Why isn't Kessel scoring more goals this season?

[PensBandwagonerNo272*]

He is finally showing he has a good overall player on a team where he does not need to the best on the ice. Another thing he has proven is he will never be a guy who can carry a team.

f i n a l l y

 

[NiL8r87]

He is finally showing he has a good overall player on a team where he does not need to the best on the ice. Another thing he has proven is he will never be a guy who can carry a team.

Unfortunately there isn't a single star in the league who can carry a team by himself. Sid never had to play with a team so devoid of star talent.

 

[PensBandwagonerNo272*]

Unless Kapanen comes in to make an impact at the NHL level, that will go down as one of the more lopsided trades of all time. Especially considering Phil won a Cup in Pittsburgh.

Kapanen would have to do great it to be even or a Leafs win but hindsight is 2020, plus Kapanen is playing fantastic in the AHL and probably will have a very good NHL career.

He doesn't have to equal Kessel for it to be a fair trade. It was in the Leafs best interest to unload a contract + tank.

 

[Gary Nylund]

Unless Kapanen comes in to make an impact at the NHL level, that will go down as one of the more lopsided trades of all time. Especially considering Phil won a Cup in Pittsburgh.

The draft pick that was traded for Andersen doesn't count?

 

[BHD]

He is currently Top 10 in league scoring after lighting it up in the playoffs. The goals will come. And even if they don't, he'll still be a game-breaker.

 

[Unspecified]

Unfortunately there isn't a single star in the league who can carry a team by himself. Sid never had to play with a team so devoid of star talent.

There were a few players in the past that had the ability (Lemieux, Datsyuk and Lindros IMO to name a few) but Kessel is better not having to be the go to guy. I never liked the guy and will never support the Penguins but you gotta give credit where credit is due, him and the team are better than any team in the NHL by far right now.

 

[syc]

Kapanen would have to do great it to be even or a Leafs win but hindsight is 2020, plus Kapanen is playing fantastic in the AHL and probably will have a very good NHL career.

He doesn't have to equal Kessel for it to be a fair trade. It was in the Leafs best interest to unload a contract + tank.

Exactly, Leafs had to sell low but still got the best deal they could.

Like most NHL players he never was comfortable in the spotlight.

 

[NiL8r87]

There were a few players in the past that had the ability (Lemieux, Datsyuk and Lindros IMO to name a few) but Kessel is better not having to be the go to guy. I never liked the guy and will never support the Penguins but you gotta give credit where credit is due, him and the team are better than any team in the NHL by far right now.

Did Mario? I think I remember there was one year he made the playoffs basically on his own but he didn't win the cup until he had Francis and Jagr, maybe I'm wrong.

Dats had Zetterberg for his whole career I believe and Lindros had the Legion of Doom.

I think the only star athlete in my time who's ever even come close to winning a title on his own basically (or as the only star on a team) is LeBron.

 

[PensBandwagonerNo272*]

Did Mario? I think I remember there was one year he made the playoffs basically on his own but he didn't win the cup until he had Francis and Jagr, maybe I'm wrong.

Dats had Zetterberg for his whole career I believe and Lindros had the Legion of Doom.

I think the only star athlete in my time who's ever even come close to winning a title on his own basically (or as the only star on a team) is LeBron.

Yeah basketball is a sport where you can have a star forward carry the team. Hockey requires depth.

If Ovechkin can't get the Capitals out of the 2nd round, no one should have expected Kessel to take a bad Leafs team anywhere.

 

[NiL8r87]

Yeah basketball is a sport where you can have a star forward carry the team. Hockey requires depth.

If Ovechkin can't get the Capitals out of the 2nd round, no one should have expected Kessel to take a bad Leafs team anywhere.

Well it's not actually, LeBron's basically the only basketball player on Earth who can pull it off. Basically my point was it's insanely hard to carry a team on your own in any professional sport.

And agreed, people ragged on Kessel for not being able to carry a team and devalued him because of it but to ask for that kind of responsibility of anybody with the team he had is crazy.

 

[Rabid Ranger]

IMO Kessel has always been a bit overrated as a goal scorer and seriously underrated as an overall offensive player.

 

[Mad Brills*]

Kapanen would have to do great it to be even or a Leafs win but hindsight is 2020, plus Kapanen is playing fantastic in the AHL and probably will have a very good NHL career.

He doesn't have to equal Kessel for it to be a fair trade. It was in the Leafs best interest to unload a contract + tank.

Yeah, the other return on the deal was the leafs getting the most lottery balls for auston matthews.

It was purely a tank trade.

 

[GordieHoweHatTrick]

He's an extremely underrated playmaker and a streaky goal-scorer. If he scores 7 in his next 9 he'll be back on pace for his career average.

 

[Kamiccolo]

Unless Kapanen comes in to make an impact at the NHL level, that will go down as one of the more lopsided trades of all time. Especially considering Phil won a Cup in Pittsburgh.

Do people forget he had a NTC and there was literally only 1 team he could go to between his submitted list and teams on that list with the right combination of assets and cap space?

