From Maple Laffs to Maple Leafs: The Kessel Trade

This is the 5th installment of now a 6 part series.  The more I learn the more I want to write about my favorite NHL Team.  The 6th installment will be the last for awhile and it is already typed in draft on the Future of the Leafs.  I will do periodic updates as the Leafs progress during the season.   I have written 4 installments and have yet discussed the biggest and most controversial story in Leafs nation the last few years.  

Brian Burke and Phil Kessel - Sept 19, 2009

The Controversial Trade!

On September 18th, 2009 during pre-season Brian Burke traded with the Boston Bruins for Phil Kessel in exchange for 1st Round Pick in 2010 and 2011, and a 2nd round pick in 2010.  This was an enormous trade in the end because the 2010 1st round pick would be 2nd overall pick and Boston would select C Tyler Seguin, a forward that is projected to become a premier center. After 3 full seasons he has continued to develop both offensively and defensively has 16 points in 17 games now for the Dallas Stars.  He's on pace for 77 points and getting first line minutes.  His maturity has come into question in the Boston media and he was traded by Boston last off-season winger for Loui Eriksson. One key weakness is his face-off percentage which is 38.3% and far worse than any current Leaf center.  The other first round pick is Dougie Hamilton (2011 - 9th overall) who is developing into a solid two-way defensemen and is getting 2nd pairing minutes.  He is also getting the opportunity to play with Norris Trophy winner Zdeno Chara for some shifts.  The other pick is RW Jared Knight (2010- 32nd overall) who is currently playing in the minors.  He is now playing his first season for Boston's farm team and he is projected to be 3rd/4th liner in the NHL.

Tyler Sequin

In hindsight Brian Burke has said that he did not expect the Maple Leafs to have such a bad season.  Thus, he did not expect that he would be trading a 2nd overall pick, he expected that it to be mid first round.   If the Leafs had finished just outside the playoffs like they did the following season the Bruins would have picked somewhere 8th and 14th.  Than the Bruins would have had the opportunity to draft C Alexander Burmistov (8th overall - 194GP - 23G 35A), F Mikael Granlund (9th overall - 46GP - 4G 16A), F Dylan McIlrath (10th overall - 0GP), G Jack Campbell (11th overall, 1 GP no points), D Cam Fowler (12th overall - 215GP, 18G 71A), D Brandon Gormley (13th overall -0GP), and C Jaden Schwartz (14th overall - 68GP 12G 13A).  No stand-out great players and some have not even played in the NHL after 3 full seasons.  If this had occurred there would have been no controversy at all.


What did happen during the 2009-2010 season the Leafs started with 0-7-1 record the worst Leaf start since 1917.  Leafs were horrible on offense, defense and in net, finishing with a conference worst 74 points. Only the Edmonton Oilers played worst. Key Burke signings such as Beauchemin and Komisarek did not provide good defense.  This was also a season filled with injuries for the Leafs.  Goalie Vesa Toskala was chased out of town.  Brian Burke has also said that he wanted to bottom-out the Leafs and rebuild the team by the draft.  He was ordered by Leafs board to put a good product on the ice and Burke tried his best via trade and signing undrafted college (T Bozak, C Hanson, and B Irwin ) and European players (J Gustavsson and R Wallin). Only Bozak turned out to be a good player for the Leafs. 

Was this a Good Trade?

The best deals it is said both sides come out happy.  Boston went on to win the cup in 2011 and was able to replace at RW with Nathan Horton by trade with the Florida Panthers.  Seguin had success as RW with the Bruins, but was young and they wanted a more mature player and traded with for Loui Eriksson a winger capable of 60 to 70 points a season.  For Toronto we got Phil Kessel a fast offensive winger that has steadily improved every year as a Leaf.  It also have the Leafs a star player to market the team around and an exciting player to watch.

Total Goals and Points by the NHL's Top Wingers from 2009-2010 season to lock-out Shortened 2013 season: 

Player	Games	Goals	Points
1) Ovechkin, A	277	152	315
2) Perry, C	288	129	270
3) Marleau, P*	294	128	251
4) Iglina, J	290	121	255
5) Kovalchuk, I**	271	120	259
6) Kessel, P	282	119	253
7) Gaborik, M	267	117	237
8) Nash, R	277	116	234
9) Sedin, D	264	112	296
10) Ryan, B	291	111	222
11) Neal, J	277	110	217
12) Vanek, T	267	106	228
13) Kane, P	284	103	282
14) Semin, A	259	102	236
14) St. Louis	289	102	327
15) Hossa, M	243	95	222
16) Parise, Z	224	90	195

* Marleau who also plays center, normally plays LW to C Joe Thornton or C Logan Couture.
** 'Retired' at 30 from the NHL to play in Russia. 

Phil Kessel is among elite company as he is #6 for the last 4 seasons in terms of goals by winger and 9th overall for points.  In 2011-2012 he surpassed a point per game pace with the addition of LW Joffrey Lupul and has continued to have success with either Lupul or James van Riemsdyk on the other wing.  His success also is primarily with center Tyler Bozak who is not a premier center.  Majority of other wingers in the top 15 have a premier center feeding them the puck.  Lastly, Kessel is only 26 years old, which means he's just coming into his prime.  It is is possible that he could with good line-mates win the Rocket Richard Trophy.

