Elliotte Friedman and Gord Stellick on Hockey Central @ Noon on the Maple Leafs, Phil Kessel and who might be interested:
“If teams out there are going to do it, they’re beginning to call the Maple Leafs and saying, “Okay, if we want to do Phil Kessel, what is it going to take?” And the reason I don’t think it is very far along yet, it’s because from what I can tell, nobody has gone to Kessel yet and said “what do you think of about this?” He has a no trade list, eight teams he could go to. But, you never know.
I think, sometimes I think those lists Gord aren’t worth the paper they are printed on. Things change in people lives, they might look at situations differently now than if they did then. And if he’s going to be traded, you know that he’s going to have to be on board.”
Gord Stellick:
“Absolutely, first about the no-trade list. It seems like as once somebody gets them, the agents keep going after them. Because it keeps an element of control for the player, but he can of course say he will go anywhere, or add to it along the way. In this case, the trial balloon, lets face it, the trade deadline is not the trade deadline. The trade deadline is the draft and up until July 1st. So this is the time when teams are figuring out the whole salary cap situation.
I heard you talk about it as well Elliotte, it’s interesting, so people go “wow, can you get the third overall pick for Kessel, can you get a first or whatever it may be?” All I can, if you are the Toronto Maple Leafs, if you want to look at it, they were months away from losing both Phil Kessel and Dion Phaneuf as unrestricted free agents. So in some ways, if you get anything, that’s better than the plight two years ago when things were going well and you signed these guys long term. Or, throw it out there and if you just get two teams bidding, then all of a sudden if you are Kyle Dubas and Brendan Shanahan and company, then maybe you get something more palatable back. It’s, it’s a real interesting animal what, what his actual trade value is.”
On what teams are picking up the phone and are interested in Kessel.
Friedman:
“Well, you know the way I look it is this Leah. He hasn’t missed a game in five years either, and that in this league that is not easy. Last year was a down year for him, he scored 25 goals. To me, it’s a team that thinks they can win in the next three to four years. Because if you look at the numbers, statistically, once a guy, he’s 27 now, once a scorer hits 31-years old, the numbers tend to drop. So I think you are looking at a team who thinks he can make a difference for them in the next three to four years.
You know the first time to jumped my head was Nashville, because they have had interest in him in the past, um, when Toronto got him, Nashville was the other team looking at getting him. But, I’m not convinced that Nashville is the place now, for a couple of reasons.
Number one, they have contracts in the next year, they’ve got do for Seth Jones and Filip Forsberg. Um, and you know, I just think, I’m not sure that Nashville is the kind of fit that I thought they might have been when I first researched it.
Another team I might wonder about, would be a team, I’m not saying they are in, please I’m not saying that they are in, but I wonder if a team like St. Louis. I mean if you look at St. Louis, they’ve got Brett Hull working for them. Do you not see any kind of similarities between the way Brett Hull was perceived and the way that Phil Kessel was perceived? So I wonder if that kind of institutional knowledge and the organization, would make, and another thing too is, St. Louis is a budget team. Can they do Tarasenko and Hull and everything Tarasenko and Kessel and everything that comes with that? That would be my question.”
Stellick:
“And of course Nashville, you go back there, that, that was the other team in the bidding. So I still think, yeah, if they still have the money they would try to make it work. Every team, to answer you question Leah, would want, you know Phil Kessel is an automatic. He’s a 30 goal scorer who doesn’t get hurt.
I don’t think he really got kicked around in Toronto, I think it’s just a funny thing that he doesn’t mind this fishbowl in Toronto. He seems to handle it quite well, but he doesn’t seem to embrace it either. So it’s kind of strange that way. So, if it’s time to go somewhere else. Now, to me Vancouver, I know they have cap issues, okay on that, but I mean, they need more balanced scoring.
How about something off. Does he say: “You know what, Florida Panthers,” for an example. Something different. They’ve got money, you know, I wonder.”
Friedman:
“I think that’s, I think he’d love to go there. The other team I kind of wonder, I know with just Burke there, and I don’t think Burke is as day-to-day invested. I think Brad Treliving really has a strong handle on that team, but I wonder if a team like Calgary would have any interest, just with Burke’s history with him.”
Transcribed by MyNHLTradeRumors.com
