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Report: Kessel is steering toward a Maple Leafs trade 09.18.09 at 10:16 am ET
By Joe Haggerty
Phil Kessel should be careful about wishing he was playing for Toronto

Phil Kessel should be careful about wishing he was playing for Toronto

The Toronto Maple Leafs are the first choice as a landing spot for B’s winger Phil Kessel, according to a TSN report by Bob McKenzie, and could aggressively come at the Bruins with an offer sheet by this weekend if an agreeable trade isn’t completed. The report underscores genuine interest in Kessel on the part of the Nashville Predators and a desire for the B’s to ship the 21-year-old scorer off to the Western Conference if all things were equal, but the young sniper is reportedly steering a deal exclusively toward Toronto.

The reports paint a picture of Kessel in a cat-bird position of being able to refuse any other contract offers from other teams so long as the Maple Leafs are interested in his sniping services, and estimates that the B’s restricted free agent is in line to cash in on an offer sheet from the Maple Leafs in the neighborhood of five or six years at an annual cap hit of $5.5 million. That’s a healthy step up from the previous estimates that the young forward was looking for a pact of  roughly $4.5 million per season, but speaks to just how badly Toronto needs some offensive punch.

The Boston Globetossed out a potential three-way deal between the Rangers, Bruins and Leafs that would net the B’s draft picks and equally unsigned RFA Brandon Dubinsky, but not sure that’s anything more than some creative spit-balling. It would involve a lot of moving parts to get three teams moving onto the same page this close to the regular season.

A Leafs/Bruins trade has been centered largely upon draft picks during multiple conversations between Toronto GM Brian Burke and Bruins general manager Peter Chiarelli, but the talks have also also included several young, cost-effective players possibly being sent Boston’s way during a potential deal.

Former UVM skater Viktor Stalberg is one intriguing forward prospect that caught the eye of more than one Bruins player during Wednesday night’s preseason game at the Air Canada Centre. It wouldn’t be shocking to see the former Catamounts forward included in part of a package that already includes multiple draft picks in excess of the offer sheet compensation required to potential sign Kessel (a first round pick, a second round pick and a third round pick).

By all accounts Kessel and agent Wade Arnott are now steering the USS Kessel straight toward Toronto and seem to be locking in on Boston’s Northeast Division rival while holding the requisite leverage that they could simply sign an offer sheet with Toronto should Chiarelli trade him anywhere else. That threat takes on added significance with so many teams so close to finalizing their salary cup numbers and finishing player payroll budgets just shy of the Oct. 1 season-opening deadline to get under the $56.8 million cap.

One cavaet that the Kessel camp should consider carefully before pushing so strongly for a long and prosperous deal with the Maple Leafs: Kessel is significantly Garbo-esque when it comes to dealing with the pressure and expectations from a good-sized media market like Boston, and playing under the the raised pressure and super-sized scrutiny synonymous with the Maple Leafs jersey would be taking it to a much higher level.

The 21-year-old sniper will be paid like a sniping savior for the huddled and weary masses of Leafs Nation, and he isn’t yet equipped with the tools to deal with those kinds of lofty expectations. It could get ugly if Kessel underwhelms while coming back from a shoulder injury, or if his sometimes softer-side-of-Sears approach clashes with the dynamically stern duo of Ron Wilson and Brian Burke. By all accounts Kessel seems hell-bent on a final destination of Toronto, but this could be a classic case of “be careful what you ask for” when the young skater finally gets it.

Interesting comments from B’s coach Claude Julien speaking during the first days of camp about the work put in over the summer by Blake Wheeler. The second-year player put in a great deal of work in the weight room gaining 15 pounds of muscle, and appears on the verge of some very good things working toward a potential spot on the top line with Marc Savard and Milan Lucic.

Julien began the answer addressing Wheeler’s impressive work, but also seemed to provide some pretty interesting comments about where the disconnect might have been with a rare scoring talent like Phil Kessel. The 21-year-old winger made the Bruins team during his first year of pro hockey in 2006-07 under the structurally-challenged regime of Dave Lewis, and developed some bad habits amid an undesirable, losing atmosphere at a crucial point in the young hockey player’s development.  

