Funny, he's one of my favorite players all time but wasn't as "perfect" as people remember. I respect him because of how much growth he showed over his career and how much he showed up when it counted.
Lecavalier had entitlement issues when he was younger, incredibly hot heated (guy took a ton of unnecessary penalties because he was easily baited) and sucked defensively, actually he sucked defensively for the majority of his career I think the only season he was actually respectable in that regard was final year here.
He was a high pick (the high pick) had a x factor about his game which kept people in awe and waiting until he could put it all together (let me know if this sounds familiar). I guarantee you if social media and internet boards were as prominent back then the 18-21 year old Lecavalier would've been ripped to shreds and if Steve Yzerman were the GM at that time he wouldn't have hesitated to trade him.
Instead he was given a chance to grow out of his immaturity and he did, his offense came together, his defense got better, he matured as a person, became respected around the league and the cornerstone of the franchise. Sad we couldn't show the same patience with Drouin even though they clearly made progress last season.
