just how he is as a person himself, I think it was the right decision," he said. "If you look for the team, the next five years and in the short term future, I think Auston has proven what a player is on the ice, one of the absolute top players in the world, but also a great person and a great leader off the ice. So I think it's a very natural thing to happen and I think it's going to be great for the team."

Sundin recounted many stories in his book of key people he interacted with during his 13 seasons with the Leafs, which included Tie Domi where he told Alberga and Rosehill that Tie jokingly keeps reminding him that he was the one who made sure he didn't get any concussions in his career.  He also recounted what it was like to be couched by Pat Burns and Pat Quinn, both of whom he gained a lot of respect for them both because of the presence they carried and their abilities to be leaders.

It was easy for him to see the parallels between <a href="https://theleafsnation.com/news/mats-sundin-compares-craig-berube-to-pat-quinn-pat-burns-leafs-morning-take" target="_blank" rel="noopener">those two coaches and newly appointed bench boss</a> Craig Berube, whom he had a chance to chat with when he was <a href="https://theleafsnation.com/news/mats-sundin-happy-auston-matthews-surpass-leafs-all-time-goal-leader" target="_blank" rel="noopener">in town to take in some training camp practices last month</a>.

"I was glad I didn't have to fight him in his in his prime there when he was chasing Tie around some of the games against Philly there," he laughed "It was really nice to be around Craig for a few days in training camp. He's a straight, honest man and reminds me a lot of Pat Burns and Pat Quinn as well. So you can tell there's no facade there, you know, what you get is what you see and he's going to do great."

Sundin expressed that now felt like the perfect time to write his memoir with the help of Amy Stuart, a diehard Leafs fan, because his three kids don't know about his hockey career and he wants to leave behind a memoir so they can learn about what his life was like back then. He enjoyed his collaboration with Stuart because she is also a parent who understood the challenges of trying to make it in hockey and have a positive upbringing, which was reflected in the stories he included of his childhood.

When asked if writing the book gave him any inclination to want to return to hockey in an off-ice role, Sundin says he is currently focused on raising his kids and spending time with family but the door is not closed on a second career in the sport.

"At the end of the day, I think anyone that's been in the game and played, we know the best part about hockey is to be on the ice playing the game," he said. "But saying that, I have so much respect for the coaching and the management jobs they do. It's a 24-7 job. I have small kids that I'm trying to be part of their upbringing right now, but I should never say never. We'll see what happens in the future, but it was really nice to get invited to camp this year and watch the team a little closer."

You can watch the full interview with Sundin on Leafs Morning Take down below:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dKLAGDgdHis

Mats Sundin dishes on his book, the captaincy switch, and challenges of playing for Maple Leafs

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