After almost a year, the question that Toronto Maple Leafs fans ask themselves is whether the Phil Kessel deal was the right thing to do. Will swapping three premium draft picks to a division rival for the young sniper from Wisconsin be more beneficial to the long-term success of the organization or will it be considered Burkie's Folly, a deal that should not have been made that leads to more years of disappointment and the eventual downfall of the Leafs current general manager.

If this trade was scored like a boxing match, Toronto would be behind on most scorecards at this point. Ironically that perception has little to do with the performance of Kessel, but more to do with what the Leafs gave up for him. Due to Toronto's horrific season in 2009-10, the Boston Bruins were able to draft two highly regarded youngsters in Tyler Seguin and Jared Knight. Boston also has Toronto’s first-round draft pick in 2011 to select before the entire deal is completed.

After excelling in the US under-18 development system, Kessel played one year for the University of Minnesota before being drafted fifth overall by Boston in the 2006 NHL draft.
During his rookie season with the Bruins, Kessel was diagnosed and treated for testicular cancer. Amazingly, he only missed 12 games that season and for his perseverance was awarded the Bill Masterton Trophy in 2007. In the three years with the Bruins, Kessel's goal scoring totals increased each season(11 in 06-07, 19 in 07-08, and 36 in 08-09) and he led the team with six playoff goals in 2009. Boston GM Peter Chiarelli and the Bruins organization did not value Kessel as much as his numbers should indicate. The Bruins had signed goaltender Tim Thomas and forward David Krejci to big-money contracts last summer and according to Boston Globe reporter Kevin Paul Dupont “the order of getting deals done speaks to how he(Chiarelli) prioritizes each player's importance.”

Kessel contract negotiations got ugly, with difficulties between him and coach Claude Julien as well as rumors of him being unpopular in the Bruins locker room becoming public knowledge. These rumors may have been based in truth or they could have been leaked to justify the team’s hard line contractual stance. The end result was that Kessel had to move on to another team to get the money he believed he deserved. Because of that fact, he will continue to receive a welcome every time the Leafs visit the TD Bank North Garden equivalent to Alex Rodriguez every time he steps to the plate at Fenway.

There were threats of Kessel signing a restricted free agent offer sheet, which would have presented an interesting dilemma for Chiarelli(since Boston did not have the cap room to match) but Leafs GM Brian Burke made that academic when he offered three high draft picks for the young sniper.

Kessel's year in Toronto should be considered a mild success. He missed the first 12 games of the regular season due to off-season shoulder surgery. When he made his debut in early November, he displayed his ample offensive skills by scoring 13 goals in 22 games, which helped the Leafs pull out of the horrific start of the season. He then disappeared for more than a month, scoring only twice in the next 21 games with a -9 plus/minus. Only after Tyler Bozak was called up and trades for Dion Phaneuf and Jean-Sebastien Giguere occurred did Kessel re-emerge. In the final 27 games of the season, he scored 15 goals.
To this point in his career, Kessel is a completely one-dimensional player. His talent lies in scoring goals and creating offensive opportunities. He possesses great skating speed, a quick accurate shot and a nose for the net. Defensively, he is not strong along the boards and is not a particularly effective forechecker. For Kessel to become the impact player that Brian Burke imagined, he must improve defensively and not be a liability.

With Kessel being the only legitimate offensive threat on the roster, it is likely that he will have to score 40 goals or more for Toronto to have a successful year. The unknown factor is whether any of Toronto's centers will have the ability to set him up for scoring chances on a consistent basis. That job will be given to Tyler Bozak to start the season but that opportunity will only last as long as Kessel keeps scoring goals.

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