Leafs coach called Sundin too skinny when he first got to Toronto

Though it’s been more than 16 years since he last suited up for the Toronto Maple Leafs, Mats Sundin remains one of the city’s most iconic and beloved athletes.

Sundin, who played for the Leafs from 1994 through 2008, hopped on the popular Spittin Chiclets podcast as part of a promotional tour for his upcoming memoir Home and Away with Amy Stuart.

But while Sundin was a fan favourite throughout his time with the franchise, former Toronto coach Pat Burns began to challenge him right away upon his first arrival in Toronto.

“‘This is the road map to the gym here at the Maple Leaf Gardens,'” Sundin recalled Burns telling him at an intro meeting. “‘You’ll want to be in there a lot this year.’ That was his way of communicating, like, ‘you’ve got to put on the weight if you want to be successful here.'”

Listed at 6-foot-5, Sundin eventually became known as a physical, two-way force, perhaps in part due to Burns’ influence.

Burns coached the Leafs from 1992 through 1996, also having NHL gigs in Montreal, Boston, and New Jersey. He passed away from cancer in 2010, and was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 2014.

Sundin, who had 420 goals, 567 assists, and a plus-minus of +99 in 981 games for the Maple Leafs in his career, was elected to the Hall of Fame in his first year of eligibility in 2012.

As for why he ended up with the Leafs in the first place, Sundin thinks that Quebec GM Pierre Lacroix was looking to place his stamp on the team. Coming into a franchise that had not won a playoff series in seven years, he orchestrated the Sundin-to-Toronto trade in just his second month on the job.

“The way I understood it was, my agent [and I] talked, my contract was up, and Quebec got a new GM that came in,” Sundin said. “[My agent] said we’re never going to get to where we want to be with Quebec.”

Sundin was far from underperforming, putting up 32 goals, 53 assists and 85 points in the season prior to the trade. The former No. 1 overall pick by the Nordiques in 1989, Sundin felt the trade wasn’t really one under his control.

“My understanding was [my agent and the Nordiques] couldn’t get even close in agreement,” Sundin recalled. “I don’t know where Toronto came in [to the trade talks] or [if] my agent [approached the Leafs] but eventually it was a trade that summer.”

The trade seemed to work out well for both sides from a hockey standpoint, with the Nordiques franchise winning the Stanley Cup two years later, albeit in their first season in Denver as the Colorado Avalanche.

‘I was glad to see many of the players I played with there win the Cup,” Sundin said, while also calling Quebec City a “great hockey town” and hoping for an NHL return there one day.

As for his time in Toronto, Sundin said his ability to compartmentalize his thoughts helped him find success with the team.

“When I left the rink, whether it was for practice or for games, I had a really good off button. I didn’t watch the news, read the papers… I really tried to keep my mind away from hockey,” he said.

The full interview is available below:

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