Kessel Turns Over as newest Leaf

Boston has finally traded disgruntled RW Phil Kessel to the Toronto Maple Leafs for two 1st round and a 2nd round draft pick. Immediately the Leafs opened the vault and signed Kessel to a 5 year deal worth $27M.

Fantasy Impact – the rumor around the league is that Kessel was not a popular guy in the young Bruins locker room and that he and Bruins head coach Claude Julien also did not see eye to eye. Now Kessel will join the Leafs and become the teams’ best RW hand down. Poolies should be smiling widely at the prospect of Kessel playing a ton of minutes and will be getting the tap on the shoulder from head coach Ron Wilson in all offensive situations. Kessel’s arrival should also mean good news and added offensive input for the likes Mikael Grabovski and Alexei Ponikarovsky; the Leafs center and left winger on the teams’ top line. The Leafs PP should be improved as well. Now, make no mistake, Kessel won’t be riding shotgun alongside Marc Savard, but his fantasy stats should be about the same. This of course all assumes that Kessel is 100% when he returns to regular season action some time in November.

For the Bruins, this may be a little bit of addition via subtraction. In addition to Kessel’s “lone wolf" sentiment in the locker room and alienation with the coach, there are further rumors that Kessel was not comfortable with the Bruins media either. There is no doubt that the team is going to miss the 36 goals in 70 games that Kessel tallied last year. But his absence also means opportunity for the likes of Ryder and Blake Wheeler. Wheeler seems to be the most likely candidate to receive Kessel’s minutes. Neither Wheeler or Ryder are as talented as Kessel so there might be a slight drop on production for the likes of Savard and Lucic. Similarly, the Bruins PP should see a slight decline in output, but as mentioned the Bruins are a tight team and Kessel’s absence won’t hurt them from a chemistry perspective.

Lastly, don’t be surprised if the Bruins are active toward the trade deadline with now two first round draft picks in the coming two years, as the two first rounders will be attractive to teams looking to off-load veteran salaries for draft picks.