Do the Canucks need more swedes?

Mats Sundin?

As a kid first learning about the NHL, it never occurred to me that there could be players in the league from other parts of the world. At that time, a "foreign player" would have been one of those Canadians with a fancy French name like Jocelyn Guevremont, Andre Boudrias, Rosaire Paiement or even Bobby Lalonde.

Watching and listening to more hockey, I soon found out that there were some highly skilled players from places like the Soviet Union and other places in Europe, and some of them were even in the NHL. Hockey Night in Canada had me convinced that Sweden, especially, was one of those countries where the players were so talented all your team needed was one Swede and you'd be winning the Stanley Cup in no time. Börje Salming and Inge Hammarström were proof of that, weren't they?

When the Canucks started to sign Swedish players like Thomas Gradin, Patrik Sundstrom and Lars Lindgren, I became certain that meant we'd be seeing the Cup in Vancouver soon. It didn't matter who you were as long as you were Swedish -- Lars Molin was going to do it for us!

I'm a bit less certain these days that Swedes are the answer. Oh, I'm glad that Markus Naslund played as well for the Canucks as he did, I think the Sedins will be remembered as two of the best Canuck talents of all time and I also believe that Alex Edler will have a very good career as a defenseman, but I just don't think that adding more Swedes is the answer.

Adding more swedes, though -- how about that?

A few years ago, I overheard some English relatives of mine talking about swedes as if they were food. I knew they weren't cannibals, so I had to find out what they meant. It turns out that swede is the name that folks in the U.K. use to refer to rutabagas. You know, those big whitish turnip-type root vegetables that give children food nightmares. Looking on Wikipedia reveals that:

1. In the U.K., before pumpkins were commonly available, swedes used to be carved out for jack o'lanterns.
2. In continental Europe during World War I, swedes gained a reputation as the food you'd eat only if you had nothing else left to eat.
3. A curling championship is held annually in the U.S. where swedes are used as curling rocks.
4. In the Scots language, swedes are called "neeps". I love that word!
5. Ingesting too many swedes can lower your thyroid activity, which can make you lethargic and depressed.

So then! Now that you are a bit more educated about swedes, let me ask you this: how much do you really want to see Mats Sundin in a Canucks uniform?