Mats to Vancouver Leaves Questions in TO

Mats Sundin landing in Vancouver means the Toronto Maple Leafs can now officially move on from the 12-year reign of the Big Swede as captain. He was no doubt the face of the team and a capable leader, as well as one of the greatest Leafs of all time.

But, Sundin's tenure ends much the same way as other great Leafs, such as Darryl Sittler, Tiger Williams and Borje Salming: Without a Stanley Cup. And so the measure of Sundin's greatness is not the 987 points he tallied in blue and white, but rather his failure to lead the team back to the top of the hockey world. He cannot be blamed for all of that, but he played on several outstanding teams and was never able to get beyond the East finals.

Now the question becomes: Who is the next Leafs captain? Tomas Kaberle seems like the logical choice as the team's longest-tenured player and an alternate captain for several seasons, but he has been rumored to be on his way out at the trade deadline, a casualty of the new Brian Burke administration. Jamal Mayers quickly earned a letter after arriving over the summer, has been a solid performer for the Leafs and is a native of the very city in which he now plays. Nik Antropov has been around for just two years fewer than Kaberle and appears to be staying put for the time being, but perhaps the best choice would be Pavel Kubina, who has emerged as the defenseman Toronto thought it was getting two seasons ago. Now free of partner Bryan McCabe, Kubina has been outstanding, will probably not be moved, and is certainly worthy of the captaincy.

Of course, speculation holds that the next captain is merely keeping the seat warm for Luke Schenn, the rookie phenom who looks to be in TO for a long while. But that seems to be years off, and the Leafs should avoid having a whopping five players wearing A's as quickly as possible.