Finally, Kessel Trade Expected Soon

This has been like a bad break-up. The one where your friends get involved, such as Wade Arnott coming to the defense of his best friend, Phil while Peter fires right back at the best friend for trying to start drama. You know, the one you tell everyone about because it weighs on your mind gradually over time? Only this time, the Bruins are ready to see the ache of Phil leaving subside because they’ll remember what they have, not had.

“We’re sorry Phil, it’s not us..it’s you.”

As widely documented, it’s beginning to appear as if Phil Kessel will no longer be with the Boston Bruins and will be leaving the Hub for Leaf Nation. The restricted free agent winger who tallied 36 goals last season for Boston is looking for the big deal at the age of 21. To put it simply, the Bruins were never quite in the position to give Kessel that big deal.

Drafted by Boston with the fifth overall draft pick in 2006, Kessel has gone from a troubled rookie caught at a bar despite being under aged to being the Bruins legitimate number one goal scoring forward he was hyped up to be. However, despite his success, the forward’s journey to his current status has been in jeopardy on more than just one occasion.

Firstly, Kessel was sidelined for over a month due to treatment for testicular cancer in his rookie season. Kessel rebounded by returning and scoring the game winning goal in a shootout against the Pittsburgh Penguins in his first game back. Kessel finished the rookie season with 29 points and a -12.

Kessel undoubtedly received a pass on his rather disappointing season stats wise for his treatment but with the Claude Julien system introduced into Boston, the expectations for a fully healthy Kessel were without question on the rise. Seemingly trying too hard, or not trying hard enough, the end result for Phil The Thrill was just 19 goals in 82 games for Boston. It wasn’t until a benching in the playoffs before the winger found a fire lit under him as he scored three key goals for the Bruins in the final three games of the 2008 first round match-up against the Habs.

Regardless of the fact that the Bruins fell to the Canadiens in a decisive Game 7, the limitless potential of Phil Kessel that the Bruins fans were force fed for two years was beginning to arrive.

Building off the confidence he gained in Game 6 against Montreal, Kessel scored a total of 36 goals in 70 games for Boston despite being sidelined for various stints due to mono and regular wear and tear (on his shoulder). Kessel built on the strong regular season with an even better post-season where he had 11 points in 11 games.

With the dreaded off-season looming over the Bruins’ head like Zdeno Chara bearing down on an opposing forward, the future of Phil Kessel was both uncertain and concerning to Boston fans.

After the signing of Bruins promising center and 73-point man David Krejci to a three year deal with an annual cap hit of 3.75 million dollars a year, it appears that Phil Kessel was next in line for a contract. Given Krejci’s better numbers, solid two-way play and game-changing abilities, it seemed as if the ballpark figure for Kessel would be in the same range and perhaps even a little bit lower.

As Bruins fans sat around, waiting to get their text message alerts that Kessel had signed for the same money, it simply never happened. Then the word broke that Kessel in fact, wanted moremoney before commiting to signing with the Boston Bruins, but why?

Yes Phil, 36 goals are quite flashy, but look who you were playing beside. For one, you had Milan Lucic out there protecting you from getting bullied around by every defensemen out there, and feeding you the puck was Marc Savard, one of just two players who’s put up 60+ assists in every season since the lockout. The other? Old friend Joe Thornton.

Perhaps you would have hit 40 had you not contracted mono, but that’s irrelevant to what actually did happen. Your playoff play was stellar, especially considering your shoulder injury, but what about Krejci playing through the entire season with a torn hip labrum and putting up better numbers?

Along with not being able to play defense to save his life, Kessel will frequently resort to his old habit of repeating a deke all game long until it hopefully works. If it doesn’t work, oh well, because he’ll keep doing it until it does. The inconsistent level at which Kessel plays can, and often, leads to scoring droughts that can even go as long as 15 games.

While the Bruins are in the midst of their pre-season, Kessel remains unsigned and as Pierre LeBrun of ESPN is now reporting, it appears that a Kessel trade is expected by next week, if not this weekend.

The expected front runner remains to be the Toronto Maple Leafs while the Nashville Predators are still considered to be in the race for the 21-year old Wisconsin-native. There’s no debating that Phil Kessel is a supreme talent, but at what cost? Market value points to Kessel’s value being in the 4+ million dollar range, a price the Bruins can’t afford and shouldn’t even bother trying to do.

Kessel, while a valuable commodity to the Bruins or any other team in the National Hockey League, is not a necessary one for the success of Boston in the future.

Returning to the club this season will be scorer’s Michael Ryder, Marc Savard, Mark Recchi, Chuck Kobasew, Milan Lucic and Patrice Bergeron. Factor in the continuing development of both Byron Bitz and Blake Wheeler, who faded down the stretch due to fatigue and you’re almost set. The equation is then completed with the return of 2007-08 leading goal scorer Marco Sturm, who missed most of last season with a torn ACL in his knee.

How will his shoulder return after major surgery? Who will be the number one center to feed him the puck to repeat last seasons stats? Is Kessel a premier player? Can his smaller frame handle the rigors of the NHL or will he turn into a Marian Gaborik injury prone cap-headache?

Simply put, there’s too many questions and not enough answers in the mysterious case of Phil Kessel.

Don’t let the door hit you on the way out, we wouldn’t want you getting hurt, Phil.