Confirmed with Link: Kessel, 2nd, Biggs, Erixon → Kapanen, Harrington, Spaling, 1st, 3rd | Leafs eat $1.2M

[Jaded-Fan]

I will be very happy if you guys win the president cup with that offence. its sick to think of either feeding kessel. I believe with this set up he might finally get the recognition he deserves as one of the top 3 scoring wingers in the game..
heres to your season

And may your rebuild be a short one. And take good care of KK, Spaling and Harrington. I liked KK a lot when drafted and was excited about seeing him grow as a Pen. You all have that now.

 

[66-30-33]

So, will Kessel retire a Penguin? or will we trade him his final year?

 

[Captain Hook]

leafs fan coming in peace..

I for one am very happy you have gotten kessel. I was around when we had no one tossing pucks to clark. when sundin didn't have a wing. kessel with his third line center..

Ive always believed if you give kessel a good center we shall see how great he will be.

my question is ... if he turns out to be as great as I think hes gonna be ... min of 40/40 who will center him... more likely gio? I was thinking about that. crosbyl has hornvquist right.?

Elliot Friedman mentioned he heard at the draft that if the deal went through that Kessel would be with Malkin and Sid would be with Hornqvist.

But like Jaded said, Rutherford made it sound like Kessel would be with Sid by mentioning how their speed would fit well together and that Malkin said he liked playing with Hornqvist last year. The problem with that is that Sid seems to have way more chemistry with Hornqvist than Malkin does and both Kessel and Hornqvist are exclusively RW's, IIRC. Kessel may wind up with Malkin because of this but it's a great situation either way.

 

[Nakawick]

leafs fan coming in peace..

I for one am very happy you have gotten kessel. I was around when we had no one tossing pucks to clark. when sundin didn't have a wing. kessel with his third line center..

Ive always believed if you give kessel a good center we shall see how great he will be.

my question is ... if he turns out to be as great as I think hes gonna be ... min of 40/40 who will center him... more likely gio? I was thinking about that. crosbyl has hornvquist right.?

We have been saying a similar thing about Sid and Geno in relation to wingers.

No doubt Kessel will play with both at some point through the season. I think that Sid and Kessel could play a faster type of offensive game with maybe a bit more back and forth passing, Sid hitting Kessel in stride, etc.

Geno has performed better with more of a stationary shooting sniper on his wing, like James Neal. I am looking forward to finding out who starts with who, but the third wheel will be important as well.

 

[Mr Jiggyfly]

leafs fan coming in peace..

I for one am very happy you have gotten kessel. I was around when we had no one tossing pucks to clark. when sundin didn't have a wing. kessel with his third line center..

Ive always believed if you give kessel a good center we shall see how great he will be.

my question is ... if he turns out to be as great as I think hes gonna be ... min of 40/40 who will center him... more likely gio? I was thinking about that. crosbyl has hornvquist right.?

My wife asked me this, being a Leafs fan herself... It made me think back to all of the winger trades over the years.

Basically, Crosby seems to always get first dibs on new wingers. Keep in mind Neal was suppose to go Crosby which Shero admitted awhile back, but said Neal and Malkin clicked so well they couldn't break them up.

Hossa, Kunitz, Guerin, Hornqvist, Perron. If I recall, all played with Crosby first. Iggy is the only one I can't remember exactly... Crosby got hurt in their first game together and I forget when Iggy finally played with him.

I don't think the Pens ever acquired a top six winger in a trade and tried him with Malkin first, barring Crosby being injured.

 

[Waffle Fries]

My wife asked me this, being a Leafs fan herself... It made me think back to all of the winger trades over the years.

Basically, Crosby seems to always get first dibs on new wingers. Keep in mind Neal was suppose to go Crosby which Shero admitted awhile back, but said Neal and Malkin clicked so well they couldn't break them up.

Hossa, Kunitz, Guerin, Hornqvist, Perron. If I recall, all played with Crosby first. Iggy is the only one I can't remember exactly... Crosby got hurt in their first game together and I forget when Iggy finally played with him.

I don't think the Pens ever acquired a top six winger in a trade and tried him with Malkin first, barring Crosby being injured.

Iggy was put on the LW with Malkin and Neal his first game. That was always Bylsma's plan, I don't think the injury affected that. He wasn't with Sid until the Isles series was tied and Bylsma got scared that he was about to lose his job. They were together for Games 5 and 6 of that series, and the moment they had a bad period in the Sens series, they were split up forever.

I also vaguely remember that MJ wanted to try Hornqvist with Geno first, but injuries prevented that.

 

[Dipsy Doodle]

Odd for a 1st rounder to get written off as quickly as Biggs. Haven't watched him so I don't know and I'm not expecting anything, but it'd be interesting to see if he could salvage a career in a new org without the expectations Toronto had.

He's got youth, size, physical play, and pedigree anyway. For a contract limit add-in, that's something.

 

[Mr Jiggyfly]

Iggy was put on the LW with Malkin and Neal his first game. That was always Bylsma's plan, I don't think the injury affected that. He wasn't with Sid until the Isles series was tied and Bylsma got scared that he was about to lose his job. They were together for Games 5 and 6 of that series, and the moment they had a bad period in the Sens series, they were split up forever.

I also vaguely remember that MJ wanted to try Hornqvist with Geno first, but injuries prevented that.

Ya, just seems like a pattern that the Pens acquire legit top six wingers and Crosby seems to be the guy who plays with them first. Rutherford is now hinting that Crosby and Kessel fit together.

Just will seem weird if Kessel gets to play with Malkin first if both he and Crosby are healthy,

 

[Waffle Fries]

Ya, just seems like a pattern that the Pens acquire legit top six wingers and Crosby seems to be the guy who plays with them first. Rutherford is now hinting that Crosby and Kessel fit together.

Just will seem weird if Kessel gets to play with Malkin first if both he and Crosby are healthy,

Yeah, we're just in such a unique situation with having two first-line centers. With most teams it's a no-brainer to try the shiny new toy with the #1 guy first and have a trickle down effect with the rest. But if we do that, it seems like we're giving Geno the shaft.

With Kessel it's hard to say who gets first crack. On one hand I'm sure the coaching staff wants to see Sid and Kessel together because of the speed element. At the same time, Geno could likely get him first because of how hard it would be to separate the chemistry Sid and Hornqvist have.

It's interesting to think about, but Sid has never played a full-season with two legitimate top-six wingers, and Geno only got to once. Pretty sad how much we failed them up to this point.