Are the Canucks insane for offering an old guy like Mats Sundin $20 million over 2 years? (That was a rhetorical question.)

There aren’t too many names of note left on the NHL’s list of unrestricted free agents. Unless you include Peter Forsberg, Joe Sakic and Teemu Selanne, who will almost certainly either return to their former clubs or retire. Brendan Shanahan would reportedly like to return to the New York Rangers, but they might not have enough money left after binging on Markus Naslund, Wade Redden, Michal Rozsival and others.

That leaves Mats Sundin - except he’s announced that he will not make a decision until “the end of July or the beginning of August,” according to a Swedish newspaper. The Vancouver Canucks offered Sundin $20 million over two years; the same newspaper reported earlier that Sundin had accepted that offer, prompting a denial from his representatives.

The Canucks are 30-1 long shots on the Stanley Cup futures market. Even if Sundin packs his bags for the West Coast, Vancouver would remain several pieces short of a legitimate Cup contender.