nah just wouldn't trade him
- Vukota

In away though, if you draft well, and the draftee has a good rep, they have value as an asset before they even play a day in the NHL. The fact that Duclair and Buchnevic are well regarded is an asset in itself and gives the team trade maneuverability. Whereas a guy like McIlrath, not so much. The Rangers will either hold onto him, or end up trading him for a bag of pucks.

In away though, if you draft well, and the draftee has a good rep, they have value as an asset before they even play a day in the NHL. The fact that Duclair and Buchnevic are well regarded is an asset in itself and gives the team trade maneuverability. Whereas a guy like McIlrath, not so much. The Rangers will either hold onto him, or end up trading him for a bag of pucks.
- Pete V

That was still a pick that puzzled me when they made it. So much talent still on the board, including Cam Fowler who nobody could figure out why he was falling. Tarasenko, Bjugstad, and Gormley were all there.

I believe I started with the laughing. Sorry should have just said no thanks. Sorry Dad
- Vukota

now go to your room and think about what you did...

Ahem...Bobby Orr.


- eichiefs9

Poolock

That was still a pick that puzzled me when they made it. So much talent still on the board, including Cam Fowler who nobody could figure out why he was falling. Tarasenko, Bjugstad, and Gormley were all there.
- eichiefs9

Eric Cairns 2.0

The Isles will not make any big moves. Maybe a minor deal to bolster goalie depth but that is it. All the moves to make were made last summer.

Mayfield and Grabovski for Pitt 1st and Petry
- Vukota

Ok but then you give us Pulock and Dal Colle for Derek Roy and Martin Marincin

Ok but then you give us Pulock and Dal Colle for Derek Roy and Martin Marincin
- Ihatebrianburke

How about I poop in a box and send it to you for free.

You have to pay for shipping though.

How about I poop in a box and send it to you for free.

You have to pay for shipping though.
- eichiefs9

Do you poop gold nuggets?

Do you poop gold nuggets?
- Ihatebrianburke

I pooped at the Golden Nugget casino once. Does that count?

A little something for all you Kessel bashers:news.nationalpost.com - COLUMBUS — Bobby Ryan says Phil Kessel was the best. They played against each other as kids, when Kessel was putting up Wayne Gretzky-like numbers and scouts tried to forecast whether he or Sidney Crosby was going to grow up to be better. Ryan said his team would dedicate its entire game plan to shutting down Kessel.

“Back then it was that he was the fastest, most gifted athlete we were going to face,” said Ryan, a forward with the Ottawa Senators. “I think we had a guy that literally followed him every single place he went on the ice and just drove him nuts.”

Ask Kessel who fills that role now and he would probably say the media. And he probably wouldn’t be joking.

Since arriving in Toronto as the centrepiece of the Toronto Maple Leafs’ blockbuster 2009 trade, Kessel has become a butt of jokes and a frequent target for critics. He has been called fat, lazy and indifferent. Uncoachable. One-dimensional. Egotistical. After qualifying for the playoffs just once in the last six years, a lot of the blame for the Maple Leafs’ most recent predicament has landed on him.

A little something for all you Kessel bashers:news.nationalpost.com - COLUMBUS — Bobby Ryan says Phil Kessel was the best. They played against each other as kids, when Kessel was putting up Wayne Gretzky-like numbers and scouts tried to forecast whether he or Sidney Crosby was going to grow up to be better. Ryan said his team would dedicate its entire game plan to shutting down Kessel.

“Back then it was that he was the fastest, most gifted athlete we were going to face,” said Ryan, a forward with the Ottawa Senators. “I think we had a guy that literally followed him every single place he went on the ice and just drove him nuts.”

Ask Kessel who fills that role now and he would probably say the media. And he probably wouldn’t be joking.

Since arriving in Toronto as the centrepiece of the Toronto Maple Leafs’ blockbuster 2009 trade, Kessel has become a butt of jokes and a frequent target for critics. He has been called fat, lazy and indifferent. Uncoachable. One-dimensional. Egotistical. After qualifying for the playoffs just once in the last six years, a lot of the blame for the Maple Leafs’ most recent predicament has landed on him.
- Daddichronic

Kessel bashers part 2:Some of this might be true. Yet so is the fact that Kessel is one of the most dangerous snipers in the NHL. In the last six years, only three players have scored more goals. At this weekend’s All-Star festivities featuring the best players in the league, no one is quite like him. With his speed and with his quick-release snapshot — “the best in the league,” Dallas Stars’ Tyler Seguin said — Kessel remains a once-in-a-generation talent who can almost score at will.

