Love seeing Mats back in the fold, and I hope he’s successful, but not sure the Captain of the Muskoka 5 will bring more to the table than Jumbo, Patches, Giggles and Mucho Marleau.
Henrik Lundqvist played 15 years in the NHL for the New York Rangers and was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 2023.
www.nytimes.com
"Mats Sundin, captain of the Swedish national team
We had a lot of stars on the 2006 Swedish team, including Daniel Alfredsson, Nicklas Lidström, Henrik Zetterberg and Peter Forsberg.
But with Mats, there was just something about his energy. When he walked into a room, I could feel it. When he spoke, everybody listened. There was just so much respect for him.
He was the ultimate leader. It always just felt like he knew when to speak and what to say, and that definitely helps in pressure situations.
We won the Olympic gold medal in 2006, and for Team Sweden, the tradition when you win is for the team to go back and celebrate with the fans. Either the NHL or the Swedish Federation said we wouldn’t have time to do that. We had to fly back to the States because the NHL started in a few days.
And Mats just said, “We’ll charter our own plane then. We’re going to Stockholm to celebrate with our fans.”
I don’t know who he convinced, but we did fly back, and it was a memory none of us will ever forget.
It was like: That’s our captain right there."