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.