TORONTO – A day after a trade that would send Eric Lindros to the Maple Leafs was expected to be completed, reports out of Toronto indicate it has hit a snag.
Several reports say the deal will involve either young defensemen
Danny Markov or Tomas Kaberle and center Nik Antropov, plus a
first- or second-round draft choice.
According to Tuesday's Toronto Sun, the Leafs are seeking a deal in which they receive draft picks if Lindros does not play a specific number of games. The Leafs also would rather send Markov to Philadelphia, instead of Kaberle.
Markov told reporters Monday night he is still recovering from a back injury and is at least a week or two away from returning. The Flyers already have stated they want to review players' medical records before agreeing to a trade.
Flyers GM Bob Clarke, in reiterating his team's stance, told reporters on Tuesday that a deal won't be done unless "the Leafs can help us now."
Antropov was a healthy scratch Monday night for the Leafs' game against New Jersey, which they lost 2-0. Toronto coach and GM Pat Quinn denied Antropov was held out because of a possible trade, which he says is bothering his team.
"This has been hanging around, and it needs to be cleared up," Quinn said. "I wish this never started, quite frankly. It started last summer. Certainly, in the last couple of months it's gone way beyond anything that is normal in this business."
Quinn wouldn't give a timetable on when a trade could be completed.
"It's a process that needs to work its way through, and I know there is a price being paid," he said.
Toronto's board of directors met Monday night, but president Ken Dryden said an announcement was not imminent.
Leafs owner Steve Stavro also wants the Lindros saga resolved.
"It's interfering with the whole operation," he was quoted as
saying by the Toronto Star. "So, one way or the other, it has got
to be resolved because it is hurting everything."
Lindros, 28, became a restricted free agent last summer when he
rejected an $8.5 million qualifying offer from Philadelphia.
According to Star sources, there must be an agreement from the Leafs' board of governors to make the move because it is expected the financial commitment to Lindros from Toronto could be in the neighborhood of $45 million U.S. over five years.
Maple Leafs players say they just want the Lindros situation to be settled one way or another.
"In my six years here, this is the biggest distraction," said
defenseman Dmitri Yushkevich. "It's very difficult to handle
the situation. We just wish something would happen so we can just
play the game and do our stuff and make the playoffs."
As the rumors have intensified, the Leafs have fallen from first
place in the NHL's Eastern Conference to seventh.
"The guys are professionals but it's in the back of everybody's
mind," defenseman Dave Manson said.
Captain Mats Sundin, goaltender Curtis Joseph, and forward
Sergei Berezin, another player whose name has repeatedly surfaced
in trade rumors, all avoided a
repetition of questions about Lindros.
"It's like a circus," Yushkevich said. "It's distracting the
players. We are like a toy everybody is pulling back and forth."
Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.
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AUDIO VIDEO
 Tim Panaccio of the Philadelphia Inquirer on the crumbling of the Eric Lindros trade.
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The Philadelphia Inquirer's Tim Panaccio says the Flyers may use Eric Lindros' Olympic dreams as leverage.
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