Friedman: Kessel is in play

[justafan22]

Not related to a trade, but this is something that anyone who is a leafs fan would've known for a while, man's got strength.

And he’s a physical freak. The Maple Leafs who used to work out with him say that there would be days that he’d be sitting there and reading a magazine and they’d say, ‘Okay Phil, are you going to lift,’ and he’s like, ‘Okay, you want me to lift?’ and then he’d go outlift everybody and go back and pick up the magazine, and everybody would laugh because he’s so physically gifted.

 

[Empoleon8771]

The teams that will be interested in Kessel are playoff teams that think they can win a cup within 3 years. Kessel isn't a long term commitment, you keep him for 2 or 3 years and then trade him when he starts to butt heads with the coaches. That's not an if, that's a when. If a team thinks they can challenge for a cup within the next 3 years and have a need on the wing or for high end talent, I guarantee they'd be interested in Kessel. I don't see teams like Colorado or Carolina being interested in him to be honest. I think the main teams that will be interested in him will include teams like Chicago, Edmonton, Calgary, Florida and Minnesota.

Minnesota makes by far the most sense to me, personally. Minnesota was on Kessel's trade list in 2015, and he played college hockey for a year in Minnesota. He's also from Wisconsin, which is right next to Minny. Minnesota has a lot of good top-6 wingers, but they lack that true game breaking talent. Swapping Kessel for Niederreiter, Zucker or Coyle, while the Wild also add futures, makes a ton of sense to me.

For anyone curious, here's some reasons for why I think Kessel may be traded:

1. Kessel and Sullivan don't get along, and their relationship may be beyond the point of repair.
2. Kessel was unhappy with his usage in Pittsburgh, he wants to play with Malkin but Sullivan wants to have 3 offensive lines. Kessel doesn't like playing with guys like Sheahan.
3. The Penguins are unhappy that Kessel didn't take time off in the regular season to let a hand injury heal, he put his iron man streak above the team and it came to bite the team in the ass in the playoffs. Kessel is also apparently lazy in practice.
4. Kessel's value is never going to be higher than it is now due to him having a great season due to unsustainable PP production.
5. The plan was never to keep Kessel his entire contract, they were only going to keep him for a couple of years and then trade him elsewhere.
6. Kessel has an expiration date on any team, he wears thin on his coaches pretty quickly

I don't know if all of these are true, but I think most of them are.

 

[philip]

Kessel has a lot of talent, but he's a disruptive influence. If everything isn't exactly 'correct' in his book in every which way, he'll get the tit on. I wouldn't want someone like that near my team if I was a GM

 

[deakka]

Kessel has a lot of talent, but he's a disruptive influence. If everything isn't exactly 'correct' in his book in every which way, he'll get the tit on. I wouldn't want someone like that near my team if I was a GM

Well. If he wins b2b cups i think your fan base could suck it up

 

[Swervin81]

8 team list.

If there is a rift with Sullivan, that list could be bigger than 8 teams.

Doubt it. If anything, I see Kessel doing the exact same thing with his 8 team list that he did with us. List 1-2 teams that he actually wants to go to and fill up the rest with teams he knows either aren't interested or have no way in hell of being able to afford him. Of course, the Pens would have zero leverage in that kind of situation, so it'd negate the idea of trading him at an all time trade value high.

 

[Sidney the Kidney]

Sounds like Friedman is just repeating what he heard Madden spewing than because he heard it from his own sources.

 

[Dr Jan Itor]

Who says 'no', Kessel for Subban?

 

[TomasHertlsRooster]

Who says 'no', Kessel for Subban?

Who says ‘no’, McDavid for Toews?

 

[Dr Jan Itor]

Who says ‘no’, McDavid for Toews?

Edmonton.

Terrible analogy.

 

[TomasHertlsRooster]

Edmonton.

Terrible analogy.

Do you really think Nashville would trade Subban for Kessel? Come on. They’re both terrible proposals.

 

[pckstpr31]

Minnesota makes by far the most sense to me, personally. Minnesota was on Kessel's trade list in 2015, and he played college hockey for a year in Minnesota. He's also from Wisconsin, which is right next to Minny. Minnesota has a lot of good top-6 wingers, but they lack that true game breaking talent. Swapping Kessel for Niederreiter, Zucker or Coyle, while the Wild also add futures, makes a ton of sense to me.

I was thinking the Wild would be a good fit as well. Would be interested to hear from some Minnesota fans as to how well of a fit he'd be for the team.

 

[Dr Jan Itor]

Do you really think Nashville would trade Subban for Kessel? Come on. They’re both terrible proposals.

I think teams do things all of the time that people on here deem "questionable".

If Subban is indeed on his way out as is being reported, I think it would be one of the better 1 for 1 deals that would be available.

It's not like there is 8 year age difference, or Kessel is making $10M+ for < 60 point production or anything.

 

[Dr Jan Itor]

I was thinking the Wild would be a good fit as well. Would be interested to hear from some Minnesota fans as to how well of a fit he'd be for the team.

