Surprise, surprise — Mats Sundin's getting back on the horse and getting physical. Soon, he'll be in an NHL lineup near you.

And the interesting tidbit about all of this is that the longer he sits, the more teams will be able to fit his sure-to-be gaudy salary under the cap.

Let's say Sundin's going to command about $8-million as a full-season salary. There are 187 days in the NHL regular season when it comes to pay salaries, and they're calculated on a per-day basis.

If Sundin comes back on Jan. 1, there will be 102 days remaining in the season, and a team will be on the hook for about 55 per cent of whatever contract he signs. Using our $8-million example, a team would need about $4.35-million under the salary cap.

If he comes back on Feb. 1, that number drops to $3-million.

And on and on.

The question of where Sundin is going is a tricky one, but there are only 13 teams that currently have $3-million or more available under the cap, and many of those teams would have very little interest in adding a major salary.

Teams that make sense from that group include Vancouver, Colorado and potentially Ottawa, but there are sure to be bidders from other teams that throw bodies overboard (or to the minors) to free up the cash.

It should be interesting.