Mats Sundin has repeatedly referred to the high level of emotion he’s harboured this Hockey Hall of Fame weekend.

It was never more apparent than when he stepped onto the ice for Sunday’s Legends Classic at the Air Canada Centre — in front of a near-sellout crowd in the city where he’d been a star for 13 years.

The emotions will continue to flow Monday when Sundin, Adam Oates, Pavel Bure, and Joe Sakic are formally inducted.

Not even the NHL lockout, which wiped out the traditional Saturday night’s Leafs game on induction weekend, could put a damper on the experience for the class of 2012.

PHOTO GALLERY: Mats Sundin’s Hall of Fame career

“We’re having a great time this weekend,” said Sundin, greeted by cheers and mobs of media from the moment he arrived at the ACC, two hours before the legends game. “You’d think it was a playoff game in here. . . . When I landed at the airport it was like coming home.”

As for his acceptance speech, he says it will be economical.

“It will be short. I think I go last, so it will be short,” Sundin said with an ever-present smile.

He also told the crowd he wishes he’d retired as a Leaf.

“In my last season I wasn’t sure I wasn’t going to play anymore,” Sundin said. “I think it took six months or so before I decided to play again. Sometime it’s out of your control; you can’t decide how your career ends. No doubt, Toronto is dear to my heart. I love this city. We (Sundin, wife Josephine and their infant daughter) live in Sweden, but we come back here often and it’s very special to me.”

The crowd — which also gave a warm reception to the other inductees and ex-Leafs Doug Gilmour, Curtis Joseph, Darcy Tucker, Gary Roberts and Joe Nieuwendyk — booed loudly when NHL commissioner Gary Bettman’s image was flashed on the scoreboard.

The retired players remain very close to the game and, off the record, many fear the entire season could be wiped out. There was a Twitter report Sunday afternoon that Bettman told the players’ union negotiations are “past the point of give and take.”

“When the game goes from $2 billion to $3 billion in revenue, there’s going to be some negotiations and some (stalemates),” said former Calgary Flames star Theo Fleury, now a popular public speaker and in the process of writing a follow-up to his successful book Playing with Fire.

“The game has changed,’’ Fleury added. “There’s a lot more money on the table. I think the players are a lot more business-orientated than we ever were. I was the guy that always said, ‘Drop the puck, let’s play hockey.’ But here’s how I see it: I do a lot of events all across Canada and I run into guys like Gordie Howe and Johnny Bower, who are still doing events. And I say, ‘Why are you guys here?’ They need to be there to make money.

“So I have no sympathy for the owners because of that. Because those are the icons of the game, the guys that I looked up to and wanted to emulate. I’m fully behind the players and what they’re trying to accomplish.’’

Former Leaf Gary Roberts, now a sought-after off-season trainer, said many of his NHL clients just want the game back.

“I’m involved with current players that I train. They’re not different than us years ago. They want to play,’’ said Roberts. “It’s discouraging, for sure, for hockey fans. I’m a hockey fan. I want to see hockey being played. Hopefully they can find a happy medium and all get back to work and move on.’’

The players and owners talked for 90 minutes on Sunday and there’s a sense that the next key date is U.S. Thanksgiving on Nov. 22.

Sundin was traded to the Leafs in 1994, the year a lockout shortened the season to 48 games, starting in January, 1995.

“There’s always things you (players) can’t control, but for sure everyone wants to see the game start back up again,” Sundin said.

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Sundin — who says he’s been emotional ever since the selection committee called, during dinner with his wife in June — is entering the Hall in his first year of eligibility. Next year’s list of candidates is also impressive, including Rob Blake, Rod Brind’Amour, Scott Niedermayer, Chris Chelios and Brendan Shanahan, who narrowly missed selection this year. For the second straight year, there are no women on the ballot.

More:

DiManno one-on-one with Sundin

Hall profile: Mats Sundin

Hall profile: Joe Sakic

Hall profile: Adam Oates

Hall profile: Pavel Bure

Hall of fame day

Mats Sundin, Joe Sakic, Pavel Bure and Adam Oates are this year’s Hockey Hall of Fame inductees. Here’s the game plan for Monday:

• Media availability, 10 a.m.

• Luncheon, noon

• Induction reception, 6 p.m.

• Induction ceremony, 8 p.m.

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