In an interesting development over the weekend, the Toronto Maple Leafs General Manager Brian Burke made a move to re-acquire their 2010 second round draft choice from the Chicago Blackhawks in exchange for their 2011 third round choice and a 2011 second round pick previously acquired from the Calgary Flames.
Although it seems like a loss, the reality is that this gives Burke his picks in the first 3 rounds in the upcoming draft next summer, which is also the prerequisite for a team to submit an offer sheet to another teams restricted free agent.
This possibility has, of course, caused all kinds of speculation regarding Phil Kessel of the Boston Bruins. The 21 year old sniper is coming off a strong season in which he scored 36 goals and had 60 points, both career highs while only playing in 70 games for the Bruins. The Bruins are in a tight spot for available cap space, by most accounts about $1.6 million remains to sign Kessel, with their current roster anyway.
Boston Bruins’ GM Peter Chiarelli stated on am640 radio in Toronto that “What we have here in Phil Kessel is a player that is unsigned that we are trying to sign,” Chiarelli told Dreger on AM640. “Obviously in this business now with the (salary) cap there is the possibility of offer sheets. It’s something that we in the management group in Boston are fully aware of. It’s part of the trade now”.(source-TSN)
As for Brian Burke, he stated that he doesn’t contemplate an offer sheet for Kessel at this time. Right. He then went on to down play his previous disdain for the process when Kevin Lowe of the Oilers did it to him while he was with the Anaheim Ducks, extending an offer sheet to Dustin Penner in 2007.
“My objection was that I got blindsided by it at a time I thought was inappropriate,” Burke stated. “This entire process has involved dialogue with (Bruins GM) Peter Chiarelli. I told him about reacquiring the pick, telling him the night before I got the pick that I intended to get the pick back. There has been no blindside or back door like Kevin Lowe did.”
Burke also made it clear that he does not in fact object to the notion of the offer sheet which some have suggested.
“They are part of the CBA (collective bargaining agreement),” Burke stated. “And the team utilizes that tool to get better. It’s not an issue to me and it wasn’t an issue to me. So on that basis I don’t believe that they are parallel circumstances at all.”
Interesting logic from Mr. Burke to say the least. It kind of feels like he got caught with his hand in the cookie jar and now he’s splitting hairs to justify contradicting what he once deemed as “unethical”. What happened in 2007 with the Penner situation more or less educated the media and fans about potential moves like this and there was no way Burke was going to re-acquire this all important pick and fly under the radar to offer Kessel a contract without the media outing him before he could get it done. With that in mind it seems irrelevant to announce that he told Peter Chiarelli in advance about the pick and it’s possible implications, when everyone knows Chiarelli would’ve read it in advance anyway.
It is going to be difficult for Burke to operate incognito in Toronto like he was able to do in Anaheim. I don’t want to state the obvious but this is what everyone is talking about when they mention how difficult it is to make moves and trades with all the media attention surrounding the Leafs.
I realize Burke is just posturing when he says he isn’t considering an offer sheet to someone, likely Kessel, and he’s trying not to tip his hand. Is there any other logical reason to trade a second and a third round pick for a single second round pick?
