We almost saw one of the wildest trades in NHL history at the 2019 Draft

Following that, we all left the Hotel conference room and made our way to the arena to watch the first round unfold. I severely underestimated how excited I would be watching each management team come up to make their pick, and then scanning each team's table down below to see their reaction. When the Red Wings went off board and picked Moritz Seider, for example, there was audible gasps and even a bit of jeering going on (Who's laughing now?).

Little to anyone's knowledge, behind the scenes one manager was trying to make a trade that would've drastically changed the NHL as we know it today. The deal involved two of the NHL's elite forwards.

According to Jeff Marek, Tampa Bay Lightning GM Julien BriseBois was taking calls trying to trade Nikita Kucherov. The return that he was after in exchange? Leon Draisaitl. Straight up, one for one.

Note from the Jeff Marek show today. He's said numerous times that at the 2019 entry draft in Vancouver Tampa was looking to trade Kucherov. Today was the first time I've heard what the rumored return would have been, Leon Draisaitl. #NHL #GoBolts #LetsGoOilers— NHL Trade Alert (@NHLTradeAlert) June 13, 2022

When was the last time you saw a trade that swapped superstars of that caliber? In the NHL, teams typically don't win by trading their superstars, at least right away. Those deals typically only happen when a player is unhappy with the team's direction or is nearing the end of a contract and is likely to re-sign and it's almost never a good sign.

In 2019 however, something completely unrelated to hockey caught the attention of the sports world and made executives everywhere take notice. The previous summer, the Toronto Raptors upset their entire fan base by trading fan favourite DeMar DeRozan for Kawhi Leonard. It was the biggest story in sports. Twice. First when the trade happened, and next when the Raptors actually won the NBA championship, making President Masai Ujiri an icon. Fans of all sports (especially Leafs fans) started to speculate about what trading their favourite player to build a championship team would look like. Kyle Dubas is friends with Masai, and has said he's loved picking his brain about that championship win.

We can only guess that Julien BriseBois took notice as well, but is thanking his lucky stars that this deal never happened, as his team is fighting for their third straight cup with Game 1 tonight. Would the Bolts have won their Cups in 2020 and 2021 with Leon Draisaitl in place of Nikita Kucherov? Possibly, but we'll never know the answer to that question. Still, it's fun to ponder, isn't it?