Phil Kessel trade

As the chant of ‘Thank you Kessel’ rang through my ears while watching the Toronto Maple Leafs take on the Boston Bruins last night I could not help but feel the need to comment on how ridiculous that cheer actually was.  Ok, I know they were just attempting to be clever but are they really all that thankful that a guy with 37 goals in his past 78 games is not on their team anymore?

For those curious Kessel’s goal pace since joining Toronto is actually the best mark of his career, without Marc Savard.  Imagine he still had a legitimate playmaking centre or a stronger winger riding shotgun?  That is not meant to offend Matt Stajan, Mikael Grabovski, John Mitchell, Tyler Bozak etc but none of them have the proven track record or playmaking ability a guy like Marc Savard has. [more…]