NHL legend reveals blockbuster Toronto Maple Leafs trade that almost happened

The Toronto Maple Leafs once nearly had one of the biggest stars of the 2000s on their roster as part of a trade that never came to fruition.

Vincent Lecavalier had nine goals, seven assists, and 16 points across 23 games for the Tampa Bay Lightning en route to the 2004 Stanley Cup, the first in franchise history.

But three years prior, in December 2001, he almost found himself making his way to the Leafs as part of a package for defenceman Tomas Kaberle and forwards Jonas Hoglund and Nik Antropov.

“That deal was done. I got a call from [current Montreal Canadiens GM and former agent Kent Hughes],” Lecavalier said on an episode of Leafs Morning Take with Nick Alberga and former Leafs player Jay Rosehill. “I was in my pre-game nap and he called me. ‘Alright it’s done, you’re going to Toronto!’ So I was like ‘oh wow, OK.'”

Lecavalier was just three years removed from being picked first overall and having former Lightning owner Art Williams proclaim him to be the “Michael Jordan of hockey.”

Antropov was still a young player with a lot of promise at the time, drafted 10th overall the same year as Lecavalier. Kaberle was just 23 years old and had tallied 45 points the season prior, while Hoglund was coming off a 49-point season.

It seems Lightning GM Rick Dudley was ready to pull the trigger on the deal, but the team president had other ideas.

“I guess the president heard about it, fired Rick Dudley, the GM, and he’s like ‘you’re not making a trade like that unless you talk to me.'”

In addition to winning the Stanley Cup, Lecavalier also won the 2006-07 Maurice “Rocket” Richard Trophy, as his 52 goals were tops in the NHL.

Though Lecavalier eventually had success with the Lightning, the Ile-Bizard, Que., native shared his interest in joining arguably the NHL’s most historic rivalry.

“A couple of years later we won a Cup in Tampa and it was awesome, but at that time, in ’01, I was kinda happy [with being traded],” Lecavalier admitted. “The Lightning weren’t there yet, they weren’t the hockey market that it is today. And I grew up watching Montreal-Toronto and was like wow, that’s going to be unreal, but yeah, didn’t happen.”

But some further front office deliberation eventually nixed the deal, and Lecavalier ended up staying with the Lightning until 2013.

“[I thought] it’s going to be a new challenge, they’re telling me I was going to play with Mats Sundin. The next thing you know, about a half an hour later, he calls me back and said ‘no go!'” Lecavalier recalled.

Given that the Leafs went from 2004 to 2023 without winning a playoff series, it’s interesting to wonder how their franchise history may have been altered with Lecavalier on their roster.

But with the former Lightning captain now 44 years old and nine years removed from his last NHL game, it’ll forever be a hypothetical in the minds of Leafs fans.