Want to know how to get an argument going between any two people in the Greater Toronto Area? That’s easy, all you have to do is bring up one person.
Phil Kessel.
The name itself brings up many thoughts; the man can be best described as an enigma. He is a lightning rod for criticism. If you’re going to have a conversation about the Toronto Maple Leafs, you’re going to have a conversation about Phil Kessel.
Recently, there’s been a lot of reports that Phil Kessel’s time as a Leaf is coming to an end, and most of these rumours have been pointing to this Friday’s draft in Sunrise being the day that the Kessel Era comes to a conclusion in Toronto.
Kessel has given the Leafs’ front office his list of 8 teams that he would his waive his no-movement clause for, but some think that Kessel only chose those 8 teams because it would difficult for them to acquire Kessel, due to being pushed up against the salary cap or being a divisional rival with Toronto.
Phil Kessel has essentially been the face of the Leafs Franchise once he donned a blue and white jersey for the first time. That’s not exactly something to be proud of, since the Leafs have missed the playoffs in 5 of Kessel’s 6 seasons in Toronto, and we all know what happened when Toronto actually did make it in 2013. Ever since he landed in TO way back in 2009, he has faced endless scrutiny from the mainstream media, and it all began with the trade that brought him here:
Brian Burke came to Toronto knowing the expectations of the “Hockey Vatican” were on his shoulders, and full well realized that he needed to make a big splash in order to keep his impatient fans appeased. At the time, Toronto had missed the postseason 4 years in a row. Now Toronto’s missed it 9 out of 10 seasons, but us Leaf fans are still going to hold on to that 1st-round playoff exit as long as we can!
Anyway, Burke knew he had to make a splash. He also knew that there was a high-scoring, disgruntled winger that didn’t want to play in Boston for the money the Bruins were willing to give him. Burke called then-Bruins GM, Peter Chiarelli, and the two managed to come to an agreement. Toronto would acquire Phil Kessel from the Boston Bruins, in exchange for three, count ‘em, THREE draft picks. That included a 1st and 2nd round pick in 2010 AND another 1st in 2011. Almost instantly the trade was panned by hockey analysts, claiming the price the Leafs had paid for Kessel was so high, not even Hockey Forum Boards believed a deal like that would happen. This is saying something, because trust me, people on HFBoards throw out some really freaking stupid ideas.
Then the 2010 season happened, and the deal looked even worse in hindsight as the Leafs finished 2nd last in the NHL, meaning Boston would have the 2nd overall pick in the upcoming NHL draft. This guaranteed the Bruins one of Taylor Hall, or Tyler Seguin, the two prospects who scouts had unanimously pinned as future NHL superstars. Boston would wind up with Seguin, Leaf Fans everywhere shook their head, and the Toronto media once again had a field day doing what they do best, dumping all over the Maple Leafs.
A year later, Seguin would be hoisting the Stanley Cup over his head when the Bruins upset the Vancouver Canucks in the Stanley Cup Final. Again Leaf Fans watched in disappointment, as what should’ve been their franchise’s future, was off winning with the rival Bruins while they were left with this guy.
Canucks fans, in an act of sympathy, felt so bad for us they destroyed their own city. (Just kidding. ‘Nucks fans are just bat-s**t crazy, and nobody in Canada would ever have any sympathy for the city of Toronto.)
The Kessel trade looked like an unmitigated disaster, so much so that NESN went on to pin it as “The Greatest Trade in Boston Sports History”. I know Leaf fans today who still dislike Kessel because of this trade, something which he really couldn’t control.
This always infuriates me, because if you actually think about it, you can make a very strong case the Leafs won this trade.
