The Leafs offered him $1,000,000. Dallas offered him $1,550,000 plus incentives. So he went where the money was. I know that, unless I was in some severe financial crisis, I would take the pay cut to play for the team I had always wanted to play for. Heck, Lindros' one season with the Leafs was pretty poor, I would have thought he would want to return and try to erase that memory and have a great year.
Dallas is on the downward slide too. This signing is supposed to fill the hole that the departure of Jason Arnott made. And Lindros, unless he shows us something he didnt do in Toronto, cannot fill that hole. Dallas is going to finish around 6th-8th in the division, I think.