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Post by cityofchamps on Jul 1, 2015 21:53:17 GMT -5
I know this is a little late since this happened like 7 hours ago, but I am only able to talk about it now since I was on my way to work when the news broke.
The Toronto Maple Leafs and Pittsburgh Penguins have agreed to a trade that would send Leafs Forward Phil Kessel, Forward Tyler Biggs, Tim Erixon, and a 2016 2nd Round Pick to the Pittsburgh Penguins for Defensemen Scott Harrington, Forward Kaspari Kapannen, Center Nick Spaling, a 2016 1st Round Pick, and a 2016 3rd Round Pick.
The Maple Leafs will also cover 15% of Kessel's salary so the Penguins only have to pay a $6.8 Million a year cap hit and have him under contract through the 2021-2022 season. Also, there are conditions for the picks. If the Penguins do not make the playoffs this year, all picks transfer to the 2017 NHL Draft
This was an absolute steal by the Penguins. Kessel is an elite offensive forward in the NHL and even still has never fulfilled his potential (easily a 40-goal scorer) since he has played with marginal Centers throughout his career. I am even more amazed that the Penguins didn't have to give up either of their prized Defensemen in Olli Maatta or Derrick Pouliot.
Here is the Penguins Top 3 lines as of right now.
1. LW David Perron C Sidney Crosby RW Phil Kessel 2. LW Beau Bennett C Evgeni Malkin RW Henrik Lundqvist 3. LW Chris Kunitz C Brandon Sutter RW Pascal Dupuis
That is a monster lineup (we still have to round out the 4th line, but it really doesn't matter). This is the first time Crosby has played with an elite forward since Marian Hossa.
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Post by Jindred on Jul 1, 2015 21:57:28 GMT -5
Kessel needed to go. He wasn't a fit on the Leafs. But he is a definite fit on the Pens. If they play him with Crosby I say he scores 60 goals this upcoming season. Dude has a knack for putting the puck in the net. Just know he is gonna leave your defense hanging often.
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Post by cityofchamps on Jul 1, 2015 22:08:06 GMT -5
Kessel needed to go. He wasn't a fit on the Leafs. But he is a definite fit on the Pens. If they play him with Crosby I say he scores 60 goals this upcoming season. Dude has a knack for putting the puck in the net. Just know he is gonna leave your defense hanging often. That is what I have heard, but we need goal scoring help, particularly on our Power Play (which was god-awful last season). A Top 6 forward was what we needed and Kessel is elite.
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Post by Jindred on Jul 1, 2015 22:19:28 GMT -5
Kessel needed to go. He wasn't a fit on the Leafs. But he is a definite fit on the Pens. If they play him with Crosby I say he scores 60 goals this upcoming season. Dude has a knack for putting the puck in the net. Just know he is gonna leave your defense hanging often. That is what I have heard, but we need goal scoring help, particularly on our Power Play (which was god-awful last season). A Top 6 forward was what we needed and Kessel is elite. Kessel is an great scorer, nothing else. I wouldn't call him an elite forward because his game is so one dimensional. He also tends to be lazy, which takes away from his game, he reminds me of a Jay Cutler attitude, he has all the skill in the world, but when he's in a bad mood, or when he isn't feeling it he can really suck. He also tends to disappear when defenses play physical with him, or they really focus on him. Again pairing him with Crosby or Even Malkin will really make him better because teams HAVE to focus on them, they can't afford to give too much attention to a guy like Kessel when you have Crosby coming down the ice at you. He will be good for the Pens as I agree its what they need. But I am happy he is no longer a Leaf. He isn't good enough to be a teams #1 guy. I do wish the Leafs would have got some better prospects out of this trade, but I will take the 1st round pick. Almost got back what we traded for him in the first place! Now we need Phaneuf and Kadri gone and this will have been a great off-season!
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Post by cityofchamps on Jul 1, 2015 22:30:54 GMT -5
That is what I have heard, but we need goal scoring help, particularly on our Power Play (which was god-awful last season). A Top 6 forward was what we needed and Kessel is elite. Kessel is an great scorer, nothing else. I wouldn't call him an elite forward because his game is so one dimensional. He also tends to be lazy, which takes away from his game, he reminds me of a Jay Cutler attitude, he has all the skill in the world, but when he's in a bad mood, or when he isn't feeling it he can really suck. He also tends to disappear when defenses play physical with him, or they really focus on him. Again pairing him with Crosby or Even Malkin will really make him better because teams HAVE to focus on them, they can't afford to give too much attention to a guy like Kessel when you have Crosby coming down the ice at you. He will be good for the Pens as I agree its what they need. But I am happy he is no longer a Leaf. He isn't good enough to be a teams #1 guy. I do wish the Leafs would have got some better prospects out of this trade, but I will take the 1st round pick. Almost got back what we traded for him in the first place! Now we need Phaneuf and Kadri gone and this will have been a great off-season! I am VERY surprised we didn't give up Olli Maatta or Derrick Pouliot. I would have been okay with Pouliot going...not so with Maatta. I really am mixed about the 1st Rounder next year, considering the amount of talk that there has been with trying to build our farm system back up and trading away too many picks that haven't produced a cup yet. We need goal scoring. It might have been easy to see Kessel as lazy if the Leaf's Defense in general was so poor. I know how big Hockey is in Toronto, and Kessel was pretty much the only elite guy you had on that team. I am willing to keep my mind open about him and see if the lazy attitude reputation was only because too much pressure was being put on him
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