For Bruins, Kessel Trade About To Get Closure

by Michael Taylor on Jun 24, 2011 11:45 AM EDT

It's been a roller coaster 21 months since the Bruins traded highly skilled winger Phil Kessel to Toronto for 2 1st round draft picks and a 2nd rounder back in September of 2009. The Bruins were coming off their best season in recent memory, but like many before, it ended in disappointment to the team formerly known as the Whale.

In that amount of time, the Bruins hosted a Winter Classic at Fenway Park against the Flyers, saw #1 center Marc Savard suffer a career altering injury against Matt Cooke and the Penguins, became one of 3 teams in NHL history to lose a 3-0 series lead to those same Flyers, drafted Tyler Seguin at #2 with the first of the Kessel picks, overcame a 0-2 series deficit for the first time in franchise history against the hated Canadiens, exacted revenge against the Flyers in a 4 game series sweep, and then overcame another 0-2 series deficit against the now nearly as hated Canucks to win the Stanley Cup for the first time since Bobby Orr was in his prime.

Later today, we'll likely know which player will join Seguin and Jared Knight as the Bruins return on that trade. The Bruins hold the #9 pick in what is largely thought as a draft that has a clear top 9, but regardless should come out of tonight's draft with 3 very talented players under team control for the next 5-6 years. Names like Ryan Murphy and Ryan Strome are two players to focus on. GM Peter Chiarelli in comments he made earlier in the week seems to think that a player most don't expect to fall to the Bruins just might. It may still be a few years before we know exactly who "won" the Phil Kessel trade, but by this time tomorrow, we'll likely at least know who to evaluate.

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I would like to see them pick up a defenseman, but agree that since the team doesn’t necessarily need somebody right now, choosing the best player available at that pick is probably the best tack to take.

by TCL40 on Jun 24, 2011 12:38 PM EDT reply actions

The ideal is that BPA and Need (defenseman) converge at the #9 spot. I can’t say I’d be disappointed with anyone from Nugent-Hopkins at 1 to Beaulieu at 10. Although it’s no secret I’m a huge Ryan Murphy fan, so in that regard, if they were to pass on him, I’d be mildly disappointed. But then I’d quickly get over it by remembering just how enjoyable this past playoff run was, and that we’re adding a developing #2 pick and another top 10 pick to that mix.

by Michael Taylor on Jun 24, 2011 1:04 PM EDT reply actions

from the start

i was saying we won the trade. as time passes i am less likely to change my mind. id take the kessel for seguin and knight trade but it just keeps making an impact. like the thornton trade

You know how I said my profile pic would always be an animal? well, Chara's a BEAST!

by muffinman2 on Jun 24, 2011 1:06 PM EDT reply actions

Kessel can go on to be a 40 goal scorer and lead the Leafs to the playoffs and further for all I care. Doesn’t matter if that means we “lost” the trade. With how the B’s are built currently, we got fair value and obviously the team did not need a hell of a lot more to reach the top.

by Arenacale on Jun 24, 2011 1:17 PM EDT reply actions

true

i dont even hate kessel. he can score 50

You know how I said my profile pic would always be an animal? well, Chara's a BEAST!

by muffinman2 on Jun 24, 2011 2:00 PM EDT up reply actions

I tend to agree with this line of thinking. I think the with the exception of an inconvenient hot streak by James Reimer, this trade has worked out about as well as the Bruins could have hoped for. Kessel might still pay off for the Leafs, but it’s hard to image the Bruins being any happier with this deal.

by Michael Taylor on Jun 24, 2011 2:11 PM EDT up reply actions

Could not agree with you more...

I could care less what Kessel does in Toronto. We won the cup this year and Seguin, although he did not contribute a tonne made his impact felt. I think that even if Seguin does not become a “superstar” when you combine three players stats or contributions to the team I doubt that Kessel on his own could compare to them as a group.

They did it for Savy, they did it for Horton, they did it for each other, they did it for us. I give you the 2011 Stanley Cup Champions....The Boston Bruins!!

by beachguy113 on Jun 24, 2011 2:51 PM EDT up reply actions

The cup cures all. I could care less how the Kessel trade ultimately turns out. “Doesn’t matter, got the cup” is the answer for everything.
Thornton Trade?: “Doesn’t matter, got the cup.” Kessel Trade?: “Doesn’t matter, got the cup” Dog died?: “Doesn’t matter, got the cup” Car accident?: “Doesn’t matter, got the cup” She put a bag on my head: “Doesn’t matter, got the cup” I think she might have been a racist “Doesn’t matter, got the cup”

by TomServo42 on Jun 24, 2011 3:54 PM EDT up reply actions 1 recs

I just got the cup and it feels so good, if you just got the cup in the last 30 seconds you’re qualified to sing with me.

by tkent on Jun 24, 2011 4:08 PM EDT up reply actions

"a player most don't expect to fall to the Bruins just might."

