"I Was Almost a Leaf": Vincent Lecavalier Drops Bombshell on Failed Trade to the Toronto Maple Leafs
Photo credit: Kim Klement-Imagn Images
There was once a time where former Tampa Bay Lightning legend Vincent Lecavalier could have been a Maple Leaf after dropping a bombshell on Monday afternoon.
Way back in 2001, the world was a much different place. The Game Boy Advance and iPod were taking the tech world by storm, Hanging By a Moment was at the top of the Billboard Charts and the Toronto Maple Leafs were fighting for a Stanley Cup opportunity with Mats Sundin captaining the club.
Unfortunately the Maple Leafs fell in seven games to the New Jersey Devils in the Conference Semis and while it wasn't the result the team had initially hoped for, things could have been extraordinarily different.
Which even stating that could be an understatement given who Toronto might have been able to bring aboard.
Revealed on the Leafs Morning Take podcast on Monday, former Tampa Bay Lightning legend Vincent Lecavalier was pretty much going to be a Toronto Maple Leaf back in winter of 2001, which would have changed the trajectory of not only the '01 season, but the entirety of the NHL's future.
That deal was done. I got a call, I don't know I had my pre-game nap. 'Time to go to Toronto'. I guess it's cool, alright. It's a new challenge. But you're telling me I get to play with Mats Sundin? Like, could be new, could be cool. He called me a half hour later saying 'No go.'
I guess the President (Ron Campbell) got word, fired Rick Dudley who was the GM, and he's like 'You aren't making a deal like that unless you talk to me.'
As much as I thought I was traded, I obviously wasn't. At that time in '01 though, I was kind of happy, the Lightning weren't there yet compared to today, I was watching Montreal/Toronto as a kid thinking 'This would be unreal.' But it never happened.
I guess the President (Ron Campbell) got word, fired Rick Dudley who was the GM, and he's like 'You aren't making a deal like that unless you talk to me.'
As much as I thought I was traded, I obviously wasn't. At that time in '01 though, I was kind of happy, the Lightning weren't there yet compared to today, I was watching Montreal/Toronto as a kid thinking 'This would be unreal.' But it never happened.
The deal would have sent Nik Antropov, Jonas Hoglund and Tomas Kaberle to Tampa, and while it would have been a blockbuster for sure, it feels like a steep price given how good that trio was for the Leafs.
Antropov blossomed into a perennial 15-20 goal scorer at a towering 6'6, 245 pounds and could be considered a Matthew Knies-esque player for Mats Sundin, much like Knies does with Auston Matthews.
Hoglund was a solid veteran who ended up playing a big part as a secondary scorer for the Maple Leafs even in his short time with the team. In 2000-01 he posted 23 goals and 49 points in all 82 games; so it's clear why Tampa wanted to acquire him.
Kaberle however is probably the most intriguing. We know what he did with Bryan McCabe for years on the Leafs blue line, and would have been the centerpiece of the deal and may have made Toronto significantly worse on their back end.
Lecavalier ended up making quite the career for himself in Tampa, scoring 874 points in 1037 career games, being a franchise icon, and having his number retired by the team as well; he is 1x Stanley Cup Winner, 1x Rocket Richard Winner, and a 1x King Clancy Winner.
It's truly a mystery whether or not Vincent Lecavalier would have helped the Maple Leafs, but it's hard to imagine a team led by both Sundin and Lecavalier being nothing short of a Stanley Cup winning duo.