16 Feb 2015 18:36:25
Honestly it's been the main talk in the last few weeks among Kessel geting traded so here's my thoughts here me out.
Phil Kessel has had some success in Toronto I don't know the exacts stats but he's been top 4 in scoring last 3 years/4 years? Anyway he's having trouble as the Leafs are but why trade the core of your organization for IMO not what he's worth like they say you never get equal value for star players. A few months ago the Leafs were doing great and so was Kessel and now the media got in it and people are saying trade him for a bag of pucks. So all you guys are telling me Sydney Crosby has 2 bad months of hockey and the Pittsburgh penguins start losing they will trade Crosby for a couple playoff picks and low prospects? Kessel still has 21 goals 47 points in 57 games even when he has 4 points in his last 14 games. All in all I say the leafs should keep him at least till next season and he how he does. After all he leafs gave up a arm and a leg for him and he's one of my favorite players and I know if he gets traded he will thrive some where else and leafs will once again have made a bad trade that impacted the franchise.


1.) 16 Feb 2015
Agree the leafs won't get anything close to a player of his caliber in return, and I don't trust the leafs scouting with good reason. any picks or prospects in return would be grossly over hyped and probably never pan out.

they should overhaul all of managment, player development and scouting before they trade away their best players.


2.) 16 Feb 2015
16 Feb 2015 18:53:00
Comparing Kessel with Crosby is quite a stretch, don't you think? Well, both don't really play defense. Sid still more than Kessel, tho.
Kessel isn't that high in scoring. Use even strength points per 60 and I'd guess he barely cracks the top 20.
IMO it would be the best for the Leafs to trade Kessel for as much as they can get and move on.


3.) 16 Feb 2015
So the leafs should deal kessel for as much as they can get and then move on in you're opinion.wow you must be an intelligent person to come up with such a useful well thought out plan.keep thinking outside the box.great post


4.) 17 Feb 2015
Drais Kessel doesn't crack top 100 in 5v5 points/60 until you take out everyone who hasn't played at least 750 min and even then he's only at 35


5.) 17 Feb 2015
@ovie

I think mark Hunter and Kyle Dubas were the start of that overhaul.

I will be intrigued to see who gets hired to take over. One of the reasons I think none of the really big names will move is bc Shanny wants the next GM and his staff to have control over that process. But in the interim if a deal goes down he has those two in place to oversee what goes out and what comes in.


6.) 17 Feb 2015
17 Feb 2015 10:17:15
@timhortons: Why would I say sth "special" on purpose when the "simple" solution is my honest opinion?
Oh and hab. is correct. If the Leafs are clever, they should do it at the draft, not now.
@jbs: even worse than I thought. Where you get this from? Is it this war on ice thing?
Just provides proof for my point tho, thanks.


7.) 17 Feb 2015
I threw it into Google and a site called stats.hockeyanalysis.com came up. You can select all skaters teams and positions and even year or a group of seasons


8.) 17 Feb 2015
17 Feb 2015 16:28:15
Nice thanks!


9.) 17 Feb 2015
Actually Kessel is ranked like 55 right in the same ball park as Giroux, Zetterberg, Johansen, Pavelski and Datsyuk and he also finished last year 6th in ESP so . yeah he's not nearly as bad as what you guys seem to think.


10.) 17 Feb 2015
Xavier where did you get that from? Because the source I posted earlier has kessel at below 100 until you use only players with 750 min and in that case he's at 38 as of this morning. For 5v5 points/60. Players around him (750+min played) include Filpulla Kadri Turret and Plekanec. Two above two below. He goes up to 20th in all situation scoring because he's much better on the power play than even strength


11.) 17 Feb 2015
Sorry I was looking at the NHL.com site but even then after looking at the site you just recommend to Draisaitl I noticed Kessel was actually above or right near all the players I mentioned above. Plus we aren't really putting into account of the ccompetition that these players are facing so a 3rd line player playing 4th line minutes against 4th line competition such as Brett Connolly is most likely going to have a better 5V5 Points/60 than a player playing on a 1st line against the toughest competition such as Kessel and Giroux.


12.) 17 Feb 2015
While I will concede they play lower competition at the same time they're playing with better players. Connolly plays with Boyle and Morrow for the most part. Say what you want about Bozak but he's a much better scoring center than Boyle and Morrow isn't comparable to the likes of JVR. Connolly does what he does without any help while kessel has guys around him that make him better and give him more opportunities. As is true with every top line player.


13.) 18 Feb 2015
Yeah but if you put Steven Stamkos on the 2nd line and he played against 2nd line competition I would almost guarantee that he would get the same amount of points yet his 5v5 points/60 would look better because he would be on the second line with less ice time facing competition far less talented than him. Just like Connollys case where as he's likely a 3rd line player but because he's playing against 4th line players his 5v5 points /60 is going to end up looking good because he's just that much more talented than his competition. Basically what i'm trying to say is a 3rd line player playing 4th line minutes is likely going to have a better 5v5 points /60 than a 1st line player playing against 1st line competition.


14.) 18 Feb 2015
I understand. I still think the effect is a little overstated though. Some top line guys you can pass them the puck and they'll do all the work and you get an assist. Guys Connolly plays with. if he doesn't score nobody does. Also allows the d to focus on him to take it away. Not saying he some he's some all star it's just a stat I like to look at and I do believe there is value in it but you have to take out outliers and group better than just throwing everyone in there because it will be skewed. That being said once you limit it to players this season who've played 750+ min this season it's all top 4 defense and top line forwards. Rick Nash Nikita Kucherov and Tyler Johnson don't even qualify. Top 5 are Tarasenko Getzlaf Seguin Patches Crosby so I'd say while they may still be skewed a bit it's much better for comparing top line players. Kessel still comes in at 38. Again he's not a bad player but if he was the offensive elite people say he is he wouldn't be that far down playing with guys like Bozak and JVR. At the very least he would do it himself and find ways to score. I realize he is in a massive slump right now but that's another reason I don't consider him elite. Elite players don't go through these kinds of slumps they're more consistent than that


15.) 18 Feb 2015
Yeah I'll agree with you on that he is a offensive dynamo likely top 8 to top 15 in that regard but their are but as far as including two way play and consistency I think he would likely be ranked somewhere between 30th and 50th as far as NHL players in my opinion. Not elite like the Crosby's, Toews, Stamkos, Ovechkin's and Weber's of the league but just a dynamic goal scorer and point producer.