"Coach Ron Wilson began looking at the Maple Leafs' first line centre hole yesterday, with a big question mark where No. 13 used to be. "When I find out for sure about Mats Sundin, then I'll worry about life with or without him," said Wilson, in town for summer meetings with general manager Cliff Fletcher. "Cliff and I just roughed out some lines, but a lot can change between now and Sept. 19 (when training camp opens)." Sundin remains non-commital about playing or retiring, with agent J.P. Barry saying in recent days that the captain's indecision could be a hint he's not coming back. Refusing to get into specific candidates, Wilson said Sundin's winger Nik Antropov would be among "lots of guys" he hopes to audition at camp for the job should Sundin not play.

"Wherever I've coached, I've been blessed with having a good natural centre," Wilson said. "A centre is key, because he's also responsible for his line's defensive play. "These days, guys are much more interchangeable, with the only confusion deciding who picks up loose pucks along the boards. But it's much easier to make centres out of wingers than wingers out of centres." As part of finding another 80 point-range leading scorer if Sundin retires, the Leafs need a new faceoff specialist. Though Sundin's overall contributions have been second-guessed in light of the Leafs missing the playoffs the past three seasons, last year he led the NHL in draws taken (1,713) and draws won (945), a 55.2% success rate. The only other Leaf with more than 1,000 draws was Matt Stajan (a 47.6% rating), while Antropov was 42.1% on 271 draws. Centre Dominic Moore was 51.4%, while other wingers Mark Bell and Alex Steen took almost 200 faceoffs, Bell at 41.3%, Steen at 33%."