Daniel Alfredsson speaks about Mats Sundin in first interview after being hired by the Maple Leafs

Daniel Alfredsson appeared to the media for the first time since being hired by the Maple Leafs and touched on how his partnership with Mats Sundin will play out.

The Maple Leafs made a pretty big change to their coaching staff on Tuesday by letting Mike Van Ryn, Derek Lalonde and Steve Sullivan go and bringing in Brad Werenka, John Gruden, and of all people, Daniel Alfredsson to be the ones to guide Toronto as part of new head coach Jim Hiller's staff.

Sullivan may be headed back to the Marlies, as Gruden was just promoted from their head coach position, and Werenka is someone not familiar with the NHL but is an experienced video coach who has a deep understanding of analytics, but it's Alfredsson who brings the most intrigue without a shadow of a doubt.

Alfredsson admits the past rivalry with Mats Sundin is behind him after uniting in Toronto

The former Ottawa Senators captain was always a thorn in the side of the Maple Leafs for over a decade and it was a treat to watch him and fellow Swede Mats Sundin battle it out for Ontario supremacy as the two were always neck-and-neck with each other on the ice.

Though despite being rivals for years, the two maintained a friendship off the ice and now with the chance to work together, it's going to be interesting to see how the two co-exist. If you ask Alfredsson though, he's excited to work with Sundin and has seemingly moved past any previous animosity:

We kept in touch. We don't live near each other in Sweden. We haven't talked a lot about the past, to be honest, but obviously I think it's great Mats is involved again. I think he has so much to bring, leadership, experience.

Obviously, Sundin is regarded as one of the greatest Swedish players of all-time much like Alfredsson and with both being captains and respected leaders of both their NHL teams and on the international stage, it's a situation Toronto has never really had in their front office.

They had former players and captains, but this is a really influential duo.

Sundin and Alfredsson's lack of true experience isn't going to hinder the Maple Leafs

One thing you could point to in terms of a potential negative to hiring Sundin and Alfredsson is their relative inexperience in their respective positions. Alfredsson has been a coach for a handful of seasons but nothing extensive by any means, and Sundin has never had a front office role prior to this.

You would think that's the worst possible scenario but for the Maple Leafs, they have consistently tried to make sure they surrounded themselves with the top executives and smartest minds in the game like Lou Lamoriello, Brendan Shanahan, and Kyle Dubas but it was always the same result.

Going outside the box and bringing in Sundin was a great choice to shake things up and restore not only bit of nostalgia in the fanbase but bring in someone who cares deeply about why being successful is so important.

In the same vein, Toronto grabbed Alfredsson for his ability to connect with players and help develop their skills. Is he a guaranteed fix? No, but clearly the team valued him enough to interview him for the head coaching job before settling on Hiller.

We've seen the same old, same old from Toronto and it's predictably led to the same results. But with Alfredsson and Sundin putting rivalries aside to come together as one powerful force, it could be a big reason why the Maple Leafs will find themselves competitive again.

Also read on Hockey Patrol :
The real reason Toronto hired Daniel Alfredsson goes beyond the Swedish connection