Admit it, you saw this one coming.
In the 2009 offseason, Montreal general manager Bob Gainey struck a deal with the Tampa Bay Lightning. The Habs would send the 2010 1st round pick along with Carey Price, Max Pacioretty and PK Subban and in return they would get Vincent Lecavalier.
Done. Signed. Delivered.
Lecavalier had just completed an underwhelming season posting 29 goals, 38 assists for 67 points. A far cry from his 92 and 108 (with a Rocket Richard winning 52 goals) points from the last 2 seasons. After a decade in the league, it seemed that the big 6’4″ centerman was heading towards a regression.
That, however, didn’t stop Bob Gainey from emptying the cupboards in order to bring in a player often compared to Jean Beliveau, for whatever reason other than his physical appearance.
Carey Price had just finished his 2nd season in the league and was in a tandem battle with teammate Jaroslav Halak. Pacioretty had spent the season travelling between the AHL and NHL while PK Subban was wrapping up his final season in the OHL with the Belleville Bulls.
Today the city would be in an uproar for making such an offer, but at the time Price struggled in his first couple of seasons in the NHL, Pacioretty had no signs of being the goal scorer he is today and Subban hadn’t played a game of professional hockey yet.
Bottom line, it was an argument between the league and co-owners that ultimately led to the trade being cancelled.
The previous year, former NHLer Len Barrie and movie producer Oren Koules became co-owner of the Tampa Bay Lightning. It was reported that Barrie was the one who constructed the deal with Gainey in a backdoor deal. Thus undermining his partner Koules as well as general manager Brian Lawton.
Koules disagreed with the trade, not wanting to part with the face of the franchise, and was subsequently furious that Barrie would make a deal behind his back. Bob Gainey intervened with the league saying the deal was done and NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman ultimately stepped in and had a meeting with both Koules and Barrie.
Since the purchase of the team there had been a myriad of disagreements between the two at a point where Bettman gave them an ultimatum. Either Barrie buys out Koules and the deal goes through, or Koules buys out Barrie and the deal is cancelled, or we just forget about everything and start over.
It was agreed that a burrial of the hatchet was in order and thus the trade was canceled by the league. Later that year, the Lightning were sold to Jeffrey Vinik.