But these days, Kessel is not scoring. And the Leafs, who lost 14 of their last 17 games before the break and are 10 points out of a playoff spot, are not winning. The franchise has reached yet another crossroads trying to find its way back to the Stanley Cup after nearly five decades. Currently, the concern is about the makeup of the core of the roster. The Boston Bruins faced one of these questions in 2008 and it is now being considered by Leafs president Brendan Shanahan and his executives.

I pooped at the Golden Nugget casino once. Does that count?
- eichiefs9

Not the same sorry. But congrats on such a memorable bowel movement

Ok but then you give us Pulock and Dal Colle for Derek Roy and Martin Marincin
- Ihatebrianburke

All kidding a side why do you think petry is worth a top prospect? I don't know much about other then he is a decent d man, I just looked at his numbers and not very impressed by those either. Is he really that much of an upgrade on Hickey?

Kessel bashers part 3:“They always knew Phil was there and he would always come through to get a goal or two to get us back in it or to win the game, or set somebody else up to do it. He had great speed even when he was young compared to a lot of players his age.” — Bob Suter, 2009

When Phil Kessel was 14 years old, he scored 176 goals and 286 points in 86 games for the Madison (Wisc.) Capitols. Scouts called him the next Wayne Gretzky and said he was going to be the best hockey player to ever come out of the United States.

“I remember playing in the national championship and catering our entire scheme to shutting him down,” Ryan said. “And we did. We won 3-0 and it was all about making sure he didn’t have that opportunity to take three strides with the puck, because we knew he could blow past everybody. That’s how dangerous he was.”

“He was always the best player,” Minnesota Wild defenceman Ryan Suter said. “He always had all the skill in the world. Our family and his family really hit it off, and my dad did take Phil kind of under his wing and really helped him develop. He always had a lot of stuff going on and I think my dad was able to keep everything going for him.”

Kessel’s father was a former CFL quarterback who was drafted by the Washington Redskins and his mother ran track in college. But it was Bob Suter, a defenceman for the United States’ Miracle on Ice team that won gold at the 1980 Olympics, who made the biggest impact on Kessel’s hockey career.

Suter coached Kessel from the ages of seven to 14. During that time, there were reportedly questions about an ego that was the size of Wisconsin and accusations that he was a bad teammate or not committed. But Suter’s belief in Kessel never wavered.

“I would not be here today without him,” Kessel said of Suter, who died of a heart attack in September. “He pushed me very hard … if you could imagine someone that shapes you as a player. He was hard. You ask Ryan, he was hard on us too. He demanded a lot of us as kids.

“There would be days when I wanted to quit as a kid. But I knew that he only meant the best, that he only wanted the best for me and he pushed me into becoming the player I was.”

When Kessel left Wisconsin for Ann Arbor, Mich., to play with the U.S. national team development program, its coach, John Hynes, remembers Suter telling him “that we have to have patience but that Phil cares. He’s a good kid, he wants to win, he has a special ability.”

It might have been a way of saying that if you could live with his warts, the good would outweigh the bad. Kessel scored 52 goals and 82 points in 62 games as a 16-year-old in the program. A year later, he scored 52 goals and 98 points in 45 games. He also scored nine goals and 16 points in six games to lead the U.S. to a gold medal at the world under-18 championship.

“The two guys in that time were Phil and Pat Kane,” said Hynes, who is now coaching the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins in the American Hockey League. “The unique quality about both of those kids was just their desire to score and make an impact. And if they didn’t make that impact and the team lost and they didn’t score they would become frustrated that they let down the team.”

“He might tape up five or six sticks a game. You see him during games changing sticks a lot. That stick gets one chance before he changes. Like he said, he might only get two or three chances a game, but when he gets those chances he needs it to work.” — Brad Janson, Easton Hockey representative

All players are streaky. All players go through cold spells that seem a lot worse when they are stuck in the middle of it than they do when the statistics are added up at the end of the season.

Kessel knows his role is to score goals. It is a role he has not been performing lately. And it is starting to wear on him. He cares.

