Toronto Maple Leafs Should Not Trade Phil Kessel

The Toronto Maple Leafs have begun tearing down the franchise and acquiring future assets.  Should those players traded away include Phil Kessel?

Phil Kessel has been the most productive of Toronto Maple Leafs players since his arrival to start the 2009-10 season.  At nearly a point-per-game pace Kessel has provided Toronto with exactly the offensive punch expected when he was acquired for three picks, including two first rounders.  What has not followed Kessel’s production is playoff success.  The Maple Leafs have only one playoff appearance since Phil Kessel arrived and that was a first round exit in the strike-shortened season of 2012-13.

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Maybe that’s the trick for the Maple Leafs.  Multiple times since Kessel arrived the start of the season has gone far better than the end of it.  Since Brendan Shanahan isn’t going to be successful getting the number of game played cut to 48, the rebuild will happen the old-fashioned way.  And it started this past weekend with the Cody Franson/Mike Santorelli trade to the Nashville Predators.  The first round pick was the most important piece acquired in that deal.  Now the speculation included Tyler Bozak, Dion Phaneuf and, of course, Phil Kessel.

Kessel himself gave the rabid Toronto media all the fuel they needed to fan the trade flames.  When asked by Mark Masters of TSN about his future, Kessel response was captured in the following tweet:

Add to that this report that Kessel and Dion Phaneuf are no longer in the teams plans and could be moved ahead of the March 2nd trade deadline and it’s no wonder trade rumors surround nearly everyone in a Maple Leafs sweater.

That should NOT include Phil Kessel.

What is it with the thirst to trade highly productive players over the last few years? Tyler Seguin was traded by the Boston Bruins, as was Kessel. Evander Kane was just shuffled off to Buffalo. In each instance the player was very young and came with the perception of baggage, whatever that means. I’m not in the locker room so I can’t begin to guess at what goes on in there and how the dynamic between players reaches a breaking point. But if the best thing the Toronto media and fans can come up with about Kessel is the video below from cbssports.com, that’s not enough to overshadow his on-ice production.

Professional athletes at the highest levels want to win at the highest levels. Combine that with the pressure of playing in the biggest hockey market in all the world and that’s enough to make the most patient person edgy. Is that really enough to move Phil Kessel, one of the leagues most consistent and gifted goal scorers?

Maybe that’s the reason for all the rumors. At 27 years old Kessel is in his prime with several highly productive years left. Should the Maple Leafs decide to move on from him the return would be rightfully large. A roster player, a top-end prospect and another first round pick could get the job done. The challenge will be finding a team that can accept that $8 million dollar cap hit until 2022, according to spotrac.com. The falling Canadian dollar is worth noting here as well as a reason in moving on from Kessel.

But that would be a mistake. In a league where scoring goals is increasingly difficult, the Maple Leafs have a player that can get that done with regularity. The rebuilding of the team can take place through other decisions. Joffrey Lupul and his frequent injuries could be addressed as could the albatross that is David Clarkson and his contract. Calls continue to come in on Dion Phaneuf. Bottom line is the Toronto Maple Leafs are going to attempt to make a number of trades over the next two weeks. Unless you can get a top six forward, a good-if-not-great prospect and a first round pick back for Phil Kessel, you cannot trade him. Settling on a deal to move Kessel just for the sake of may breathe life into the rest of Kessel’s prime years but it will further set back the Toronto Maple Leafs.

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