Sundin

Billy Boucher, the last Canadien to wear sweater No. 13, photographed in 1924-25. The Canadiens wore the globe crest instead of a CH that season, celebrating their 1923-24 Stanley Cup "world championship" victory.
Rice Studios; Gazette files 

So Canadiens general manager Bob Gainey seems headed to Sweden this week to chat with Toronto Maple Leafs captain Mats Sundin to see whether there's common ground to explore between organization and player.

Sundin, an unrestricted free agent a week from today, is talking exclusively with the Canadiens until he's officially a UF, a right granted to Montreal late last week by Maple Leafs GM Cliff Fletcher, the man who acquired Sundin from the Quebec Nordiques 13 seasons ago.

If he signs a contract with the Canadiens, Sundin will become the second consecutive Leafs captain to ink a free-agent contract with Montreal. Doug Gilmour was the first.

The Gazette's Dave Stubbs explores the Sundin case this morning, wondering whether the hulking Swede would fit the No. 13 Canadiens sweater. Last time that number was worn by a Hab was in 1921-22, when Billy Boucher, 5-foot-7 and 155 pounds, tugged it on for part of a season.