Quick healer Sundin back in seven days?

By TIM WHARNSBY -- Toronto Sun Mats Sundin is healing quicker than a member of the flock at an Oral Roberts faith-healing service.
The Maple Leafs captain, who suffered a fractured right ankle on Oct. 9, hopes to rejoin his teammates later this week for practice. There is a chance he could be back in action a week from today when the Leafs play the Hurricanes in Carolina.
"Two weeks would be too long. I hope to be back by the middle of next week," said Sundin, who skated for 30 minutes yesterday with Leafs strength and conditioning coach Phil Walker at Maple Leaf Gardens.
"It has been 16 days. I'm a quick healer, I guess. I have to give a lot of credit to (Leafs therapists) Chris Broadhurst and Brent Smith. They're two of the best."
Sundin still feels a weakness near the non-displaced fracture of his foot, which limits his ability to push off.
"Other than that, everything is feeling fine," Sundin said.
"It's fully healed. The only issue now is get the full strength back."
With Sundin's teammates riding a 4-2-1 record without him, Leafs general manager/coach Pat Quinn again is considering moving Sundin to left wing from centre.
Centres Yanic Perreault, Nik Antropov, Igor Korolev and Alyn McCauley are playing well and Quinn believes the timing may be right for a switch to the wing.
Quinn and the coaching staff feel Sundin would be unstoppable barrelling in from the left side.
"At training camp we talked about it," Quinn said. "We will talk about that again."
But later in his daily address to reporters, Quinn said the likely scenario has Sundin returning to his normal spot in the middle.
"Most likely what will happen is he will come back in at that centre spot and then we will settle in on the other three lines," Quinn said.
Sundin, who played the wing at times with Doug Gilmour during the 1996-97 season, prefers to remain at centre.
"I'd rather play centre," Sundin said. "But we will have to see what happens. It's a coach's decision.
"Yeah, I can see (the reasoning) behind it. But I'm more involved in the play at centre. It's a matter of where you play the best, (where) you feel comfortable."

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