I was under the impression Leaf fans wanted Sundin(And the Muskoka 5) gone was to kickstart the rebuild. It was before my time on these boards, so someone please correct me if I'm wrong. In any case, comparing Phil Kessel to Mats Sundin in any way leaves me with quite the distaste.
Mats was a class act all the way, and to date, is my favorite Leaf I've ever seen don the blue and white.
no, that was pretty much it. And Mats didn't want to be a rental (for the most part - which sucked because then he went to go play for Vancouver, which i try to block out as much as I can).
I know there were a lot of people mad at him because he wouldn't allow himself to be traded for a massive package. (and that's sort of the same flack that Kaberle got - ie: we coulda got Carter or whatever).
And then of course there were the people who didn't like Mats because he was soft, or was European, or blah blah
To which - I have to say: everyone gets it. It's not just a Toronto thing. It might just seem like a Toronto thing, but people talk crap about their teams players (and more often than naught, it's usually the best players, especially if you suck as long as we have). My twitter was blowing up about how much Bergeron and Rask needed to be traded from the Bruins.
It just.. irritates me that if Leafs nation does it it's like we're this super special, eat the paste society that can't appreciate things, which - no. chances are, like any other fan base, we get cranky, irritated, fall in love or whatever with players. it's just that with Leafs Nation, we get flogged if we do (or if we don't).
and I agree. comparing Phil to Mats... ... please don't do that.