Sundin walking without a cast

By NEIL STEVENS -- Canadian Press TORONTO -- Mats Sundin is determined to return to the Toronto Maple Leafs' lineup sooner than originally expected.
This is uplifting news for a good NHL team that has been rendered mediocre by the absence of its immensely talented captain.
"I hope to be back sooner than that," Sundin replies when asked if he could be scoring goals again in another month.
When a bone at the top of Sundin's right ankle was fractured 10 days ago by a puck during a road game against the Ottawa Senators, the Leafs predicted Sundin might be out for as long as six weeks.
Yet, on Monday, Sundin, joining his teammates for a meet-the-players luncheon, was walking -- slowly -- around the Air Canada Centre without the aid of crutches, and during the weekend he'd discarded the inflatable cast that had been cushioning the damaged foot.
Twice-a-day electronic treatments are partly responsible.
"There's no pain involved in the process at all," Sundin explained. "Ultrasound vibrations are sent to the bone, which is supposed to cut down the healing time."
The broken bone segments remain aligned, which makes this rosy recuperation possible.
"By me not putting any weight on it during the first week, it stayed like that," Sundin said. "If the pieces had moved, I might have needed surgery and a full cast."
The Leafs won three in a row to start their season, then lost a game and their captain. Without Sundin, the Leafs have been beaten 4-2 at home by the two-year-old Nashville Predators, squeaked past the Pavel Bure-less Florida Panthers 3-2, eked out a 2-1 victory over the winless Blackhawks in Chicago, and were thumped 4-2 by the Blues in St. Louis.
"We know we can play a lot better than we're playing," says Steve Thomas, who is without a goal in eight games. "There have been a couple of games thus far that we should have won.
"The Nashville game and the other night in St. Louis, only half the team was playing well. We think, as a team, that we should have won those two games. No, not by any means are we happy with where we are right now."
On Wednesday night, the Leafs face the barnstorming Carolina Hurricanes, who have lost only one of their six games. Carolina is playing its first nine on the road before opening in its new Raleigh, N.C., arena. Ron Francis and Co. are getting tired, but they'll be optimistic the Leafs will be ripe for the picking with Sundin reduced to spectator status.
The Leafs are beginning a five-game homestand.
Toronto was the highest-scoring team in the NHL last season, but what is keeping it high in the standings this autumn is the impressive play of its defencemen -- veterans Dimitri Yushkevich and Alexander Karpovtsev and second-year NHLers Danny Markov and Tomas Kaberle in particular.
Jonas Hoglund, who scored eight goals in 74 games with Montreal last season, has been the biggest surprise up front, scoring six goals.
Igor Korolev says he wants to resume his place between Sergei Berezin and Garry Valk after missing the game in St. Louis with a cracked sinus cavity. Defenceman Cory Cross will miss the Carolina game after hurting his right leg on the road trip.
GM-head coach Pat Quinn has been trying to add a shooter, and he would neither confirm nor deny a report that unsigned free agent Dmitri Khristich turned down a $2.2 million US offer from the Leafs. He did say he has had no discussions with representatives of restricted free agent Keith Primeau, who has been unable to come to terms with the Hurricanes.

Bert's back on blades
Blue Jays boot game
Bombers drop Peterson
Felicien rebuilds race

Visit our Polls Archive

SLAM! Sports SLAM! Galleries Help CANOE