Phil Kessel: Anatomy Of A Leafs Trade

Matt Read is one of the many Flyers who could benefit from Phil Kessel joining he team.

Credit: Eric Hartline-USA TODAY Sports

Philadelphia’s Level Of Interest In Kessel: 3/5 Interested But Not Desperate

Cap Situation:

Philly has roughly 69.3M committed to next season cap. Leaving them with about 2M in cap space. This isn’t taking into account putting Chris Pronger and his 4.9M onto Long-Term Injured Reserve, giving them roughly 6M to improve their team.

Roster/Contract situation:

11 forwards signed. 9 Defenceman – including Chris Pronger. 1 Goalie.

The Flyers do have some big time contracts coming up next season in Jakub Voracek, Brayden Schenn, Sean Couturier and Micheal Raffl, but get some cap relief with Luke Schenn and Niklas Grossman coming off the books.

Assets the Leafs would want:

Highlighted by top prospects Travis Sanheim (Led all WHL D in scoring), Hulking Team Canada Dman Samuel Morin, the slippery smooth skating Dman Shayne Gostisbehere and warrior leader Scott Laughton.

Add in the young and extremely physical bottom pairing D Radko Gudas, Brayden Schenn who is still coming into his own as a power forward, the aforementioned defensive stalwart Sean Couturier and of course their 1st round pick in this year’s draft at 7th overall.

Proposed Flyers Trade:

Why it would work:

Although the Flyers had high-flying scorers like Giroux, Voracek and Simmonds, they often suffered from a lack of secondary scoring.

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Kessel gives them that in droves, and either benefits from playing with Giroux, or from secondary defenders as the No.1 pairing match-up against Giroux if he plays on the 2nd line. The biggest advantage the Flyers get is getting Vincent “I’m only a 4th line center” Lecavalier and his 4.5M for 3 more years off the books as well as Luke Schenn’s 3.6M for this season.

Philly is on Kessel’s apparent NTC approved list and the Leafs get potential 1st liner in Brayden Schenn and top prospect Travis Sanheim. They also add some veteran roster plugs to flip for prospects in Luke and Vincent. Finally, the real troph is the 7th overall pick which could end up being any of Dylan Strome, Ivan Provorov, Mikko Rantanen, Pavel Zacha, Lawson Crouse or Matthew Barzal.

Why it wouldn’t work:

Most of what the Flyers get in this trade is Phil Kessel, and while he is awesome offensively and will massively help with their secondary scoring issues, this trade is a overpayment for the Flyers. To get this deal going the Flyers would most like need to drop one of Brayden, Sanheim or the 7th OA pick from the deal and get another asset back from the Leafs like Jake Gardiner. This is a dream return on the Leafs half of the equation, but really the only basis for this trade is Kessel’s NTC approved list having Philly on it.

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