“The one thing that really played in Blake’s favor was that he had the opportunity to play on a team with a successful regular season,” said Julien.  ”When you win games — and see what it takes to play on a successful team that wins games on a night-in, night out basis — then you’re learning properly.

“Not everybody has the opportunity to be put into those [winning] situations, and you can play a lot — but you’re playing for a team that’s struggling at the bottom of the standings. It doesn’t mean that you’re growing in the right environment. [Blake] was able to [learn properly], and I think that’s an advantage he had over other players.” 

Hmmm. I wonder who the “other player” is?

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  • Josh

    Bitter are we? So…Kessel shouldn’t go to Toronto because he will be expected to earn his paycheck or because Wilson and Burke will hold him accountable? Yeah, maybe he should just scratch the whole idea and play for Boston for free. I’m pretty sure he knows what to expect with Wilson and Burke…in fact they seem to be two of his primary reasons for looking at the Maple Leafs. He has been associated with them both through Team USA, and seems to like them. So he knows what he’s getting into. I think the real fear here, is the knowledge that Kessel will excel under Wilson. “Don’t go Phil, they’ll make you score goals and stuff…you won’t like it there…the fans enjoy winning and yucky things like that…it will be terrible in Toronto…”

  • Josh

    I find it interesting that everyone condemns the Toronto fans and media for their demands on players. You all seem to think it’s outrageous for us to expect a player to earn his millions of dollars, whereas the “smarter choice”, according to rest of the hockey world, is to play in a market where you can get paid without performing. That doesn’t fly in Toronto, and shouldn’t be accepted anywhere else. But if you love mediocrity so much, then enjoy! If a player IS performing, there is no better place to be than Toronto! And the good players seem to agree…like KESSEL.

  • http://bigbadblog.weei.com Joe Haggerty

    Common misconception, Josh…We in the media don’t care whether a player stays or goes. There’s nothing to be bitter about. This has got to do with putting a player in the best position to succeed, and Kessel’s introverted nature really isn’t a good fit for the scrutiny he’ll receive in Toronto — or New York for that matter.

    Of course there’s no better place to be than Toronto when things are going good. That’s obvious. But how often has that been as of late. The problem is when things aren’t going well and you’re a player eating up a huge cap number. That’s when things can get ugly, and there are a lot of questions in a lot of minds as to whether Kessel can handle that kind of pressure.

    He was always second or third banana in Boston, and was never “The Guy”. He never had the weight of the whole team on his shoulders, or was one of the highest paid guys on the roster. Nobody, including him, knows how he’ll respond to the Toronto pressure cooker. Should be interesting.

    –Haggs

  • Dan

    Typical Bruins on the verge of making typical Bruins mistake.

    Speed is the name of the game in the new NHL so is scoring. What this means to the Bruins? Trade a 21 year old on the verge of being a 40-45 a year goal scorer and your fastest skater on the team.

    Phil Kessel is freaking 21 YEARS OLD. He has beaten testicular cancer, Mono, & a torn rotator cuff and torn labrum in his shoulder and he still managed to be on a 55 goal pace last season until his mono bout sidelined him.

    They say Phil has some maturity issues, WHO DOESNT AT 21?

    If he goes to the Maple Leafs a division rival this will make the Bruins look all the worse.

  • Roland

    Nobody said hockey people were smart, and in the Bruins case that has been true for what …37 years!!!! Like I have said before, I liked Cam Neely as a player, but as a hockey man and adviser to Mr. C in Boston…forget it.
    Julien is a big jackass! He clearly doesn’t like Kessel and never has.
    Nice job trying to figure out what Carolina was doing to you last Spring!!!!!
    Lucic and Wheeler will NEVER have the ability that Kessel has…..
    Huge freakin mistake to sign Bergeron, Sturm , Thomas, and others to multi million dollar deals and scorn Kessel for being a very talented 21 year old KID! Does anyone remember what it is like to be 21!!!!
    Amazing!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

  • rob

    What does it tell you that Brian Burke a Cup winner as a GM and one of the best in this buisness COVETED Kessel so much and said so publically, who is more inclined to make the better move Chiarelli? Or Burke? No contest!

    This move will haunt the Bruins for the next decade…

    The more things change the more they stay the same for the Bruins.

