Sundin never came out and said that was the deadline. I believe his agent said something along the lines of "Mats may know more next month but at this point it's still up in the air" and the media decided to misconstrue that as a hard deadline.
Seriously, get off the guys case. As an employee it is his right to choose if he wants to continue working and if he does then it is his responsibility to find an employer. The employer is in no way obligated to wait for him, which seems to be your major beef regarding this issue.
