The Pittsburgh Penguins are still kicking the tires on Phil Kessel

PITT targeting Phil Kessel as one of 4 or 5 scoring forwards that interest them. Everybody wants young Penguin D.

— Damien Cox (@DamoSpin) June 25, 2015

Tough to not lower yourself to middle school humor given the last sentence in that tweet.

Anyways, the Phil Kessel idea as I've mentioned in the past doesn't make sense for Pittsburgh. Here is Bobby Cappuccino of The Leafs Nation and a glimpse into what the Leafs would be wanting out of this hypothetical trade:

Perhaps a return of top prospect Kasperi Kapanen (who mysteriously fell in last year's draft) and one of Derrick Pouliot or Olli Maatta, plus taking on the salary of Rob Scuderi and a forward (Kunitz or Dupuis perhaps?), could make this palatable for both sides. Getting Pouliot or Maatta would get the Leafs another LHD that would also allow them to move Jake Gardiner if they so choose. That said, Toronto’s demands are apparently ridiculous. So maybe Pittsburgh has to add a 2016 1st, or their 2015 2nd rounder if Toronto likes what they can get at 46th overall.

In the end, it’s hard to imagine how a Kessel deal with Pittsburgh would work, as it seems like the Penguins would be one of the more difficult teams to navigate a deal with. But after Rutherford’s Despres for Lovejoy fiasco, maybe the Leafs can steal a bigger return than we think.

Asset pool would be rendered close to empty and the roster would be incredibly top heavy with big cap hits. There are other options.

Here's the other thing:

I feel like the Kessel situation is very simple: If someone offers a great package, make the trade. If not, keep him.

— Draglikepull (@draglikepull) June 25, 2015

This isn't a Patrick Sharp situation. The Leafs don't have to move Kessel at all.

So with that out of the way let's talk about something that makes more sense. Michael Frolik. Frolik is going to command ~5M per year on the open market and it does in fact appear he will be hitting the open market:

#NHLJets pending UFA Michael Frolik has a half dozen face-to-face mtgs today with other teams. Also ongoing communication with Wpg. #bn

— Ed Tait (@WFPEdTait) June 25, 2015

If indeed the Penguins want to spend legit money on a top six winger and avoid draining their asset pool then Frolik may be the best option. If you were willing to come in with a competitive offer and have the ability to sell playing with Sid and/or Geno that would become an appealing destination.

Why Frolik? His underlying numbers are great.




Here is Phil Kessel's HERO chart:



There is no denying Phil Kessel's amazing offensive ability, but when you look at Frolik's overall work at even-strength is the 3M in extra salary per year and the assets to acquire really worth it for Pittsburgh? I say no way.

Forget the Kessel stuff and focus on something that can help both short term and long term.

Thanks for reading!


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