Sundin Runs Mouth, Leafs Lose Anyway

Prior to Thursday night's game against the Thrashers, Toronto Maple Leafs captain Mats Sundin offered up his take on the NHL playoff-seeding format in which each conference's three division winners are assured one of the top three seeds, regardless of their position in the conference standings relative to non-division winners.

"You should be seeded by how many points you get, not being in a (soft) division," Sundin said. The big Swede was alluding to the fact that the Southeast Division winner will likely have the fifth-highest point total in the Eastern Conference, but will receive a three seed – and with it, home-ice advantage – in the first round of the playoffs.

Setting aside the obvious argument that with an unbalanced schedule (in which teams play nearly forty percent of their games within the division) the division winner's point total says little, if anything, about the strength of the division, is Sundin really in a position to be talking about fairness in the standings? After all, Sundin's Leafs have lost more games than they've won (unlike the top two teams in the Southeast Division), and if it wasn't for the NHL's standings system that inexplicably rewards losing, his Leafs would have been scheduling April 9 tee times long ago rather than battling for the East's final playoff spot.

And while I'm sure that provincial rival Ottawa appreciates Mats taking up an issue with which the Sens may have a legitimate beef, I'm also certain that Leafs fans would prefer their captain focusing on winning critical games... like the one Toronto lost in (soft) Atlanta last night.