The 2001 NHL season still has one of the biggest "what if" moments for the Toronto Maple Leafs. It was the peak of the Pat Quinn era, and the team was looking for that last piece to get over the top. And they found their target when Eric Lindros was available after sitting out the entire season because of his massive fallout with Flyers GM Bobby Clarke. Publicly, he made it clear he wanted to play in Toronto, and both sides seemed interested in getting a deal done.
The reported deal on the table would have sent youngster Nik Antropov, defencemen Dmitry Yushkevich, and an undisclosed player to Philadelphia. A report from ESPN suggests it was Danny Markov who would have been the undisclosed player. However, the trade would eventually fall through due to Clarke wanting the Maple Leafs' young, promising blue liner Tomas Kaberle in the deal. Quinn refused to move the young defenseman, rightfully so. But what if the Flyers blinked, or what if Toronto just decided to pay the price?
Lindros would have put the Leafs in Cup contention
Adding a 28-year-old Lindros on that roster would have completely changed the Eastern Conference. The Maple Leafs already had Mats Sundin as their number one center. Putting Lindros right behind him on the second line would have given Toronto the most dominant one-two punch down the middle in the NHL. Opposing teams wouldn't have had the depth to handle two elite, giant centers on back-to-back shifts.
With a group that already had Gary Roberts, Alexander Mogilny, and Darcy Tucker, the Maple Leafs would have had a real window to win it all. Instead of losing in the Conference Finals to the Carolina Hurricanes in 2002. A healthy Lindros probably pushes them right into the Stanley Cup Finals, and no one truly knows how long they would have been considered Cup contenders for.
By the time Lindros actually signed with Toronto in 2005, injuries had caught up to him, and the team's window was closing. Which would have made that trade in 2001 would have changed franchise history, and it might have ended the long Stanley Cup drought that the Maple Leafs are still trying to break today.
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