    Incompetence still reigns supreme on Causeway Street

  • Miranda

    I’m not happy about receiving draft picks instead of live bodies we can use now. I just hope someone picks it up in the scoring department.

    Josh: I think you’re seeing a perceived slight at Toronto. Sorry you’ve interpreted the report so negatively. I believe it is a compliment that your club receives the media scrutiny and pressure to win that the Bruins could only dream of in Boston. If the B’s progress, they could become the darlings here. But the expectations have been so low over the past years that Kessel was never held accountable for any losses here as he would likely be in Toronto.

  • Hockey Joe

    To everyone who wanted to break the bank to sign Kessel, who dont the bruins sign next season (Savard, Lucic, Wheeler) or the year after (Chara, Sturm, Bergeron). Since everyone can do a better job than Chiarelli. I want to hear everyones plan

  • Miranda

    Hockey Joe – I know what you’re saying, but we may never have been put in that position if it weren’t for exorbitant contracts like Thomas and Ryder. The B’s have a tendency to overvalue certain players. When we needed offense, we went and signed Ryder to big $$ when we already had a developing Kessel. And who produced more last season? Don’t even get me started with Thomas when we’ll have to find a way to pay Rask! Both Kessel and Rask are young – Thomas and Ryder, not so much. Overvalued and overpaid in my opinion.

  • Hockey Joe

    Miranda,

    Teams can either go with age and experience or they can go with youth. Michael Ryder is only 29 years old and it was a 3 yr deal. Its not like the bruins went out and broke the bank on Michael Ryder. I can guarantee that if we signed Kessel to that deal that Toronto reportedly has, (5 yrs, $27 mil) and we didnt have the cap space to go out and re-sign Savvy and Lucic, the Bruins fan base would go absolutely ape-#^%*. Phil Kessel is now making more annually than Marc Savard, if you had one year to win a stanley cup and needed to build a team, who is a better starting piece? Kessel will never LEAD a team to a cup, he may be a piece; but will never lead a team; he just doesnt have it in him. Chiarelli showed good discipline in not giving into temptation and mortgaging the future for him. The Bruins have so many options now, they can trade those future picks for someone at the deadline. They can use those picks to re-stock the farm

    On Thomas: Is this guy not the most un-appreciated player in the history of boston sports? Thomas wins a vezina trophy for this team and gets absolutely no respect from anybody. All people want to point to is his age. While Timmy is getting up there in tears, take a look at the miles he has on his body in the NHL. He really does not have that much wear and tear on his body and I have to believe that if Chiarelli and crew didnt think he could play out that contract, they would not have offered it. All Bruins fans did is bitch that it has been sooooo long since we’ve had a true rock solid goaltender, and now that we have one; all people want to do is bitch that we paid him too much. At the very worst, Thomas gives you two more Vezina quality seasons.

    Has any stopped to think that maybe we overvalued Kessel like we supposedly overvalue everyone else?

  • http://weei.com christopher mehegan

    hello,haggs okay i get the bruins trade kessel to toronto for two first round picks and a second rounder now how come toronto couldn’t throw in a current player from their roster now that they have traded kessel to toronto what does that leave them as far as cap space money left and can they use the draft picks for a later trade down the line later what do you think hockey joe.

  • Hockey Joe

    Many things can be done with those draft picks. Most likely, the front office is not going to want to deal with paying 4 draft picks so some of them will probably be traded. The Bruins now have bargaining chips for the deadline. Lets say a big name blue-liner hits the trading block near the deadline (throwing a name out there: Kim Johnsson from Minn OR Pavel Kubina) or maybe they go after a sniper (ILYA KOVALCHUK. Atlanta sending us either or for one of those picks wouldnt be a horrible trade. Kovalchuk is a rent a player that, if put on a line with Savard and Looch, would be absolutely devastating in the playoffs. I dont see the bruins holding on to all the draft picks.

  • http://weei.com christopher mehegan

    hello,hockey joe i agree with what you say the front office will not want to deal with paying huge money for four draft picks at least they have the barganing chips in case a ilya kovalchuck hits the trading block at least we have the chips in place for a huge trade lateron in the season when it comes crunch time in the playoffs do you think the bruins will finally win the cup this year with a healthy marco sturm in the lineup.what do you think hockey joe you do a very good job with your hockey inputs keep up the good work.

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