I think he'd fit just fine, and probably falls in line with what our owner and new GM would want to do. There have been talks about a "big shakeup" before the draft, and the belief that we are a couple "tweaks" away from contending. A Kessel trade would satisfy both of those.

 

[Joe Sakic]

Sorry but where are we getting the Sullivan/Kessel rif from?

This seems like pure HF speculation.

 

[Empoleon8771]

Sorry but where are we getting the Sullivan/Kessel rif from?

This seems like pure HF speculation.

It's not even remotely HF speculation, it has been reported by Pittsburgh reporters for a while that Kessel and Sullivan don't get along. It just got worse now that Tocchet left.

 

[16thOverallSaveUs]

Minnesota makes a lot of sense to me, but being a fan I’m skeptical. Is he the 90 point Phil Kessel? Definitely not seeing as his power-play points are unsustainable. However, Minnesota does have a plethora of winger depth so moving some out for a potential upgrade wouldn’t be a bad idea. The intriguing thing about Kessel is that he can carry his own line. Having Kessel and Granlund would give us two players who can produce with nearly anyone and that is what we need right now. On top of that, we have kaprizov, greenway, and kunin coming through the ranks, so shipping off a nino or zucker wouldn’t kill us in the future. I would shy away from trading zucker because Minnesota is a slow team and he is by far our fastest player. Plus, I could see him absolutely taking off with Malkin on his line.

We would have to add significantly to nino to return Kessel, but I hope we keep coyle as he has a good contract and can play center.

Again, not sure what else we’d have to add to a nino to get kessel, but these lines look like they could do some damage to me:

Zucker-Staal-Granlund
Parise-Coyle-Kessel
JEE-Koivu-Kunin
Foligno-xxxx-xxxx

This would be ideal, but we likely have to give someone else up to get Kessel, so it’s hard to see how much of a fit it would really be.

 

[BA Carroll]

I hope the Blues stay far, far away from Kessel. i don't care how much talent he has, the Blues' locker room is fragile enough, and they have no shortage of moody wingers.

 

[Cloned]

It won't be popular either way but:

Nurse + JP

for

Kessel + Schultz

 

[Empoleon8771]

It won't be popular either way but:

Nurse + JP

for

Kessel + Schultz

I certainly hope you don't mean Puljujarvi, because that's laughable for the Penguins. I honestly don't even know if Nurse is an upgrade on Schultz.

 

[Cloned]

I certainly hope you don't mean Puljujarvi, because that's laughable for the Penguins. I honestly don't even know if Nurse is an upgrade on Schultz.

It's not that bad. Nurse is a Top 4 d-man with Top 2 potential who you can sign to a reasonable long-term deal. JP still has bluechip potential. Most of all it frees up a ton of cap space for you guys to go after a bigger name in the offseason.

 

[Captain Controversy]

It won't be popular either way but:

Nurse + JP

for

Kessel + Schultz

Oilers wouldn't afford the cap. Oilers shouldn't trade nurse. Penguins get bent over in this trade.

If Kessel is to become an oiler, Lucic is going the other way.

 

[Bazeek]

I feel about Kessel to Minnesota about the same way that I feel about O'Reilly to Minnesota: good fits, but not good enough that I'd like the price we'd have to pay for them.

But if Fenton thinks we're just a winger upgrade away from a Cup, Kessel checks a lot of boxes. And he at least worries me less than someone like Pacioretty.

 

[Empoleon8771]

It's not that bad. Nurse is a Top 4 d-man with Top 2 potential who you can sign to a reasonable long-term deal. JP still has bluechip potential. Most of all it frees up a ton of cap space for you guys to go after a bigger name in the offseason.

It is certainly very bad, because Phil Kessel had 90 points last season. I wouldn't do that for Kessel alone. Cap space is not a trade asset and a win now team doesn't care about potential, especially when it comes with a guy with red flags like Puljujarvi.

Oilers wouldn't afford the cap. Oilers shouldn't trade nurse. Penguins get bent over in this trade.

If Kessel is to become an oiler, Lucic is going the other way.

Including Lucic kills any sort of incentive the Penguins have for moving Kessel. You're stuck with his contract.

 

[Cloned]

Oilers wouldn't afford the cap. Oilers shouldn't trade nurse. Penguins get bent over in this trade.

If Kessel is to become an oiler, Lucic is going the other way.

If the trade was to happen, you'd almost certainly see one of Russell/Sekera/Lucic being moved in a separate trade.

Penguins don't get bent over. They get one d-man who is already very good with the potential to become great, and a forward with elite potential. People keep telling Sens fans to not be disappointed with the potential return for Karlsson. Is Kessel going to somehow be an exception to this?

 

[PensandCaps]

Oilers wouldn't afford the cap. Oilers shouldn't trade nurse. Penguins get bent over in this trade.

If Kessel is to become an oiler, Lucic is going the other way.

Lol. And why would the Pens trade Kessel for a 6mil bottom six player?