In one of the last great remaining untold stories in all of sports, the Hall of Fame Toronto Maple Leafs captain Mats Sundin shares for the first time an unfiltered look at playing hockey in Sweden and across North America as part of the sport’s most fabled franchises.
Growing up in Sollentuna, Sweden, on the outskirts of Stockholm, Mats Sundin skated on the lake downhill from his house, a house his father had built with his own hands, on land his mother insisted on buying for their future. In the darkness of the Scandinavian winter Sundin would chase after his older brother on that lake for countless hours. Summers spent in nature with his grandparents instilled a lifelong love for the outdoors. Playing hockey in their driveway, the three Sundin brothers imagined scenes of suiting up for Sweden’s national team and scoring a game winning goal against their favoured rival, the Soviet Union. It wasn’t until his late teens that he caught the eyes of scouts and coaches from the other side of the Atlantic. At the 1989 NHL draft, eighteen-year-old Sundin was as surprised as anyone when he was selected first overall by the Quebec Nordiques.
After a few years as a Nordique, Sundin was traded to the Toronto Maple Leafs in exchange for the highly popular Leaf captain, Wendel Clark. In his early years in Toronto, he felt both at home and from away, working extra hard to gain acceptance in the world’s toughest hockey market. Even once he was named captain, Sundin didn’t deviate from his quiet nature but instead lead by example, never asking anyone to work harder than he did. Over thirteen seasons with the team, he would learn just how fiery the cauldron of Leafs Nation could be.
In Home and Away, Mats Sundin writes openly for the first time about what it was like for him to uproot his life in Sweden to embark on a long hockey career an ocean away. Home and Away is an elegiac, heartfelt, and honest story of a man who followed his passions, cherished his family, faced heavy scrutiny, and ultimately earned his way into both the hearts of fans and the hockey record books. His journey transcends the rink and shows what it means to be a quiet and unpretentious Swedish kid who went on to become one of the most accomplished players in the history of the game.
