Below is a translation by Eric Engels of Hockeybuzz.com of Bob Gainey’s french interview with RDS ( “Difficile d’être optimiste”) and Corussports.com (Dossier Sundin: Gainey pessimiste) concerning Mats Sundin.
A little translation for those of you who don’t speak french…
Bob Gainey: «C’est dur d’être optimiste. On n’a pas eu beaucoup de contacts avec lui. Il ne semble pas intéressé outre mesure. Il n’a pas posé de questions sur l’organisation.»
“It’s hard to be optimistic. We haven’t had much contact with him. It appears he’s not interested. He hasn’t asked many questions about the organization.”
«Nous n’avons pas parlé au clan Sundin depuis plus d’une semaine. Il n’y a rien de nouveau, il n’a rien décidé encore. Il m’avait dit qu’il se déciderait lors du mois d’août et nous sommes le 26 actuellement. Nous saurons, s’ils respectent leur échéancier, sa décision dans la prochaine semaine.»
“We haven’t spoken to Sundin’s camp for at least a week. There’s nothing new, he hasn’t decided anything yet. He told me he’d decide in August and today’s the 26th. We’ll know, provided he respects his own due date, his decision should come sometime throughout the next week.
“«Nous allons attendre sa décision, jusqu’en septembre, s’il le faut. Sur papier, nous avons une formation parfaite pour lui. Il y a de la place pour lui dans l’équipe.»
“We’re going to wait for his decision until September if we have to. On paper, we have the perfect team for him. There’s certainly room for him with our team.”
Gainey then goes on to say that bringing in Brendan Shanahan isn’t an idea he’s entertaining. Instead he’s got other ideas in mind:
«Je sais que quelques équipes sont actuellement au-dessus du plafond salarial. Nous allons voir, si Mats ne vient pas avec nous, peut-être que nous discuterons avec ces formations.»
“I know that certain other teams are presently over the salary cap. We’ll have to see…If Mats doesn’t join us, maybe we’ll discuss things with those teams.”
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Well it doesn’t sound good. On the flip side, we don’t know what kind of treatment Mats has given any of the other teams involved in trying to acquire his services. Perhaps we should take him at his word quite literally when he says he’s going to decide if he wants to play, and then think about where. Gainey wouldn’t go as far to say that the Canadiens were giving up on the possibility, as he is content to wait for Mats’ decision. Nonetheless you can all begin to speculate what he might do if Mats chooses retirement or another team.
-Lang’s name’s been tossed around
-I think a lot of people will throw Nylander in there, but remember he has a no-movement clause, chose Washington for specific reasons, and is under contract for roughly 4.3 mil. Washington is roughly 2.7mil. over the cap. Nylander would be as good of a plan b as you could find.
-Vic Kozlov is a possibility as well if Gainey doesn’t want to lose much…though I don’t think anyone would consider him a plan b…There are others…
-Patrick Marleau’s name is bound to come up again
-Wouldn’t be surprised to hear Marty Havlat’s name kicked around- even though he’s injury prone, and is a cap liability.Will Bob Gainey go into the season with 6.5 mil on the table, or will he make some moves?
Habster:
If Gainey isn’t optimistic or hasn’t heard from Sundin in a while, then it doesn’t look good for him coming to the Canadiens. Gainey sounds like he might have a plan “B” already in place when Sundin finally makes his overly long awaited decision.
We’ll find out over the next few weeks what Mr. Gainey has in store for his team, does he stand pat with a very good team that is a Stanley Cup contender or move some assets to secure an offensively talented big center (they don’t grow on tree!!) to further cement his team’s chances to win the Stanley Cup during the organization’s centennial year.
He has the assets (prospects and movable roster players) and $6.5 million in cap space to play with……at least he is playing from a position of strength which is a nice change of pace.