Mats Johan Sundin (born February 13, 1971) is a Swedish professional ice hockey player who most recently played for the Toronto Maple Leafs in the National Hockey League (NHL). At the end of the 2007–08 NHL season, he was the second-longest active serving captain in the NHL, behind Joe Sakic of the Colorado Avalanche, and the longest serving non-North American born captain in NHL history. Sundin began his career with the Quebec Nordiques and was traded to the Leafs in 1994.

Excluding his first season and the shortened lockout season, Sundin has scored at least 70 points every year. He has played at least 70 games in every full length NHL season of his career, and has led the Leafs in points in every year he has been with the team except 2002-03, when Alexander Mogilny beat him by seven points. On October 14, 2006, Sundin became the first Swedish player to score 500 goals. As of the end of the 2007-08 NHL season, he holds the Leafs` franchise records for goals (420) and points as a Leaf (984). He is currently tied with Jaromir Jagr and Patrik Elias for the NHL record for regular season overtime goals (15).

Quebec Nordiques

Sundin was drafted by the Quebec Nordiques with their 1st pick, 1st overall, in the 1989 NHL Entry Draft. At the time he was playing in the Swedish tier two league HockeyAllsvenskan for Nacka HK.[1] He was the first European-born player drafted first overall in NHL history. Sundin played in the Elitserien for Djurgårdens IF during the season 1989-90 and won the Swedish championship the same season.

Sundin made his NHL debut with Quebec during the 1990-91 NHL season, finishing second on the team behind Joe Sakic with 59 points. Sundin led the Nordiques with 114 points in 1992-93. During his time in Quebec, Sundin was considered one of the league`s premier young players. He scored his first NHL goal against the Hartford Whalers in his first NHL game on October 4th, 1990.

[edit] Toronto Maple Leafs

The Toronto Maple Leafs acquired Sundin in a trade on June 28, 1994. The Nordiques sent Sundin, Garth Butcher, Todd Warriner, and a 1994 first round draft pick (acquired through the 1992 Eric Lindros deal, traded to the Washington Capitals, used to pick Nolan Baumgartner) to the Leafs in exchange for Wendel Clark, Sylvain Lefebvre, Landon Wilson and a 1994 first round pick (used to pick Jeff Kealty). During the 1994-95 lockout, Sundin returned to Sweden to play for Djurgårdens IF. Sundin became the 16th Maple Leafs captain in 1997, becoming the first European player in Maple Leaf history to hold that honour.

On January 8, 2004, in a game against the Nashville Predators, Sundin broke his stick on an attempted shot and threw it aside in disgust. Instead of hitting the glass, the stick went into the crowd. The NHL suspended Sundin for one game. After the game, Sundin gave a brand new autographed stick to the fan that had caught the broken stick.[2]

He scored his 500th career goal against Miikka Kiprusoff on October 14, 2006, in overtime, in a 5-4 win against the Calgary Flames. The goal was his fourth of the game, over Kiprusoff`s blocker. On March 20, 2007, Sundin reached 900 points as a Maple Leaf with a 2 assist effort in a 2-1 win against the New Jersey Devils.

In Toronto`s second game of the 2007-08 NHL season Sundin scored his 389th goal as a Maple Leaf, tying Darryl Sittler`s team record. In Toronto`s fifth game of the season, on October 11 versus the New York I

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