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The biggest argument I witnessed over the years came at our Maple Leafs draft table at Joe Louis Arena, the old home of the Detroit Red Wings, in 1987. Unfortunately for Leafs fans, this story doesn’t have a very happy ending.

There were 16 of us gathered around the Leafs table as we waited to make the seventh overall selection that year. The entourage included owner and team president Harold Ballard, general manager Gerry McNamara, head coach John Brophy, chief scout Floyd Smith and myself, the assistant GM. Our table was filled out by other members of the scouting, coaching and front-office staff.

The first six selections went as we forecasted: Pierre Turgeon to the Buffalo Sabres, Brendan Shanahan to the New Jersey Devils, Glen Wesley to the Boston Bruins, Wayne McBean to the Los Angeles Kings, Chris Joseph to the Pittsburgh Penguins and Dave Archibald to the Minnesota North Stars.

Our plan going in seemed聽to be falling into place as our consensus pick for the seventh position, Peterborough Petes defenceman Luke Richardson, was still available. A quick and easy first-round selection felt inevitable 鈥� until our chief scout caught everyone at the table off guard.

A smooth start quickly went off the rails when Smith made a strong case that a young centre named Joe Sakic from the Swift Current Broncos in Saskatchewan was far and away the best player available when we were on the clock.

Coach Brophy, known for his fiery temper, was apoplectic at Smith’s declaration.

Brophy wanted to add size and toughness after losing to the Wings in the second round of the Stanley Cup playoffs the prior season. Richardson, who was listed at six-foot-four and 212 pounds at the time, was his ideal defenceman. The coach also wanted no part in drafting another undersized centre when the Leafs already had Russ Courtnall, Dan Daoust, Eddie Olczyk and Tom Fergus 鈥� none of whom were known for their physical prowess. Besides, Brophy felt the pick had already been decided and that no further debate was warranted.

The conversation turned argument between Smith and Brophy聽鈥� who at the time weren’t on the best of terms anyway聽鈥� grew louder and even a bit mean-spirited. A defiant Smith was adamant that Sakic had major potential. I remember Brophy’s face turning beet red with anger. It seemed as if he was going to explode.

With neither guy willing to concede, we had to use our timeout to buy a few more minutes. In the end, Brophy knew he had a something in his favour: he was a favourite of Ballard, and that would carry some clout as the Leafs owner watched the escalating argument with interest.

When it was finally time to make the pick, McNamara made the decision and stuck with the original plan. Richardson became a Leaf.

“The man can shoot and play any way he wants to,” Brophy said after the draft. “I’ve only seen him play a couple of times, but I’ve heard a lot of good things about him. They say he can skate like Al Iafrate. If that’s so, then he’s got a good chance of making it.”

Richardson would play three seasons in 色色啦 before being traded to the Edmonton Oilers. He’d play for four more teams over a lengthy 21-season career, including a brief return to the Leafs as a rental at the 2005 trade deadline.

One might wonder why Smith waited until what seemed like the last second to make his passionate argument to take Sakic. Well, he had made his case in scouting meetings before the draft, but we had opted to focus on a defenceman, with Richardson ultimately becoming the consensus pick.

So Smith waited at the draft table, hoping that Richardson would have been picked by one of the six other teams ahead of us, which would have given him a stronger case for us to draft his guy.

Nothing against Richardson, but I’m sure everyone at the draft table wishes now that we would have listened to our top scout. You can add a handful of other teams to that list, as Sakic eventually went to the Quebec Nordiques, who took someone else with the No. 9 pick before selecting the future Hall of Famer 15th overall.

Sakic would go on to win two Stanley Cups, one Conn Smythe Trophy, a Hart, a Lady Byng and a Ted Lindsay. He spent his entire career with the Quebec Nordiques/Colorado Avalanche and was named one of the 100 greatest NHL players in 2017.

I always give Smith credit for sticking to his convictions and fighting the good fight. Unfortunately for Leafs fans that year, he didn’t win the argument.