An excerpt from Globesports.com (Eric Duhatschek):
Did Prime Time Sports in Toronto this afternoon, Mike Toth guest-hosting again for Bob McCown (does anybody get more holiday time than McCown? He should have been a Member of Parliament, not a talk-show host, if it wasn’t for that pesky citizenship requirement). Anyway, Toth wanted my take on Mats Sundin, given that he was not going to sign with the Montreal Canadiens before tomorrow’s free-agent frenzy begins. Part of what we do in this industry is work sources for information; part of it is reading the tea leaves. In Sundin’s case, you need to do a little of both, since he was always going to decide his playing future on his own timetable, never mind the fact that the Canadiens stepped up and acquired his exclusive negotiating rights at the entry draft.
Even if Sundin wasn’t prepared to commit to the Canadiens within that 10-day window, my instincts suggest that a) he isn’t going to retire, because he’s coming off one of his best seasons in recent memory and still has some hockey left to play; and b) when he communicates that decision to his agent J.P. Barry, the Canadiens will be the most attractive destination out there.
The only way Montreal is not a player for Sundin’s rights, whenever he is ready to start contract negotiations, is if they win, against long odds, the Marian Hossa sweepstakes.