SIMMONS SAYS: Leafs took too long trying to get Mats Sundin involved again

The search for Maple Leafs executives continues. Will the former Leafs captain be among the chosen?

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Published Apr 19, 2026  •  Last updated 19 minutes ago  •  9 minute read

Mats Sundin smiles during a book signing at Indigo in Sudbury, Ont., on Oct. 26, 2024. Photo by Ben Leeson /Postmedia Network

When he was captain of the Maple Leafs, Mats Sundin had all kinds of opinions as to what was right and wrong with the hockey club — opinions he chose to keep mostly to himself.

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He never wanted to challenge his coach or the general managers he played for. That wasn’t his style. He never wanted to be a distraction. He had too much respect for process, privacy and authority to become a problem himself.

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But that didn’t mean he was devoid of opinions. Quite the opposite. Sundin had strong views, those he kept to himself, those he shared with teammates or his closest friends. In some cases, Sundin’s words would come from other players’ mouths.

By nature, he was an optimist, the way so many high-level athletes tend to be. But his views were often big picture and just as often intelligent.

It is beginning to look as though former Vancouver GM Mike Gillis and the long-time Toronto captain, Sundin, will end up in some kind of partnership front-office arrangement as the next bosses of the Maple Leafs.

It seems like a touch of a stretch, turning the franchise over to Gillis, who has been out of the NHL for more than a decade, and to Sundin, who played his last games for Gillis in Vancouver 17 years ago.

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But that seems to be where CEO Keith Pelley is heading as the search for Leafs executives continues. And for those who played with Sundin — primarily in Toronto — the surprise isn’t that he is being considered for a position. It’s that it has taken this long for Sundin to reconnect with the Leafs.

Maple Leafs’ Auston Matthews, left, and Edmonton Oilers’ Connor McDavid are two of the NHL’s biggest stars. Photo by Shaughn Butts / Files /Postmedia Network

THIS AND THAT

Two years from now, Auston Matthews’ contract is up with the Maple Leafs, as is Connor McDavid’s with the Oilers. And if Matthews doesn’t have a Stanley Cup after 12 seasons and McDavid doesn’t have one after 13, can’t you just see the two close friends, with the same agent, winding up on the same team in free agency? NBA-style super-team free agency … Gary Bettman can preach all he wants about the greatness of the Stanley Cup playoffs, but when two of the three best teams in the Western Conference will be eliminated in the first two rounds, the system seems patently unfair … My playoff picks — and remember I’ve never been very good at this: Buffalo over Boston; Ottawa over Carolina; Philadelphia over Pittsburgh; Tampa Bay over Montreal (could be overtime of Game 7) in the East. In the West: Colorado over Los Angeles; Dallas over Minnesota; Vegas over Utah; Edmonton over Anaheim … My top five playoff scorers: 1. Nathan MacKinnon; 2. Nikita Kucherov; 3. McDavid; 4. Cale Makar; 5. Jack Eichel … If the Oilers win two rounds of the playoffs, McDavid will wind up leading the playoffs in scoring … The legend, Harry Sinden, used to contend that the team that was the strongest over the final 20 games of the regular season will win the Stanley Cup. This year, the Sinden theory would take a hit: The team with the best finishing record is the Philadelphia Flyers … Never been much of a gambler, but I would have bet a lot that there wasn’t a chance Philadelphia would play Pittsburgh in the opening round of the Stanley Cup playoffs … Brad Treliving wasn’t wrong in his view of the Leafs. He was wrong in what he delivered to the roster. He wanted to change the DNA, said the team needed more “snot,” which was another way of saying they didn’t have enough character. He knew what was missing. Character matters most once the playoffs begin. And the Leafs saw that in Games 5 and 7 against Florida last May and saw that almost all of this dismal season … Deadline for NHL award voting was Friday. Anyone who voted for Zach Werenski first on their Norris Trophy ballot wasn’t watching the last 15 games of the regular season. Columbus wasn’t very good down the stretch — hence the Rick Bowness tirade — and the great Werenski struggled late in the season … More than one hockey person of quality thinks Caleb Malhotra, Manny’s son, should be first pick in the NHL draft. He’s the next Jonathan Toews, a general manager told me. Malhotra isn’t rated a top-five pick … The strange thing about reports of cost-cutting by the Leafs: No team spends more on hockey operations than they do. Yet, they nickel and dime on small things and amaze executives throughout the league with their cheapness on pre-game meals and press box food. “This is the richest team in hockey and they embarrass themselves by not having a traditional media room meal. Doesn’t make sense to me,” said one of hockey’s most successful executives … When Brendan Shanahan took over the Leafs, he did some strong work originally. He wanted to hire the three smartest people in junior hockey. He offered jobs to Kyle Dubas, Mark Hunter and Kelly McCrimmon, and got two of them. He then outbid Buffalo for Mike Babcock to coach and convinced Lou Lamoriello to come in as general manager. That kind of go-out-and-steal-somebody approach — going after a Steve Yzerman or a Julien BriseBois to run the Leafs — would be an interesting way to proceed. It worked once, albeit short-term. It could work again.