Dougie Hamilton as the Muppet "Beaker"

Comparatively, Tyler Sequin in 220 games has scored 63 goals and 74 assists for a 137 points.  This is trending upwards and Sequin is now centering the top line in Dallas and playing with quality winger Jamie Benn.  Dougie Hamilton has played 57 games and scored 8 goals and 14 assists for 22 points to date.  With Sequin's emergence as the top center for a young Dallas Stars team and Dougie Hamilton's continued progress as a second pairing defensemen. He also happens to be 6ft5; a good size for a potential shutdown defensemen.  In my opinion the Leafs in the near term won this trade.  But, over the long-term the Leafs may have really lost this trade.  As a #1 center is still what the Leafs need and a defensive defensemen this season. 

In Conclusion:

Part of me wishes that the Leafs never made this trade and did what Burke had suggested and bottom-out. Just like Buffalo Sabers are doing right now and trading away older players to get first round picks and younger players.  Seguin and Hamilton would look pretty good in a Leafs uniform this season and probably even better as they develop into their mid-twenties.  Burke was able to find wingers in both Lupul and van Riemsdyk without costing the Leafs any star players.  Also, the Leafs would have been worse and may have gotten higher in the draft and got potentially better players.  It is hard to complain about this trade as Kessel has become an elite right winger and few players have had his scoring success.  This debate could just end if the Leafs have a couple deep postseasons.  *sigh* That would be nice.  At least we are no longer the laughing stock of the NHL.  

My next and last blog in this series is about the future of the Leafs. See it next.

Your thoughts?  Would you rather have Beaker on your team?  Add your comments below.

Where have you gone Mats Sundin? A Leafs Nation turns its eyes to you.

Lately, I have been thinking about the Leafs and where they are in their progress to win the Stanley Cup. The Leafs have had a strong 10 and 5 record to start the season, but the team is missing something up the middle.  But, in the past it was something was constantly missing at the wing.

Mats Sundin - 1st pick Overall, 1989 

Remember Mats Sundin? He played from 1994 to 2008 for the Leafs and throughout all those years the media and fans cried out for the Maple Leafs to get top line wingers for him to play with.  One season he had a star winger with Alexander Mogilny who joined the team at 32 for the 2001-2002 season. That season they were only developing chemistry, but the following season Mogilny had 79 points and Sundin had 72 points. So, it briefly happened that Sundin had a worthy winger. Mogilny got a major hip surgery the next season and only played 37 games. The following season he went to New Jersey for his last season playing 34 games. Otherwise his wings were decorated with drafted players such as Jonas Hogland, Sergei Berezin, Fredrik Modin, Alexei Ponikarovsky, and Alex Steen.  Or a series of past their prime free agents including Gary Roberts, Owen Nolan, Steve Thomas, Derek King, Mikael Renberg, Darcy Tucker and Jeff O'Neill.

Mats Sundin being honored March 23, 2013 at the ACC

No wonder that Mats Sundin was getting paid $9.5 million a season by the Leafs at the end. Which is still more than Kessel's $8 million deal starting next season.  Now Kessel has the exact opposite problem, no elite centerman.  With Kessel's arrival in 2008, he's had to play with Matt Stajan, Tyler Bozak, Mikhail Grabovski (no chemistry at all), and Nazem Kadri (who is still best on the wing.)  With the trade of Dave Bolland we got someone more clutch at the position and capable of playing both offense and defense.  But, still not a dominant center as compared to 6ft5 Norse God Mats Sundin.  Imagine where on Yonge Street you would be to see the Stanley Cup Parade if we had a young Mats now.

Now with Dave Bolland (unknown return date - had calf surgery) and Tyler Bozak (Nov 21st earliest he can play) injured for several weeks, this hole at center is glaring.  Toronto has the third worst team face-off percentages (45%) and a -8 shot differential on average per game.  Toronto was off to a great start, but the shortcoming at center is now exasperated.  The offensive play is exciting, but if you compare the Leafs to any of the previous Stanley Cup Winners and finalists they all have a star center and star winger.  Then they have at least another strong 2nd center men and another strong winger to go with him.

Makes you wish that the Leafs truly bottomed out like Brian Burke said he wanted to do.  But of course the Leafs Nation could never handle a true bottoming out and the Suits wanted to make sure there pockets remained lined.  So, Burke went and traded for Kessel.  *sigh*  But what if he or John Ferguson Jr had drafted one of these top 3 picks in those truly bad years: Toews, Stamkos, Tavares, Huberdeau, Duchene, RNH, or Taylor Hall. 

Phil Kessel and Tyler Seguin at the 2011-2012 All Star Game

However, Kessel has one advantage over Mats Sundin.  He has a star winger in Joffery Lupul (when healthy) and a player that is fast becoming a star James van Riemsdyk (JVR) to challenge opposing defenses. All three players are in there prime as well.  Kadri still has time to grow as well, but he remains most effective on the wing until he becomes defensively more responsible.  The latest news is JVR is going to try his hand at center to which he had played for 2 seasons for the University of New Hampshire.  He was a second overall pick in the 2007 draft, picked just behind Patrick Kane. Who of course met with his new BFF Jonathan Toews who was drafted third overall in the prior season.  Good old 2006 when we drafted 13th overall and got center Jiri Tlusty.  *sigh*

So, here is my hope that James van Riemsdyk is Mats Sundin in disguise.  We don't have give Kessel an even bigger raise next time to stay in the Blue and White.  

Thoughts? Comments?  Please share them below.