Mike Brophy

Veteran hockey columnist Mike Brophy writes Mondays, Wednesdays and Friday on Sportsnet.ca and appears regularly on Hockeycentral.

It has come down to Vancouver or New York, but which one is the best fit for Mats Sundin?

Vancouver? New York? Thursday? Friday? One year? Two years?

Ah, the Mats Sundin watch is about to conclude. Finally!

All the questions we have about Sundin, who, as it turns out, is a rental player after all, should be answered in the next 24-48 hours. Just about everybody in the hockey world assumes it will be the Rangers that finally welcomes Mats, but Mike Gillis told Sportsnet.ca Tuesday night he firmly believes his club, which made Sundin a whopping two-year, $20-million offer last summer, still stands a chance of getting him.

Both teams could certainly use the 6-foot-5, 230-pound centre. What team couldn't?

But which is the best fit?

Well, regardless of which team he chooses he'll have some Swedish buddies to hang out with. The Rangers have Markus Naslund, Fredrik Sjostrom and goaltender Henrik Lundqvist, of whom Sundin is said to be very fond. Those players tried to woo him into joining them when he met with Rangers GM Glen Sather recently while in New York promoting PokerStars.net. The Canucks, on the other hand, have the Sedin twins, Daniel and Henrik, as well as Alexander Edler and veteran Mattias Ohlund.

Statistically speaking, if Sundin joins the Rangers he'll be a part of the NHL's best penalty-killing team. The Rangers snuff out an average of 90.9 per cent of the penalties they take. The Canucks rank a decent 10th at 83.1 per cent. Neither team has an overwhelming power play -- the Canucks are 16th (18.7 per cent) while the Rangers rank 21st (14.5).

The Canucks were supposed to have trouble scoring goals this season, but after 31 games they rank eight in goals-for, averaging three per game. The Rangers are a meager 27th averaging just 2.44 goals per game. Both teams boast excellent goaltending which helps explain why Vancouver ranks sixth in goals-against average at 2.52 while the Rangers are eighth at 2.59. There is one bugaboo that could spoil it for Vancouver, though. Roberto Luongo, regarded by many to be the best goaltender in the NHL, is out with a groin injury and it isn't known when he'll return. With a healthy Luongo, the Canucks are a long shot to make it out of the tough Western Conference to the Stanley Cup final. Without him they have no chance whatsoever.

All things being equal, and with Luongo being 100 per cent healthy, I think the Canucks could take the Rangers in a seven-game series. In other words, I think they are the better team. But that won't mean squat where Sundin is concerned. If he thinks the Rangers offer him the best opportunity to make it to the Stanley Cup final, then that's where he's going to go. When it comes to which team will win the east, the Rangers are right there with a hand full of others including the surprising Boston Bruins, the Washington Capitals, the Philadelphia Flyers and Montreal Canadiens.

The Canucks, meanwhile, know the route to the Stanley Cup final goes through either Detroit or Sam Jose. Those two teams remain the class of the NHL and it is hard to imagine one of those two not making it to the final.

If it is travel Sundin is worried about, Vancouver is not as bad an option as some might imagine. The Canucks have already played 19 of their 41 road games. Obviously New York, which has played 18 road games, wins out in this category since the Rangers are ideally located on the Eastern seaboard and many of their trips can be made by bus or a short flight. Toss in the incredible New York nightlife and you'd have to think it's advantage Rangers.

So on which team would Sundin have the greatest impact? With the Canucks he automatically becomes the team's No. 1 centre. He bumps Kyle Wellwood from the first power-play unit and becomes the team's second most important player behind only Luongo. He'll no doubt get his fare share of ice time with the Rangers, but they also have centres Chris Drury and Scott Gomez who need their playing time, too. Gomez plays a little more than 22 minutes per game while Drury averages 21 minutes per game.

At the end of the day this won't come down to money. If it were about cash, Sundin would have grabbed the Vancouver offer last summer. Clearly the Rangers have to clear cap space if they want to sign Sundin, unless as one member of their organization told me recently Mats wants to play for $100,000.

So which team would I pick if I were Mats Sundin? That's easy... the Montreal Canadiens. But that is not going to happen.

So the Mats Sundin saga is nearly over. Time to turn our attention to Peter Forsberg.