any other player producing like him would be described with the following:

elite hockey sense
reads the play and finds the quiet spots and open lanes
great vision
amazing ability to finish


but kessel gets, those were easy points.
- vermie22

Kessel deal looks great for Pitts right now - he is an elite scoring winger playing a key role. The fact that Toronto is eating $1.2 million till the cows come home adds a little salt. The truth of the matter is Toronto had to trade Kessel. They were not ready to compete yet and the salary - he was given by Nonis was retarded. The more important issue is what Toronto does at the draft. Filling in roster spots with affordable high ceiling players. I am confident. To emphasize this point look at one of the worst drafts in recent memory 2011. (2016 is expected to be an extremely deep draft by contrast)

Tampa had 6 picks Namestikov(27th), Kucherov (58th), Nesterov (148th) Wilcox (178th), Peca (201st), Palat (208th)

Toronto Biggs(22nd), Percy(25th), Leivo(86th) Nilsson(100th) Cameranesi(130th) Broll(152nd) Sparks(190th) and Everson (203rd)

Talk about good vs crappy drafting. Tampa - 4 true NHL players of six lower picks two of which are stars and Toronto has zero of their drafted players in the NHL.

A good reason why Tampa is still in the playoffs and the Leafs are shining up their golf clubs.
- winsix

How's your Breath?

How's your Breath?
- senstroll

That was pretty funny.

"I guess pretty bad"

PM - "No no your conditioning"

could have been better worded.

That was pretty funny.

"I guess pretty bad"

PM - "No no your conditioning"

could have been better worded.
- Fakepartofme

PM is a strange dude

Easy points.

It is indeed.


All hail domi and Orr and mclearen and komigod.

Kessel sucks, can't win with him.
- burn

Well given the direction of the team it made sense to move Kessel unless you think otherwise. I agree we shouldn't always look to trade JVR/Kadri however it takes something good to get something good back. Isn't exactly the cases in the Kessel deal but it came down to a true rebuild and changing the character of the team.

The return we got was OK but not great however given Kessels current play during the playoffs it stings a little. During the regular season barely anyone mentioned the Kessel trade b/c he wasn't performing the same way he is now.

So lets say we kept Kessel and his pretty awful salary. We certainly wouldn't have the cap flexibility we have now and this coming summer wouldn't look as exciting. Given his age I am glad he went to a contender.

If there is a deal in place for a stud top pairing D to pair with Reily and it involves one of our better players (Kadri/JVR) then sure management has to consider it but I agree don't put these kids on the block for the sake of trading them.

Going gets tough?
You mean like in the playoffs?

Where he is almost a ppg player?
- Fakepartofme

Are you (frank)ing kidding me dude?

You're the king of spin. If he was having this type of success in Toronto your dialogue would be "Yeah, but.."

Kessel sucked last season and the Leafs got the return they got because it was the only deal there was to make at the time he needed to be moved. The risk was too high to keep him. If they waited and he put up the season he just did the return would have been worse. He's putting up points because he's playing on the 3rd line, away from the oppositions top checkers, which is where we all said he would have success. But your perpetual Leafs can do no right attitude skews your opinion. Last year you ripped on him, this season you had nothing to offer up, and now that he's having success you have the chance to say something negative, which is what you like to do.

There is no point debating this.

He had to go.

Whether it was salut gate. Issues with members of the media. Fat jokes. Lack of a 2 way game and willingness to compete night in and night out like Babcock expects of his players... it just wasn't working and wasn't going to work here. Despite his skills and talent. The leafs also had to go in a new direction from a core that's failed in epic ways.

Kessel and Phaneuf had to go. This isn't to say they're not good players, but they were the face of this teams failures and were making too much to properly revamp the teams cap structure.

In the end all toronto did was either battle for 9th or battle for the lowest odds of the lottery teams with Kessel. Yes you could say typical toronto running a guy out of town who can play. Or you can look at it as finally toronto gets rid of the guys keeping them out of last place while collecting boat loads of picks and prospects.

There is no point debating this.

Kessel and Phaneuf and Lupul had to go.
- systemtool

*Fixed but alas we are still waiting - only place he can go now is w/ Robidas

There is no point debating this.

He had to go.

Whether it was salut gate. Issues with members of the media. Fat jokes. Lack of a 2 way game and willingness to compete night in and night out like Babcock expects of his players... it just wasn't working and wasn't going to work here. Despite his skills and talent. The leafs also had to go in a new direction from a core that's failed in epic ways.

Kessel and Phaneuf had to go. This isn't to say they're not good players, but they were the face of this teams failures and were making too much to properly revamp the teams cap structure.
- systemtool

This was my point to start. They needed to go, what's the point in female doging about the return?

*Fixed but alas we are still waiting - only place he can go now is w/ Robidas
- BKups

True but the bolder is really hard to do.

This was my point to start. They needed to go, what's the point in female doging about the return?
- BetterCallSaul

Are you really asking this?

Just read yesterday's announcement that all remaining Marlies playoff games will be on TSN 2

Finally getting some attention and better coverage than broadcasting the in arena scoreboard feed for away games only on LeafsTV and since I am with Bell exPressVu, the LeafsTV channel wasn't even in HD

Between the Marlies, Memorial Cup and the WC with Reilly, Komarov, Zaitzev, Mathews, Laine who needs the NHL playoffs.

There is no point debating this.

He had to go.

Whether it was salut gate. Issues with members of the media. Fat jokes. Lack of a 2 way game and willingness to compete night in and night out like Babcock expects of his players... it just wasn't working and wasn't going to work here. Despite his skills and talent. The leafs also had to go in a new direction from a core that's failed in epic ways.

Kessel and Phaneuf had to go. This isn't to say they're not good players, but they were the face of this teams failures and were making too much to properly revamp the teams cap structure.