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Cleveland Cavaliers guard Donovan Mitchell goes to the basket against the Toronto Raptors during the second half in Game 1 of a first-round NBA playoffs basketball series on April 18, 2026, In Cleveland. Photo by David Dermer /The Associated Press

HEAR AND THERE

Can’t remember the Raptors starting a playoff season with as little external buzz as this one. Hardly anyone talking about their series with Cleveland … Not sure the Raptors have an answer for the Cavs backcourt of Donovan Mitchell and James Harden in the series. The two combined for 54 points in a one-sided Game 1 win for the Cavs on Saturday … While Mitchell is electric Harden is the absolute opposite, reminding me of the hockey version of Kucherov. He plays his own style, at his own speed … Seven coaches got votes for the NBA coach-of-the-year award — as voted by the coaches — but Darko Rajakovic of the Raptors was not among them … My Stanley Cup final has Colorado playing Tampa Bay; My NBA final has Oklahoma City against Boston … The scene at the end of the Golden State play-in loss to Phoenix was worth taking in: Warriors coach Steve Kerr, in possibly his last game, hugging Steph Curry and Draymond Green. The three of them are huge parts of a dynasty, appreciating the moment, even in defeat … If you never saw Oscar Schmidt play basketball for Brazil, you missed something. He was special. He passed away on Friday at the age of 68 … McDavid is the best player in the NHL. Nikola Jokic is the best player in the NBA. Both should probably win the MVP award most seasons in their league. Both have played 11 seasons and both have won three MVP awards. One difference: Jokic has one championship to his name … On this WrestleMania weekend, that was a dirty trip LaMelo Ball forced on Bam Adebayo. He should have been suspended for that. You don’t suplex someone on a basketball court. That’s dangerous … This is unusual. On April 26, the Raptors will play host to the Cavs in Game 4. A chest pass away, the Blue Jays will play host to the Cleveland Guardians at the Rogers Centre … In franchise history, the Raptors are 1-9 in playoff openers on the road.

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Davis Schneider of the Toronto Blue Jays is doused after his team defeated the Los Angeles Dodgers in MLB baseball action in Toronto on April 8, 2026. Photo by Nathan Denette /The Canadian Press

