It was just one year ago when the hockey media (dominated by the Toronto horde) hung on to every word coming out of either Mats Sudin or his agent, J.P. Barry's mouth about the star center's future. It began when Montreal received rights to negotiate with Mats prior to becoming a free agent and carried past several deadlines when Sundin was supposed to make his final decision. They all turned to be "soft deadlines" and no decision was made of course. Then in late September there was the Sportsnet's Nick Kypreos interview with Mats at his cottage in Sweden. That was about as interesting as curdled milk. It wasn't until mid-December when Sundin finally decided to sign with Vancouver. His impact was nil.
Today, Sundin sits in the same position he did a year ago: a man without a team still deciding on his future. Mats has said he will make his decision at the end of July but no one believes him or cares. Though he is getting married this summer. The big difference from a year ago? The lack of media coverage. Maybe writers and talk radio hosts learned their lesson last summer when trying to speculate and press Sundin to make a decision? Maybe, unlike a year ago, they're strongly leaning towards the fact that Mats will retire into the sunset?
And maybe they just don't care anymore?
