Book: Oilers and Maple Leafs Nearly Swapped Cities During the 1980's

Hockey fans in Toronto have not seen their team hoist the Stanley Cup since the 1966-67 campaign, the year before expansion doubled the size of the league from six teams to 12.

It's one of the longest championship droughts in the NHL, and according to a new book about former Edmonton Oilers owner Peter Pocklington, it almost ended in the 1980's due to an incredible trade proposal that is so out-of-this-world it's almost hard to believe.

The Edmonton Oilers, plus $50 million in cold, hard cash, for the Toronto Maple Leafs. Straight up.

According to Pocklington, via the Canadian Press, former Maple Leafs owner Harold Ballard came up with the proposal and offered the swap because he was in financial trouble, only to back out a week later after solving his problem.

From the Canadian Press:

"Harold phoned me and said, 'Would you consider moving to Toronto with your team and I'll move to Edmonton with mine, and I'll need $50 million," Pocklington told The Canadian Press when reached Sunday at his Palm Desert, Calif., home. "So I thought about it and said, 'Yes Harold, I'll go for that."' The scheme called for the entire team to move to Toronto to play in Maple Leaf Gardens while the Leafs, in turn, would have found a home in Edmonton's new arena, which at that time was called the Coliseum. According to Pocklington, Ballard was in financial straights when he made the proposal in 1981. However, a short time later Ballard backed out of the deal.

Incredible. That's one way to end your championship drought, Toronto.

Pocklington, the man who traded Wayne Gretzky from Edmonton to Los Angeles -- and he said he'd do it again -- nearly one-upped himself and traded one of the greatest dynasties in league history. We're talking Gretzky, Mark Messier, Paul Coffey, Jari Kurri, Glenn Anderson and all the rest skating in Maple Leaf Gardens every night.

It opens the door for all sorts of hypothetical possibilities.

For example: if the swap had gone through, and the Oilers played in Toronto, the top hockey market in Canada, would the Gretzky trade have still happened following the 1988 season? And if not, how many more Stanley Cups would that team have won?

And if Gretzky never plays in Los Angeles, does the NHL ever expand to markets like Anaheim, San Jose and Phoenix on the west coast? All hypothetical questions -- and as it turns out, meaningless seeing as how the "trade" never happened -- but it's impossible not to speculate and wonder.