STOCKHOLM, Sweden (AP) -The NHL camps open in two weeks and Mats Sundin still hasn’t decided if he’ll return for another season.
Sundin said Wednesday he’s unsure if his 37-year-old body can handle another grueling year in the NHL. He’s received contract offers from numerous teams, including the Toronto Maple Leafs, the team he’s led for 13 seasons.
“I will not make up my mind before the season starts,” Sundin said at a news conference. “That’s how I feel right now. Others have started playing in the middle of the season. If I would feel like retiring, I would say it.”
Still, Sundin has been working out on ice and said he’s in good shape.
“I skated yesterday and it was a lot of fun,” he said. “I love to play hockey. I’ve played since I was five, but the question is if I can play at the highest level again.”
Speculation about Sundin’s future has created headlines this summer in Canada and Sweden.
“I was very flattered about all this interest,” Sundin said. “Honestly, I haven’t thought about any club. That will be a later question, if I decide to keep on playing. But it will be an NHL club. I don’t think I’ll ever play in the (Swedish) Elite League again.”
Sundin, who has not been out of Toronto’s lineup at the start of the season since 1993, has played 17 seasons in the NHL. It’s getting tougher each year.
“I have to prepare differently and warm up 30, 40 minutes before a practice session,” he said. “I didn’t have to do that when I was 25.”
Sundin, who won Olympic and world championship gold medals for Sweden but never a Stanley Cup trophy, will return to Toronto on Thursday for a charity game.
He’ll join NHL stars and celebrities playing in support of Right To Play, an international charity organization that uses sport to improve the lives of children and communities ravaged by war, poverty and disease.
While pondering his hockey future, Sundin is spending more time on another passion – poker.
He signed a deal with PokerStars.com, joining former tennis star Boris Becker as the site’s ambassador. He will play tournaments for charity, he said, and will head to a European Poker Tour event next week in Barcelona, Spain.
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