One of the NHL's greatest players of the past twenty years and one of Sweden's all time greatest hockey players has called it a career. 

Center Mats Sundin, former captain of the Toronto Maple Leafs, officially announced his retirement after 18 seasons with the Leafs, Quebec Nordiques and Vancouver Canucks. 

As per TSN.ca:

The 38-year-old leaves the NHL having amassed 1,349 points (564 goals, 785 assists over 1,346), ranking him 25th on the all-time list.

Sundin ranks fourth in points among European-born players and holds the records for goals (420), game winning goals (79), powerplay goals (124) and points (987) with the Toronto Maple Leafs.

He was also an eight time all-star and from 1997 to 2008 was the Leafs captain, becoming the longest serving European team captain in NHL history. 

Sundin's offensive consistency was impressive. Only three times in his 18 year career did his fail to reach the 70-point plateau. The first was his rookie season in 1990-91 (59 points), the second the lockout-shortened 1994-95 campaign (47 points in 47 games) and last season when he 28 points in 41 games with the Canucks. 

Thirteen times he scored 30 or more goals in the regular season and tallied 82 points in 91 career NHL playoff games. 

Yet for all his accomplishments a Stanley Cup eluded him as did individual awards. He did however captain Sweden's men's hockey team to Olympic gold in 2006, and played on three Swedish World Hockey Championship teams.

Sundin was a popular player with the Leafs yet to me it seemed he never received the adulation from Leafs fans like that of former Leafs greats like Darryl Sittler, Wendel Clark and Doug Gilmour, who like Sundin failed to bring a Stanley Cup to Toronto.

That's a pity because year in and year out Sundin was a model of consistency, one who as his career progressed evolved into one of the league's best centers. 

Sadly his final season with the Leafs, in which he again led the team in scoring with 78 points, was noteworthy for his unwillingness to waive his no-trade clause prior to the 2008 trade deadline in order for the Leafs to perhaps receive a significant return for him. 

Some fans and pundits labeled Sundin selfish, a curious thing to say about a player who never demanded a trade when the team went into decline, never put the blame on his teammates, led by example game in and game out and stated he wanted to finish his contract as a Leaf, rather than jump ship late in the season to a possible playoff contender. 

That should be considered loyalty to a franchise but instead he was excoriated in some circles. 

Here's hoping all will be forgiven when the Maple Leafs (hopefully) honor Sundin later this coming season by retiring his jersey, whose number 13 brought nothing but good luck to the Leafs for most of his 13 seasons with them.