Phil Kessel – 181 G 213 A 394 P GP 446 PPG 0.88 (playoffs) 4 G 2 A 6 P 7 GP
(Time as a Bruin)
Tyler Seguin – 56 G 65 A 121 P 203 GP 0.60 PPG (playoffs) 6 G 12 A 18 P 42 GP
Dougie Hamilton – 22 G 61 A 83 P 178 GP 0.47 PPG (playoffs) 2 G 8 A 10 P 19 GP
Jared Knight – 0 G 0 A 0 P (BUST)
Regular Season Total: 78 G, 126 A, 204 P, 381 GP, 0.54 PPG
Total Scoring Numbers (Including Playoff Games)
Phil Kessel – 185 G 215 A 400 P 453 GP 0.88 PPG
Boston’s 3 Picks – 86 G 146 A 232 P 418 GP 0.56 PPG
So when you compare the initial trade that took place on September 18th, 2009, the Leafs have certainly got more offensive output than the Bruins have. Since the trade, Kessel has played 65 more games than the three players the Bruins drafted have played with Boston combined, and has also scored 190 more points than those three.
Despite this, some may cite “Yeah, but the Bruins won the Cup two years later.”
What’s your point? You think Tyler Seguin was the guy that put that team over the top? The guy was a healthy scratch for parts of the season and only played in half of the team’s playoff games. I’m confident Kessel would’ve been huge for the Bruins during that Cup run, and some of those 7 game series would’ve ended much quicker.
Now obviously there are still a couple of decent counters to this argument. The Bruins had to draft and develop these players, while the Leafs got Kessel just before he turned 22 and he was about to enter his prime. Of course he’s going to put up better numbers than 2 (we can pretty much ignore Jared Knight at this point) guys who just came out of junior hockey, one of which is a defenceman, who’s statistical output isn’t comparable in some sense, to that of a forward.
Also, the numbers I compiled only take into account Seguin’s seasons as a Bruin, and not his totals as a Dallas Star. I think this is completely fair since this trade happened between the Toronto Maple Leafs and the Boston Bruins, and I’m only going to take into account what those players have done to benefit those respective franchises.
If you’re reading this, you already know Seguin got shipped out to Dallas in 2013 after the Bruins had grown weary of his immaturity off the ice, which he demonstrated to the world by his reaction to the trade on twitter.
The 2013 trade became Tyler Seguin, Rich Peverley and Ryan Button to Dallas for Loui Eriksson, Reilly Smith, Matt Fraser and Joe Morrow.
So in order to appease all those that would have their panties in a bunch over me not including the point totals of the players Boston acquired, and just for the sake of doing this because why the hell not, here are their numbers.
(Time as a Bruin)
Tyler Seguin – 56 G, 65 A, 121 P GP 203 PPG 0.60 (playoffs) 6 G, 12 A, 18 P GP 42
Dougie Hamilton – 22 G, 61 A, 83 P GP 178 PPG 0.47 (playoffs) 2 G, 8 A, 10 P GP 19
Jared Knight – 0 G, 0 A, 0 P (BUST)
———————————————— SEGUIN TRADE ——————————————————
Loui Eriksson – 32 G, 52 A, 84 P GP 142 (playoffs) 2 G, 3 A, 5 P GP 12
Reilly Smith – 33 G, 58 A, 91 P GP 163 (playoffs) 4 G, 1 A, 5 P GP 12
Matt Fraser – 5 G, 0 A, 5 P GP 38 (playoffs) 1 G, 1 A, 2 P GP 4
Joe Morrow – 1 G, 0 A, 1 P GP 15 ——————————
Total: 149 G, 236 A, 385 P GP 739 PPG 0.52
Total Scoring Numbers (Including Playoff Games)
Phil Kessel – 185 G 215 A 400 P 453 GP 0.88 PPG
Boston’s 3 Picks + Return for Seguin – 156 G 241A 397 P 767 GP 0.52 PPG
The marquee names in that deal were Seguin and Eriksson, but surprisingly, Reilly Smith has turned into a serviceable 2nd liner. Eriksson was hit with some injury trouble to start his Bruin career, but he’s still managed to play 142 regular season games, so you’ve got to think his decline has started a bit sooner than expected.
But focusing again on Kessel, this is where it gets truly remarkable. If you add up the numbers of all 7 (OK, 6) players, including their playoff totals, Kessel still outscores the combined total of all 6 players by 3 points in 314 less games!!! That is remarkable and just goes to show how valuable a scorer like Kessel is on your team. There are an extremely small number of NHLers who can score at a higher pace than 0.88 points per game, and I can guarantee you that you might have to sell the farm to get one of them the way the Leafs did with Kessel.
