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VANCOUVER -- They're anxiously awaiting his arrival, although no one is exactly sure when Mats Sundin will get to Vancouver.
There's talk he'll be in today. Some say tomorrow.
And no one seems to be sure when he'll actually be in the lineup.
Regardless, the signing of the 37-year-old free agent by the Canucks has the whole town buzzing.
"He's going to help a lot, especially in the tight games," said Canucks forward Kyle Wellwood, a former teammate of Sundin with the Toronto Maple Leafs. "I know in Toronto he was able to elevate his game in the crunch time. I've seen him do it at least a dozen times where the game is on the line and he single-handedly took the puck to the net and scored. That's something that I don't think we have here, so I think it'll really help."
Sundin is the Canucks biggest free agent signing since Mark Messier, although they hope his tenure will be a little more successful.
They won the sweepstakes over the New York Rangers and will be paying the six-foot-five, 231-pound centre $5.635-million for the remainder of the season. A nine-time NHL all-star, Sundin is expected to help the Canucks go deep in the playoffs.
"He's such a strong player, he's so dominant taking the puck to the net, that when he's got a step on a guy or an angle, you have to go to the net because the puck is going to be there somewhere and it's just a matter of being there and finding it," Wellwood said. "He's in incredible shape. He's like a Scott Niedermayer-type guy that you can count on every night and they just keep going and going. He does his own thing on the ice, and he's his own force out there."
Heading into last night's contest against the Oilers, the Canucks had played three games since the announcement of Sundin's signing - losing two. After last night's game, they are left with two more before the new year.
"We like the group we have right now, we've had a lot of injuries this year and we're still battling through," said Canucks forward Alex Burrows. "With the addition of Mats, we're going to try and help him blend into the group and I think he's going to be able to gel in right away.
"I don't think everyone thinks he's going to be a saviour. I think everyone has to keep doing their job, keep playing well and when Mats shows up that's when I think we're going to be really successful."
It's a unique circumstance waiting on a franchise player to join a team in mid-season.
Sundin, has been skating with a Swedish team preparing for a possible return to the NHL.
Once he arrives in Vancouver, it's expected he'll need a couple of weeks to get back up to the pace of the league.
"The first two or three weeks are always hard on the body, I'm sure he's going to get through that and after that he'll settle in," Wellwood said. "He won't need much time I don't think. He's such a talented player and he's so strong physically. I'm sure for timing and things like that it's always going to be a while. But as far as being able to play, it's going to be good, he could probably go and play tonight."
With four Swedish players already on the roster, it's expected Sundin's will feel right at home with the Canucks. And although all the talk this week has been about his arrival, the team doesn't feel it's a distraction from the task at hand.
"I don't think it's been a distraction at all," Burrows said. "We were really happy when we heard that we signed him, I think he's going to be a great addition to our team. He was an all-star forward for so long, he's going to be really good for us. I'm really looking forward to him being here and I wouldn't call it a distraction at all."