Mats Sundin to decide on NHL future shortly after weekend wedding

Ken Campbell
2009-08-27 15:04:00

Mats Sundin is prepared to say “I do,” to Josephine Johansson this weekend and his agent says it won’t be long before Sundin says either “I do,” or “I don’t” to extending his NHL career for another season.

Amid speculation that Sundin has played his last NHL game, Sundin’s agent J.P. Barry, who is in Stockholm for Sundin’s wedding this Saturday, said he expects his client to make up his mind in short order after his wedding. Certainly, it won’t be the half-season soap opera we saw last season when Sundin was waffling over his hockey future before signing with the Vancouver Canucks.

“I think he’s going to talk to me next week, after all this is over,” Barry said. “I’ll get a clear picture pretty quickly. He’s not going to wait as long (as last year) or anything like that. This is an important event for him and then he’s going to make some decisions after this.”

Barry said he wasn’t sure whether Sundin would be available for training camps that begin in mid-September, but said Sundin has kept in shape and continued to train through the summer.

But where would he play? Barry said Sundin enjoyed his time with the Vancouver Canucks last season, but the Canucks appear to have moved on, leading many to speculate that Sundin has made it clear he doesn’t intend on coming back to play in the NHL. With big raises to the Sedin twins and having signed Mikael Samuelsson over the summer, the Canucks have just less than $1 million of salary cap room for this season.

The smart money is on Sundin announcing his retirement at some point soon.