"The agent for free-agent centre Mats Sundin says his client may not make a decision about whether to continue his National Hockey League career until after the start of the regular season.

J.P. Barry said Wednesday that a decision by Sundin is not imminent and suggested there is no guarantee that Sundin will meet his self-imposed, end-of-August deadline to decide whether he will play this season.

"We are going to talk to him later this week just to get an update from him, but right now we are not putting any pressure on him because he has to get that feeling that he wants to play," Barry said. "But right now, he's no closer."

Barry did not rule out the 37-year-old Sundin following a path set two seasons ago by Anaheim defenceman Scott Niedermayer, who waited until December to rejoin the Anaheim Ducks.

"It's possible," Barry said. "It's not something that's preferable even to him. Mats has said in the past it's not something he is totally comfortable with, but at the same time you can't say that until you're in that position yourself. Niedermayer went through this and needed time and perhaps Mats is in the same situation."

Canucks general manager Mike Gillis, who tabled a $20-million, two-year offer to Sundin way back on July 1, said Wednesday he is prepared to wait a while longer.

"I think we're prepared to be patient," Gillis said. "There hasn't been a whole lot of other activity going on and I think in the eventuality that this drags on for a significant period of time, activity will begin to happen and we'll have to evaluate those opportunities when they come."

Gillis did not want to comment on Barry's statement that Sundin could wait until after the start of the season before making his decision.

"It's difficult to react to speculation and I'm not going to," he said. "I think that our position has been pretty clear. We made a significant offer and we are prepared to be patient. Nothing much has happened in the hockey world over the past 30 days and on a moving-forward basis we are going to try and remain as patient as we can."

Gillis did acknowledge that when he tendered his $20-million offer to Sundin in early July, he did not expect to be waiting in late August for an answer.

"I didn't anticipate it taking this long, but this isn't a simple situation, it's more complicated than most and we have to accept that."

Barry knows that some teams interested in Sundin will likely move on if his client waits much longer to decide his future.

"I understand a bunch of these teams are going to start making moves if they don't hear from him," Barry said. "Probably by about the end of the month, they are going to start making some Plan Bs and he knows that. He has known that since July 1, really. Any of these teams could have changed their minds at any point in time, there's nothing in holding them back to do that."

Earlier this week, Montreal Canadiens GM Bob Gainey sounded like he had almost given up on Sundin.

"It's hard to optimistic," Gainey told RDS in Quebec on Tuesday. "We haven't had much contact with him. It appears he's not interested. He hasn't asked many questions about the organization."

Gillis said he remains optimistic about the Canucks' chances of landing the 37-year-old Swede."