SCENE AND HEARD

The Jays have lost five series in a row — possibly six by the time you read this. Last year, they never lost more than three series in a row … What makes the Jays’ early record worse than you might think is how easy their schedule has been … Davis Schneider barely made the Jays team out of spring training, hitting next to nothing in the exhibition season. Now he’s hitting under .200 but he has been right in the middle of the action in about half of the Jays’ seven wins … Why are the defence-first Jays adding mediocre defensive players to their roster? They signed Kazuma Okamoto in the off-season and he’s a below-average third baseman. They just traded for Lenyn Sosa, whom the White Sox were trying to give away because he’s a poor infielder … Crappy start for Bo Bichette, hitting .226 with the last-place Mets, one home run and a .564 OPS. Bo’s pal, Vladimir Guerrero Jr., had just one homer heading into Saturday night and one fewer RBI than Bichette, but a higher OPS at .847 … As part of their 50th season, the Blue Jays’ are giving out a Legendary Home Run T-shirt for their game  against Tampa Bay on May 11. The shirt includes images of clutch homers hit by Vladdy, Joe Carter, George Springer, Jose Bautista and Edwin Encarnacion. Missing from the shirt are the home runs that made the 1992 World Series possible — the Roberto Alomar blast in Oakland and the pinch-hit homer by Ed Sprague in Atlanta. I understand why the Jays have chosen to write Alomar out of their history, but why Sprague? His homer meant more than those of Bautista’s bat flip, Encarnacion’s extra innings shot and even the Springer dinger.

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Brady Tkachuk of the Ottawa Senators and Jordan Staal of the Carolina Hurricanes fight during the first period of an NHL playoff game at Lenovo Center on April 18, 2026 in Raleigh, N.C. Photo by Jared C. Tilton /Getty Images

AND ANOTHER THING

Department of Dumb: Brady Tkachuk dropping the gloves to fight Jordan Staal at the puck drop in Carolina on Saturday. The puck-drop fight at the 4 Nations Faceoff was a moment in time. The fight on Saturday was meaningless … Big time for back-to-backs. Rory McIlroy won The Masters this year and last. The Dodgers won consecutive World Series. The Florida Panthers won back-to-back Stanley Cups. It’s entirely possible the Oklahoma City Thunder will win its second NBA crown in a row … Department of Ripoff: The normal return train from Penn Station to the Meadowlands in Jersey will rise from $12.90 to $150 during the World Cup … Attendance is unlikely to drop as the Blue Jays flounder. The reason: The majority of their tickets are sold before the season begins … Not much that matters happened in this Maple Leafs season, but NHL players have voted William Nylander with having the best social media presence in the league and have voted him hockey’s most fashionable player. So the Leafs don’t have a GM and need to fire their coach, but they do dress well … The WNBA is getting big time but the commissioner needs some work. Cathy Engelbert didn’t much appreciate being asked recently how long she planned to remain on the job. She considered the question insulting, asking if the reporter would have asked that if she were a man. Apparently, she’s never been to press availabilities held by Bettman or NFL commissioner Roger Goodell, who get that question all the time … I read on Saturday that 56% of Torontonians support Mayor Olivia Chow, which tells me that 56% of Torontonians are out of their minds … I think Tampa Bay-Montreal will be the best hockey theatre of the first round, Denver-Minnesota in the NBA … If Major League Baseball is planning to expand to Canada — their words, not mine — then it makes a lot more sense to go back to Montreal than begin fresh in Vancouver. And having said that, does anyone know who has money to pay the billions it will cost to build a stadium and buy an expansion franchise with the Canadian dollar worth 60 cents US? The one expansion city that seems obvious: Nashville … In all the emotional goodbyes for Joe Bowen, not enough has been said about his analyst, Jim Ralph, the naturally funny former goalie. Bowen broadcast his first game on Oct. 6, 1982 in Chicago. That same night, Ralph was the No. 3 goalie for the Blackhawks behind Tony Esposito and Murray Bannerman. The next day, he was sent to the minors … Happy birthday to Randy Carlyle (70), Lu Dort (27), Kelly Olynyk (35), Rick Moranis (73), Troy Polamalu (45), Miggy Cabrera (43), Patrick Laine (28), Candace Parker (40), Mika Zibanejad (33), Vaughn Martin (40), Joe Mauer (43), Simu Liu (37) and Steve Lombardi (65) … And hey, whatever became of Jackie Bradley Jr.?

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   SIMMONS SAYS: How do you choose from among four so highly deserving Hart Trophy candidates?
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   SIMMONS SAYS: If Leafs are serious about contending, they need to hire an elite coach fast

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