[sureLoss]

Lecavailer was almost traded 3 times this season:

http://www.nj.com/flyers/index.ssf/2...e_and_why.html

Lecavalier nearly was dealt to the Panthers just before the start of the 2014 NHL Draft in a June blockbuster that would have given the Flyers the top overall pick and sent forward Brayden Schenn and first-round draft picks in 2014 and 2015 to Florida.

According to sources, the proposed deal would have been completed if Panthers majority owner Vincent Viola hadn't called it off, presumably because he didn't want to part with the first-overall pick, which was used on defenseman Aaron Ekblad, who already is an NHL star as an 19-year-old rookie. (Another recent report by Rogers Sportsnet's Elliotte Friedman stated that it was the Flyers who called off the trade because Florida wanted draft-lottery protection on the Flyers' 2015 first-round pick.)

The next month, the Flyers and Predators discussed a trade involving Lecavalier before and after the Predators found out last July 7 that veteran center Mike Fisher would be lost for seven months due to a ruptured Achilles. The deal appeared to have been very close to being finalized before it broke down.

According to sources, Nashville chairman Tom Cigarran called off both trades.

The speculation is that Predators ownership opposed the deal because it still hadn't forgiven the Flyers for signing restricted free agent Shea Weber to a 14-year, $110-million offer sheet in July 2012. The pact was heavily frontloaded in a way that made it very difficult for Nashville, a small-market franchise, to match and thus retain Weber, a superstar defenseman, but it was within the rules of the NHL's collective bargaining agreement.

The Predators did ultimately match, but it appears that their ownership group never forgave the Flyers.

The proposed trade to Nashville that involved Lecavalier was allegedly a multi-player trade that would have provided the Flyers meaningful cap relief.

"Put it this way, if it was any team other than the Flyers, the deal probably has a better chance of getting done," a source said.

Nashville wound up adding another veteran center on July 15, signing Mike Ribeiro to a one-year, $1.05 million deal.

Vinny's agent also insinuating that Vinny would retire early if he were traded to another team in an attempt to get someone to trade for him.