Now obviously there’s one more rebuttal to my idea that the Leafs did actually indeed win this much-maligned trade and it’s probably the main one people may have right now.
The Leafs could have drafted Tyler Seguin and developed him into the star that he is today.
Once Seguin got to Dallas, he broke out; finishing 4th in league scoring in 2014, and getting off to a red hot start in 2015 before suffering an unfortunate knee injury on a controversial hit by Panthers defenceman Dmitry Kulikov.
The problem I have with this idea, is that there are so many damn hypotheticals, it truly makes it impossible to tell.
The Leafs could’ve drafted 2nd overall in 2010 and taken Seguin, pinning him to be the face of the franchise for years to come, and hurtling tons of expectations upon an 18 year old kid.
How would Seguin deal with the relentless Toronto media and the passionate fans that would likely be watching his every move 24/7?
It’s clear Kessel and the Toronto Media haven’t gotten along swimmingly over the years, so how would the young and immature Seguin do with cameras following him everywhere. I doubt the Leafs would trade Seguin during this period, but at the same time, it would not be a perfect marriage.
How would Seguin do being thrown into the fire?
That 2010/11 Maple Leafs team wasn’t exactly spectacular, and Seguin would pretty much start out as the team’s first line centre, alongside Kris Versteeg and… Colby Armstrong?
Though that was the year the Leafs had arguably the 2nd best line in hockey, MacArthur-Grabovski-Kulemin, with each putting up around 60 points, the team had zero depth up front. The Leafs went with a pretty much interchangeable bottom 6, with their 3rd line was mostly composed of Armstrong, Tim Brent, and Joey Crabb. YEESH. If it wasn’t for James Reimer coming out of nowhere to pull the team to within a few points of a playoff spot, this team would’ve stunk. In Boston, Seguin, didn’t have immense expectations put on him instantly, the team was already a playoff contender and had a solid top 6. Which brings me to my next hypothetical…
Does Seguin put up the same numbers with lesser line mates?
You really need to also consider the fact that Tyler Seguin has always had a better supporting cast than Phil Kessel. Throughout his career, Seguin’s been able to play with Brad Marchand, Milan Lucic and Nathan Horton in Boston, as well as Art Ross winner, Jamie Benn, in Dallas. Wessel also had some time with those guys, but he started out his career on the Leafs with Matt Stajan, Niklas Hagman, Alexei Ponikarovsky and Kris Versteeg. While finally getting some scoring support with Joffrey Lupul and James van Riemsdyk, Kessel has been glued to Tyler Bozak in Toronto, who, simply put, IS NOT A FIRST LINE CENTRE. And if Seguin was in Toronto, he either has nobody to help him on the wing, or he gets pushed on to the wing.
And what about Dougie Hamilton?
Hamilton is looking like another future star in the NHL, but how would that change if he was drafted by Toronto. First of all, he probably wouldn’t have had the chance to develop like he has in Boston, and is not going to get as many sheltered minutes in the Offensive zone. In Boston, Hamilton didn’t have to face the toughest match-ups to start his career since the Bruins had Zdeno Chara, Andrew Ference, Dennis Seidenberg and Johnny Boychuk. The Leafs had Phaneuf and Gunnarsson on the top pair, and nothing else was certain after that.
Hamilton might have become a stud in Toronto. Or he might have turned into a carbon copy of Jake Gardiner.
At the end of the day, the Dallas trade sort of mucked up this whole narrative. There’s so much to really consider, it’s not even worth thinking about, and I hate how much of my time I’ve given to analyzing this trade which people still won’t shut up about.
Here’s what I can conclude though. In this trade, the Leafs got the best player, and he’s had far more of a positive impact on the Leafs than any of the players that Boston acquired. No player has meant more to the Toronto Maple Leafs in the past 6 seasons than Phil Kessel, and without him, the Leafs would probably be even worse off than they already are. Conversely, with Phil Kessel, the Boston Bruins might have more than just the one Stanley Cup in 2011.
So much for that title of “Greatest Trade in Boston Sports History”, NESN. Safe to say you screwed the pooch on that article, and this is coming from a Red Sox/Patriots fan.
nolancattell 
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