In this, the Leafs managed to get a great prospect, a starting goalie, were able to be bad enough for Matthews which would never happen with Phil here, while clearing a ton of cap space.

The Leafs did what needed to be done. Go look up threads before his trade. Main board was claiming he was a cap dump FFS, I'd say they did pretty good.

 

[Big McLargehuge]

There was basically no way Toronto was going to win that trade, but Kapanen was a very good prospect to get out of a tough situation...and as it's been said it was in Toronto's best interest to move him out and bottom out anyway.

As long as the puck ends up in the net, I don't care who is passing and who is shooting. It's been explained enough in this thread that I don't need to repeat it, but he has become a more well-balanced player than advertised.

That and his goddamn stick breaks every time he gets a breakaway.

 

[HockeyThoughts]

There were a few players in the past that had the ability (Lemieux, Datsyuk and Lindros IMO to name a few) but Kessel is better not having to be the go to guy. I never liked the guy and will never support the Penguins but you gotta give credit where credit is due, him and the team are better than any team in the NHL by far right now.

Are we just pretending that Nicklas Lidström and Henrik Zetterberg don't exist?

 

[RonEllisFan]

Historically Mr. January

 

[The Winter Soldier]

For me, the most lopsided part of the deal was Rutherford being able to convince Shanahan to retain 1.2 in annual salary.

Kapanen and Harrington were just fillers. I actually didn't think of them as anything remotely close to 'A' prospects.

I thought Sprong or Pouliot were better prospects and more likely parts to a deal when Toronto agreed to the salary retention. Pens obviously did well here, they won the cup with Kessel being a 1-2 in Conn Smyhe voting, they retained their best prospects, and the biggest win IMO, they got 1.2 off the books for a player that can fit into their cap to complement Malkin and Crosby.

 

[GeeoffBrown]

Correct me if I'm wrong but passing to Evgeni Malkin seems like a better option than passing to Tyler Bozak.

 

[Empoleon8771]

He has guys to pass to now

This basically sums it up IMO. On Toronto, the best player he ever played with is JVR. On Pittsburgh, he's plays with a superstar on his line at ES and 2 superstars on the PP (one of which is leading the league in goals). Kessel is just a gifted playmaker along with a scorer, he doesn't need to score as many goals as he did in Toronto to be effective. He's top-10 in league scoring and assists, I have no problem if he's "only" scoring 26 goals over a season if he's getting 50 assists.

For me, the most lopsided part of the deal was Rutherford being able to convince Shanahan to retain 1.2 in annual salary.

Kapanen and Harrington were just fillers. I actually didn't think of them as anything remotely close to 'A' prospects.

I thought Sprong or Pouliot were better prospects and more likely parts to a deal when Toronto agreed to the salary retention. Pens obviously did well here, they won the cup with Kessel being a 1-2 in Conn Smyhe voting, they retained their best prospects, and the biggest win IMO, they got 1.2 off the books for a player that can fit into their cap to complement Malkin and Crosby.

Kapanen and Sprong are basically equivalent prospects IMO, I don't think there's a big difference between the two.

 

[billybudd]

He has guys to pass to now

It's mostly this. He's also hit a bunch of posts or had his gumby stick fail him at inopportune times, though.

Kapanen and Harrington were just fillers. I actually didn't think of them as anything remotely close to 'A' prospects.

I could have told you Harrington was nothing at the time of this trade. Kapanen can shoot well enough to be a goalscorer in this league (weak side on a PP, he'd fill the net, even now). It's just a question if/when the rest of his game ever comes around. I mean, if you guys didn't want him, I'd take him back (I would not take Harrington).

 

[authentic]

There were a few players in the past that had the ability (Lemieux, Datsyuk and Lindros IMO to name a few) but Kessel is better not having to be the go to guy. I never liked the guy and will never support the Penguins but you gotta give credit where credit is due, him and the team are better than any team in the NHL by far right now.

Meh, he was basically as good back in the day as he is now. Possibly better. He was the go to guy in Toronto and scored 82 points in 82 games one season. The team sucked because the team sucked, not because he can't carry a team. How far did the Penguins go in Crosby's first two seasons? Yeah not far. No single player carries a team, that is just a myth perpetuated throughout team sports history. All great players who "lead" their teams to Stanley Cups (I'm not saying there is no element of leadership involved at all either) also, not by coincidence mind you, happen to have a stacked team at usually every position throughout a majority of their line-up. Makes for a good story though.

 

[BHD]

Correct me if I'm wrong but passing to Evgeni Malkin seems like a better option than passing to Tyler Bozak.

Another thing is chemistry. When he first arrived, Kessel looked out of place next to Malkin and Crosby (especially), and ended up clicking with Bonino. Now, it's instant offense with him and Malkin (plus Hagelin).

 

[Luigi Lemieux]

Kessel is a slick playmaker so I don't mind if he's dishing it more than shooting. As long as he's producing.

 

[Ivo]

He's not shooting as much as he used to when playing in Toronto. His shooting% is right around the same as it was in his best goal scoring seasons, I guess having better teammates he doesn't have to do it all by himself and he's getting a fair amount of assists to compensate lower goal production.