“I demand a lot from myself,” said Kessel, who is in the top 15 in the league with 19 goals and 40 points. “I know what I have to do to help the team win and right now I’m not doing it right. We’re not winning. When you go on stretches like that and the team’s not winning, you get disappointed because you expect more from yourself, you want to do anything you can to help the team win.”

Kessel bashers part 2:Some of this might be true. Yet so is the fact that Kessel is one of the most dangerous snipers in the NHL. In the last six years, only three players have scored more goals. At this weekend’s All-Star festivities featuring the best players in the league, no one is quite like him. With his speed and with his quick-release snapshot — “the best in the league,” Dallas Stars’ Tyler Seguin said — Kessel remains a once-in-a-generation talent who can almost score at will.

But these days, Kessel is not scoring. And the Leafs, who lost 14 of their last 17 games before the break and are 10 points out of a playoff spot, are not winning. The franchise has reached yet another crossroads trying to find its way back to the Stanley Cup after nearly five decades. Currently, the concern is about the makeup of the core of the roster. The Boston Bruins faced one of these questions in 2008 and it is now being considered by Leafs president Brendan Shanahan and his executives.
- Daddichronic

Kessel is not now nor will he ever be a once in a generation talent. Jebus!!!!!

All kidding a side why do you think petry is worth a top prospect? I don't know much about other then he is a decent d man, I just looked at his numbers and not very impressed by those either. Is he really that much of an upgrade on Hickey?
- Vukota

I never said him alone. I said him + Pittsburgh's 1st rounder. And yes he is a huge upgrade on Hickey

My only point is I hate wanna bee hockey Genious's who come down on Wendel Clark,Phil Kessel ect....shut the (frank) up unless you have something smart to say nobody cares about your 2year old ranting ..in short get a clue

Kessel is not now nor will he ever be a once in a generation talent. Jebus!!!!!
- Ihatebrianburke

Look these are actual hockey players and hockey people who talk about him and really no about him..your comments don't mean poop!!!

I never said him alone. I said him + Pittsburgh's 1st rounder. And yes he is a huge upgrade on Hickey
- Ihatebrianburke

How is he a huge upgrade? Hickey in his first full year but up similar numbers to petry in his first year. im curious why is it a huge upgrade gotta give me something other then just saying it and if he is better is he that much better where you have to trade Pulock? I don't think he is, regardless if a late 1st comes this way IMO

Look these are actual hockey players and hockey people who talk about him and really no about him..your comments don't mean poop!!!
- Daddichronic

You are a clown. He isn't even top 10 players in the league let alone a generational talent. He's a good player no doubt but generational? Give your head a shake!

All kidding a side why do you think petry is worth a top prospect? I don't know much about other then he is a decent d man, I just looked at his numbers and not very impressed by those either. Is he really that much of an upgrade on Hickey?
- Vukota

He's definitely a big upgrade on Hickey. I wouldn't trade a top prospect for him ever though, and especially not when he is a UFA. I don't care how deep this year's draft is, Pittsburgh's 1st rounder is likely to be in the 23-30 range and we're not going to get someone as good as Pulock with that pick.

I'd love to see Petry in an Isles uniform, but if that turns out to be the asking price then I would pass.

Lubo will, in all likelihood, be gone after this year. That will clear a spot for Reinhart or Pulock next year. Hickey is an RFA will probably be signed for a year or two to help bridge the gap until the whoever loses out on a roster spot next year (Reinhart or Pulock) is ready.

All kidding a side why do you think petry is worth a top prospect? I don't know much about other then he is a decent d man, I just looked at his numbers and not very impressed by those either. Is he really that much of an upgrade on Hickey?
- Vukota

he is definitely an upgrade over hickey, but more importantly hes an upgrade over whatever our 3rd pairing is. hamonic, dehaan, boychuk, leddy are all better...but having petry and hickey...and then having to rely less on visnovsky and moving donovan & strait down a rung is also very helpful.

How is he a huge upgrade? Hickey in his first full year but up similar numbers to petry in his first year. im curious why is it a huge upgrade gotta give me something other then just saying it and if he is better is he that much better where you have to trade Pulock? I don't think he is, regardless if a late 1st comes this way IMO
- Vukota

Petry has never put up big numbers but is hands down in every facet of the game better than Hickey. But I guess if stats are all that matter to you there is really not much point in conversing