Quote:
Originally Posted by JC93
Sundin wasn't surrounded with garbage. Maybe some players were over the hill when they were with him.. but still, there were all sorts of good players on his team. I'll give you credit, he occasionally had a **** winger like Renberg or Hoglund. But nothing like what Koivu dealt with. Aside from Tanguay, Kovalev, and for a brief time Zednik.. Koivu had crap to play with, man. The Leafs blew the bank and traded all sorts of prospects for All-Stars pre-lockout on a few occasions, they never delivered. Ironically if Koivu had Sundin's size, or Sundin had Koivu's heart and grit (not that Mats didn't have those things... just not as much as Koivu IMO) both of their teams may have won something, who knows.
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Not only that, but Sundin was almost always healthy, especially in his prime. Saku couldn't catch a break, only Zednik had worse luck than the guy. You can blame it on his size, but I don't think that has anything to do with getting
cancer.
Not to downplay Sundin, of course having a guy you can rely on to stay healthy is part of the game, and as much as I'm never going to love a Nordiques/Leafs cornerstone, I do respect Sundin. But few players coped with a worse situation than Koivu.