I see too much Kapanen "bashing" from the leafs side, he's a good player and a good pick up for the pens. In the long run yes i feel like leafs will come out much better, but make no mistake the Pens are getting a really good player, who can PK/PP. Yes they overpaid, but lets not act like hes a garbage player, he's better than average and the Pens are a better team today for it. A chance for another cup run today at the cost of long term, worth it for them given they have Sid and Geno who are in their mid 30s now.
There are a few people who criticized Kapanen while he was with the Leafs and after he's gone as well.
Most of Leafs Nation recognizes that he is a good player and would rather have kept him if there were no salary limitations. However, given the tight salary cap and the fact that they have two even better players at right wing, and others at the same position who could readily fill his third-line spot, I think there is wide support for this deal among Leafs fans.
That not a knock against Kapanen -- it's just trading from a position of strength and surplus.
Pretty good long-term personnel management, if you ask me, both in developing the pool of assets over a number of years and harvesting something for the future once they all developed.
I would like to see more of this from the Leafs at other positions, such as defence and goaltender. Draft, develop, and trade away surplus players when the house is too full.