The most concise thing I can say about Mats Sundin joining the Canucks? Vancouver instantly goes from a team that didn't have a chance to one with a very small sliver of one.

A lot will have to go right for the Canucks to get to the Western Conference final (or beyond). Roberto Luongo must be healthy and Sundin will have to regain his form from last season. Even then, the road goes through Detroit, San Jose and Chicago, and the battle for the Northwest Division title is still going to be fierce.

Winning your division in the West is a big deal given just how tough the competition is among the top handful of teams. Falling into that 4-5 matchup likely means a first-round date with a team that had about 100 points, and it's a long road to go from there.

Back to Sundin. Here's how he potentially fits into the lineup, right alongside his former teammate in Toronto:

Wellwood - Sundin - Demitra
Sedin - Sedin - Bernier
Burrows - Kesler - Hansen
Pyatt - Johnson - Raymond

In a lot of ways, this was a good year for GM Mike Gillis to try and go for it in Vancouver. Both Sedins and Mattias Ohlund can become UFAs on July 1, and I highly doubt all three return. Luongo has only one year left on his entirely reasonable contract, after which point he might be looking to make an exit if the franchise looks like it's headed for a rebuild.

Vancouver's surprisingly tied for eighth in league scoring this season (with New Jersey of all teams) and is sixth in goals against, due in part to strong goaltending. Sundin will really help on the power play, where the Canucks are middle of the pack, and at producing points at even strength, where he was one of the top forwards in points per minute on an awful team last season.

Most of all, what Sundin gives the Canucks is some scoring depth, a legitimate No. 1 centre the franchise has lacked for decades, really. If he's going, he'll get the difficult opposition, and the Sedin twins will really benefit from that.

Ultimately, you have to tip your hat to Gillis. He waited this out rather than throw his available cap space at lesser players, and there's zero risk involved in the deal. Even if Sundin's a bust, it's not as if Vancouver's mortgaged its future here.

They just bought themselves a chance.

Other coverage

• ESPN's Scott Burnside rips Sundin's leadership, among other things. If the Sundin saga was a sham, it was one largely perpetuated by the media as the player himself was always pretty clear about when he would return to the game. (Gillis said so multiple times.) Despite the fact Sundin's being called a 'hired gun' in all circles, there's a big difference between playing a dozen games in March and April with a team and signing with a club you could potentially call yours for 130+ games.
  
• Damien Cox has a nice tribute to Sundin's legacy as a Leaf.
• Craig Custance looks at the deal from Gillis's perspective. 

Sundin is going to talk at 1 p.m. EST in a press conference of his own, something I'll try and track Friday afternoon.