Enough's Enough

What is up with all these mid season returns to the NHL. The ridiculous saga with Mats Sundin seems to be a following trend of players returning midseason to the NHL. Starting with Scott Neidermeyer last year, the NHL has seemed to spawn this ungoing trend of players returning well into the season giving their repsective teams a fresh player going into the playoffs. Now it's not like I'm saying a player should ever return from retirement but to a certain extent it becomes more of a farce. Mats Sundin's return was anticipated all year. Every couple of days there was a report on what he was doing, what teams were interested in him. Teams around the league were constantly trying to get him to sign with them. What of the players on that team? I know it's been discussed before but really how would they feel? Personally, I know that if I went through the training camp, fought for my job, and was suddenly given less ice time or scratched because an outsider decided to show up I'd be pretty upset. And how does Vancouver ownership feel about his return? They're now 1-4-1 with mats Sundin in the line-up. Agreed that it does coincide with Roberto Luongo's injury but in two of those losses, he's been in the box for the game winning goal. To me that's not much of a positive addition. Honestly, I think the NHL should stop players from returning half way into the season. If after 20 Games you haven't made a decision, then you're not going to play this season.
So now Claude Lemieux returns to the NHL at 43 years old. After a five and a half year absence he returns to the NHl with the San Jose Sharks. The question is will this be an effective call up from the minors or will he be a bust. He'll have to play a few games before judgement is passed but at 43 years old, can his body take the physical play the western conference is attributed with? And can he still play that agitating role given that he'll be the target of a lot of frustration as a pest. Time will tell and right now San Jose would certainly like a good 4th line they can throw out to get under other teams skin.