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Phil Kessel Is the Gift that Keeps on Giving

By James Tanner |
Apr 4, 2017; Toronto, Ontario, CAN; Toronto Maple Leafs forward Auston Matthews (34) skates against the Washington Capitals at the Air Canada Centre. Washington defeated Toronto 4-1. Mandatory Credit: John E. Sokolowski-USA TODAY Sports
Apr 4, 2017; Toronto, Ontario, CAN; Toronto Maple Leafs forward Auston Matthews (34) skates against the Washington Capitals at the Air Canada Centre. Washington defeated Toronto 4-1. Mandatory Credit: John E. Sokolowski-USA TODAY Sports

The Toronto Maple Leafs can’t seem to stop getting paid off by the Phil Kessel Trade.

The Toronto Maples Leafs traded for Phil Kessel on September 18th, 2009. Kessel was recovering from a shoulder injury and didn’t play for the first ten or so games of that season.

I remember telling people at the time “this is the greatest trade the Leafs ever made”  and in a way, I was right.  Just not in the way I thought.

Despite the fact that Kessel became one of the best players in Toronto Maple Leafs history, the trade was, at first, a disaster.

I don’t need to count all the ways, but basically the problem was the Leafs sucked. Boston ended up getting Dougie Hamilton (one day he’ll win a Norris) and Tyler Seguin (one day he’ll win an Art Ross) two players that will go down with Robert Luongo and Scott Niedermeyer as draft picks we shouldn’t have traded.

To top that, the Leafs were garbage, Kessel was great, but all alone.  Then they signed him for seven years and discovered basically the next day how stupid that was.  The Leafs were screwed.

Toronto Maple Leafs Trade Kessel

Not only did the Leafs pay an insanely high price to get Kessel, the trade they made to get rid of him was uninspiring to say the least.

Phil Kessel, Tim Erixon, a previously acquired 2nd, and Tyler Biggs to the Penguins for Kasperi Kapanen, Scott Harrington, Nick Spaling, a 1st and a 3rd.

At the time, the best you could say about it was that it got the Leafs out of salary cap trouble and gave them a few decent prospects (if you counted the picks).

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The thing was though, the Leafs had just signed him to a huge contract extension, so not only is that a red flag, but there were only a few teams that could take the contract.

Given the position of weakness they were trading from, it’s a miracle they got what they did.

What They Have Now

  • Leafs got a 2018 2nd round pick for Spaling.
  • The Leafs turned Scott Harrington into Kerby Rychel – a former 1st rounder who just put up almost 20 goals and 50 points in the AHL.
  • They got Kasperi Kapanen who scored two big goals recently!
  • The Leafs turned the 1st into Freddie Andersen
  • They drafted J.D Greenway, a massive defenseman playing college hockey currently.

So, what started as a somewhat underwhelming return for a franchise player, the Toronto Maple Leafs ended up with an A-level prospect who recently scored the winning goal in the biggest game the team’s played in a decade or more; their starting goalie; a draft pick, a prospect, and a former first round pick.

Oh, and trading Phil Kessel made them so crappy that they finished 30th and drafted Auston Matthews. Matthews being about the only guy who could make you forget about Seguin or Hamilton.

In the end, we loved the Kessel trade, then we regretted it, then we hated it, then we were happy just to move on……now we love it again.  It is literally the gift that keeps on giving.

This Easter, get yourself a hot-dog.

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