Speculation: Phil Kessel to NJ

[Guttersniped]

I'm definitely not giving up anything of value for him, and since most of his cap hit is air anyway it wouldn't really impact an internal budget, so I'm not opposed to bringing him on for this year and next at a very low cost if Arizona is basically just giving him away, but he's probably not getting a ton of rope 5 on 5. He's mostly a power play guy at this point, I think.

That being said, I'd have concerns regarding the personality...that seems to be a thing, and I don't know enough about him or that to really say for sure how big of a deal that is.

I don’t know if Arizona is actually giving away a player they just scrambled to pay a 5m bonus to and who’s only owed 1m in salary. If the Coyotes are looking to move players then cap space doesn’t matter to them either at this point, they care about the value of the return or the savings in actual salary. If trading Kessel doesn’t do much in either department and trading some else does then they will likely trade the other player. They might retain the make his cap hit more palatable to other teams.

Sure dumping him now will save them money next season but 1) presumably things will be more normal and who’s worrying about 2021-22 now when everything’s on fire 2) a bunch of UFAs will be off their books 3) they can potentially get a big return for him at the TDL this season or the next by retaining.

And in terms of having him on our team 1) who knows how fast his decline is 2) he’s a defensive liability that gets sheltered minutes 3) we’d back at spending assets to get temporary forward help that’s flipped in a year and half and his return could be sabotaged by injury, decline etc. 4) Yuck.

 

[Forge]

I don’t know if Arizona is actually giving away a player they just scrambled to pay a 5m bonus to and who’s only owed 1m in salary. If the Coyotes are looking to move players then cap space doesn’t matter to them either at this point, they care about the value of the return or the savings in actual salary. If trading Kessel doesn’t do much in either department and trading some else does then they will likely trade the other player. They might retain the make his cap hit more palatable to other teams.

Sure dumping him now will save them money next season but 1) presumably things will be more normal and who’s worrying about 2021-22 now when everything’s on fire 2) a bunch of UFAs will be off their books 3) they can potentially get a big return for him at the TDL this season or the next by retaining.

And in terms of having him on our team 1) who knows how fast his decline is 2) he’s a defensive liability that gets sheltered minutes 3) we’d back at spending assets to get temporary forward help that’s flipped in a year and half and his return could be sabotaged by injury, decline etc. 4) Yuck.

Yeah, and I have no interest in him with regards to actually giving anything of value. I agree that it would be weird to pay the bonus and then trade him, but at this point, I'm not going to lie, nothing is going to surprise me with regards to Arizona any more.

 

[Eggtimer]

Pass. Id reahter try to sign Dadanov or Hoffman or .. pretty well much anyone but The thrill

 

[Guttersniped]

Yeah, and I have no interest in him with regards to actually giving anything of value. I agree that it would be weird to pay the bonus and then trade him, but at this point, I'm not going to lie, nothing is going to surprise me with regards to Arizona any more.

Like others I wouldn’t give the Carolina 3rd for him and they would want much more, probably retaining to get it. Part of the issue is we aren’t one of the teams with a pile of 2nd-4th extra picks that makes trades a whole lot easier. 3rd round picks come and go, who cares, but not picking in the 2nd or 3rd round kind of sucks even with the extra 1sts.

Though even if we did have a pile of picks I would not trade for Kessel because he’s older, declining and terrible at defense and we’re all full up on players terrible at defense and I’d like to move that trend in the opposite direction if we pick up a veteran player.

 

[Patrik26]

If Coleman were still with us, I'd be all in on it.

 

[Eggtimer]

Kessel is good if hes used like he was in Pitt. On the third line and getting good matchups. He cannot drive play by himself. He is not great defensively so he would need ot score at a higher pace than he has in the past couple of seasons to make up for the deficency on D... which I don't think he can anymore... so I would have to pass on him unless he could be had for a low cost with salary retained.

 

[AfroThunder396]

I wouldn't give up more than a 5th.

I mean, if we can get him for a 5th then yeah that's obviously cheaper. That said, if we choose to flip him at the 2022 deadline we would almost surely get more than a 3rd back.

A 3rd round pick has about a 25% chance of playing 100 NHL games, even if Kessel is just a PP specialist for 1.75 years before getting flipped that's likely a better return than drafting another Brandon Gignac.

Obviously, yeah, if they'll take a 5th then you give them a 5th. But I wouldn't stay up at night crying if we gave up a 3rd. The difference in odds between a 3rd rounder making it (25%) and a 5th rounder making it (15%) is not worth wringing my hands over.

 

[OmNomNom]

unpopular opinion, i love phil kessel, he's hilarious

 

[Triumph]

Arizona isn't paying $5M for Kessel and then trading him for a 3rd or 5th round pick.

 

[Devilsfan992]

Arizona isn't paying $5M for Kessel and then trading him for a 3rd or 5th round pick.

I didn't realize his contract structure. So if they try to trade him, it would be next year before his bonus kicks in I assume? But at the same time, nobody will want to pay him that bonus unless he rebounds.

 

[SteveCangialosi123]

This is what peak performance looks like

 

[Ripshot 43]

This is what peak performance looks like

Well at least him and Zacha can NOT go to the gym together.

 

[Guttersniped]

I didn't realize his contract structure. So if they try to trade him, it would be next year before his bonus kicks in I assume? But at the same time, nobody will want to pay him that bonus unless he rebounds.

Bonuses are paid on July 1st, even this year, though it seems like there was an agreed upon delay with Arizona presumably due to the sale of the team.

Yes, Kessel is owed 1m salary this season, 5m next July 1st and then 1m salary next season. Since they don’t care about cap space they don’t need to move him now because he’s already been mostly paid. If they want to maximize the return they can retain salary to make his cap hit more appealing. They aren’t dumping him for free now.

 

[Mr Bojanglez]

they won't trade him for cheap but if they did - i would be OK with this. Worst case you ship him for a pick at the end of the season. Something like this (normal cap hit, but cheap real dollars) is something I'm interested in. I don't think he's an anchor like Ericsson.

Just trying to figure out how we can utilize other people's cap issues.

 

[Davegarri]

If getting Phil brings back dollar dog night at the Rock then I'm all for it

 

[SteveCangialosi123]

I keep seeing this thread and thinking we actually traded for Phil Kessel

 

[njdevils1982]

If getting Phil brings back dollar dog night at the Rock then I'm all for it

why stop there?!

 

[Oneiro]

There's a point where neglecting culture and the internal dynamics of your team are gonna bite you.

A Kessel arbitrage deal would've made sense a few years ago, but now, the team has played some pathetic hockey and they really need to focus on righting the ship at every level.

 

[StevenToddIves]

A swiftly declining, out of shape in his prime years, one-way scoring forward entering his mid-30s at $7 million per season is not worth giving anything up for. Arizona can cross their fingers that he can score 40 total goals over the next two years.