In the end all toronto did was either battle for 9th or battle for the lowest odds of the lottery teams with Kessel. Yes you could say typical toronto running a guy out of town who can play. Or you can look at it as finally toronto gets rid of the guys keeping them out of last place while collecting boat loads of picks and prospects.
- systemtool

Any naysayer need to remember that the deal is not 100% final yet. Until we know what becomes of the Pittsburgh pick, we can't really debate the "winner/loser" of the Kessel deal.

I, for one, agree that the trade had to happen. Kessel was a depreciating asset here - being neither maximized nor appreciated while Toronto continued to struggle and find an identity. I think we did as well as we possibly could have. I also think just wanted to rid the team of the Burkie-funk that still lingered.

There is no point debating this.

He had to go.

Whether it was salut gate. Issues with members of the media. Fat jokes. Lack of a 2 way game and willingness to compete night in and night out like Babcock expects of his players... it just wasn't working and wasn't going to work here. Despite his skills and talent. The leafs also had to go in a new direction from a core that's failed in epic ways.

Kessel and Phaneuf had to go. This isn't to say they're not good players, but they were the face of this teams failures and were making too much to properly revamp the teams cap structure.

In the end all toronto did was either battle for 9th or battle for the lowest odds of the lottery teams with Kessel. Yes you could say typical toronto running a guy out of town who can play. Or you can look at it as finally toronto gets rid of the guys keeping them out of last place while collecting boat loads of picks and prospects.
- systemtool

I don't really understand statements like "the face of the teams failures"

That is media hogwash and not reality in my view.

Those teams failed because Carlyle did not instill defensive discipline, because they had mediocre to poor goaltending and because they simply didn't have enough good players.

Let's see how the picks and prospects turn out. Maybe we will get lucky.

obviously no other choice than to trade kessel.
in pittsburg he has crosby and malkin leading the team.
in toronto he had phaneuf and bozak...
kessel is a great offensive threat, but surely not the 'face of the franchise' leafs needed him to be.
kessel does not lead, he follows.
and he can put points up.

leafs need to adopt a new mantra I vote for



“get the (frank) out of the way”.

http://www.tsn.ca/hockey-...nada/mens-worlds/schedule

obviously no other choice than to trade kessel.
in pittsburg he has crosby and malkin leading the team.
in toronto he had phaneuf and bozak...
kessel is a great offensive threat, but surely not the 'face of the franchise' leafs needed him to be.
kessel does not lead, he follows.
and he can put points up.
- MaximusAurelius

scoring in the playoffs ..for his team...he leads there

I don't really understand statements like "the face of the teams failures"

That is media hogwash and not reality in my view.

Those teams failed because Carlyle did not instill defensive discipline, because they had mediocre to poor goaltending and because they simply didn't have enough good players.

Let's see how the picks and prospects turn out. Maybe we will get lucky.
- Rang

The coach always gets blamed.

He was terrible, but the whole organization was in shambles. Whether you agree with it or not, the public was stringing up the rope to lynch these guys. As a Gm, what do you do when the value of your star players is being dragged through the mud? To compound the issue their play begins to reflect the criticism being thrown their way. Do you wait it out? Either way it's a gamble. In my opinion it was a bad trade but it will be insignificant in the long run. Recoup your losses and carry on.

Include Gardiner i a package deal along with PIT 1st round pick to either move up in the draft, or to trade for a young (21-25 yrs old) & NHL ready goalie.
Gardiner is too weak defensively, they are better of going with two-way D men.

Include Gardiner i a package deal along with PIT 1st round pick to either move up in the draft, or to trade for a young (21-25 yrs old) & NHL ready goalie.
Gardiner is too weak defensively, they are better of going with two-way D men.
- 1967_2015champs

I am curious what you use to determine a good defensive player over a weak one

Include Gardiner i a package deal along with PIT 1st round pick to either move up in the draft, or to trade for a young (21-25 yrs old) & NHL ready goalie.
Gardiner is too weak defensively, they are better of going with two-way D men.
- 1967_2015champs

scoring in the playoffs ..for his team...he leads there
- senstroll

Fourth or fifth best player on a strong deep team.

How's your brain?

There is no point debating this.

He had to go.

Whether it was salut gate. Issues with members of the media. Fat jokes. Lack of a 2 way game and willingness to compete night in and night out like Babcock expects of his players... it just wasn't working and wasn't going to work here. Despite his skills and talent. The leafs also had to go in a new direction from a core that's failed in epic ways.

Kessel and Phaneuf had to go. This isn't to say they're not good players, but they were the face of this teams failures and were making too much to properly revamp the teams cap structure.

In the end all toronto did was either battle for 9th or battle for the lowest odds of the lottery teams with Kessel. Yes you could say typical toronto running a guy out of town who can play. Or you can look at it as finally toronto gets rid of the guys keeping them out of last place while collecting boat loads of picks and prospects.
- systemtool

You know I love you Toolsie...

But seriously, Salutegate?

Are we really rehashing this?

The biggest non-story in the franking history of hockey.

Nobody actually franking cared. Nobody. Not a single franking fan.

I'm a franking season ticket holder. The idea that these guys have to hold up their sticks at centre ice after a game and salute me is so franking stupid it makes me want to puke.

No, wait - let me go one step further. I don't want them to franking do it. You won a game against Columbus on a Tuesday night in November. I don't want you celebrating. You did your franking job. Now go take a shower, go to bed, and show up tomorrow at the MasterCard Centre, ready to get to work.

Salutegate? Really?

I'm so franking tired of people pretending to be offended by meaningless crap.

What the hell happened to you, Toolsie? You used to be a grumpy old man like me, who hated the young kids on our lawns.

You've gone soft, Toolsie.