Adam Larsson seems to be falling?

by CelticPride on Jun 24, 2011 1:24 PM EDT reply actions

Trades are not about winning or losing or conning the other party. It is about exchanging things that each party involved needs more than the other. We wanted some developmental depth, they needed a scorer, we both got what we wanted.

by tkent on Jun 24, 2011 3:40 PM EDT reply actions

bah, look at you being reasonable. C’mon, feed the narrative man! We can’t get reams of newsprint and innumerable blog discussions out of a gentlemanly, mutually beneficial transaction. There must be a winner and a loser, a hunter and hunted, a Chiarelli and a Tallon.

However, you sound like a good ally in Settlers of Catan.

by TomServo42 on Jun 24, 2011 3:47 PM EDT up reply actions

I pride myself on being reasonable…probably why my blogging wouldn’t be very exciting to read.

by tkent on Jun 24, 2011 4:03 PM EDT up reply actions

That’s a great point, one I totally agree with. It’s why I wrote won in quotes.

by Michael Taylor on Jun 24, 2011 4:25 PM EDT up reply actions

Clear top nine my pasty white arse.

“The Bruins hold the #9 pick in what is largely thought as a draft that has a clear top 9”

See, this is interesting. I was told by a Philadelphia fan that the draft has a clear top eight. A guy I know who follows the Islanders said there was a clear top five. An Ottawa fan claimed there was a clear top six, although he did follow that by claiming Bryan Murphy was affiliated with the lizard people and Eklund was a credible journalist, so I’ll take that with a pinch of salt. But it’s funny that all of these teams have such a different outlook on how many players are in the clear top tier, no?

As a reasonably unbiased observer, because there’s no way we’re cracking the top ten this year, I agree with the hypothetical Islander. At the top of the draft, there’s Nugent-Hopkins, Landeskog, Couturier, Larsson and Huberdeau. The guys below them – Hamilton, Zibanejad – none of them are bad but #6 is the first spot I see a lot of real change going on. Zibanejad, for example, I’ve seen as high as #5 and as low as the late teens, but none of the top five picks have shown anywhere NEAR as much draft spot variance.

You’re not going to get a complete scrub at #9 (much as I’d like to see it happen, being a Leaf) but there’s a definite quality gap and to protest otherwise is tremendously blinkered.

by Be26 on Jun 24, 2011 3:52 PM EDT reply actions

To be honest, I’m just going off of what I’ve read in other places, by impartial people with a much deeper knowledge of the draft than my own. When the regular season first finished, I thought it was an elite 8, and that Reimer (and our own sketchy play vs. the Leafs) had cost us a sure shot at one of those guys. The interesting thing about that though is that I didn’t have Zibanejad in my original top 8, and now he seems to be well positioned to go long before the Bruins pick. So I’d disagree with your point that I’m extending my list to include wherever the Bruins select. It also might be a moot point, because the rumors I’ve heard today have the Bruins interested in Beaulieu, a player not in my top 9.

by Michael Taylor on Jun 24, 2011 4:23 PM EDT up reply actions

ESPN is saying Boston wants Ryan Murphy

http://insider.espn.go.com/nhl/blog?name=nhl_draft

Not surprising. A guy with the name of Ryan Murphy is bound to be popular in Boston :)

by CelticPride on Jun 24, 2011 4:28 PM EDT up reply actions

if ESPN said something about hockey, chances are they’re wrong.

by Ryan Durling on Jun 24, 2011 7:05 PM EDT up reply actions 1 recs

Be

I’m not saying top 9 b/c I’m a Bruins fan. I’ve heard anywhere between top 9 and top 14
And I’m getting it off the nhl.com draft site and ESPN – as neutral as I can get

by CelticPride on Jun 24, 2011 4:30 PM EDT up reply actions

"It may still be a few years before we know exactly who "won" the Phil Kessel trade"

Um, the Bruins won the Cup…so…they won the trade.

by bhmccue on Jun 24, 2011 4:00 PM EDT reply actions

Yes, Tyler Seguin’s single point in the final truly was the difference maker. And his performance sitting in the press box for half the postseason? Awe-inspiring. Gretzky-esque, you might even say if you’d been hit in the head with a large rubber mallet approximately twelve billion times.

by Be26 on Jun 24, 2011 5:37 PM EDT up reply actions