Mats Sundin is a Toronto Maple Leafs legend and one of the top Swedish players of all time. Sundin became the first European-born player to be drafted first overall in the NHL in 1989, selected by the Quebec Nordiques.
He recorded 59 points in his first NHL season the following year, and in the subsequent seasons, he proved himself to be one of the best young players in the league. In 1994, he was traded to the Toronto Maple Leafs, and the rest is history.
Sundin is the Maple Leafs’ all-time leader in goals and points, and he also won three gold medals with Team Sweden at the World Championships, as well as an Olympic gold.
He was elected to the Hockey Hall of Fame in 2012, but we haven’t seen much from him since then. He hasn’t worked in hockey since his retirement, but now, he’s releasing a new book called My Story about his incredible career.
In the book, he also shares some details about the many injuries he suffered during his 18-year NHL career.
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Sundin fractured both his leg and wrist, but the worst injury came during the season opener of the 2005-06 season in a game against the Ottawa Senators.
A puck hit Sundin in the face, directly on his left eye, and since then, his left eye has sat just a bit lower on his face than the right one.
“I went down on my knees on the ice and realized I couldn’t see with my left eye. It was completely black. I panicked, my heart was racing, and I just blinked as much as I could to get my vision back,” Sundin writes in his book, per the Swedish newspaper Aftonbladet.
Sundin was taken to a hospital. He didn’t need surgery for his eye, but he had broken a bone just beside it.
“My left eye would forever be a little lower compared to my right eye, and I lost ten percent of my vision. I missed a month of play. It was the worst injury of my career.”
