Phil Kessel wants to comeback to the Boston Bruins?
Tomorrow night, the Stanley Cup enters game six and the Chicago Blackhawks are poised to claim their third Cup in six years. So, with Chicago on the verge of becoming one of the hottest franchises in recent history, you figure that would be a hot topic in hockey?
Nope.
The biggest subject being bandied about by sportswriters(this one included) is the fact that the Toronto Maple Leafs are looking to trade Phil Kessel, and that the ex-Bruin had expressed an interest in coming back to the Boston Bruins.
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Phil Kessel’s contract has a limited no-trade clause in it. (Something the Bruins organization should look at in the future.) According to TSN, the eight teams that Kessel is willing to be moved to are Boston, Chicago, Los Angeles, Minnesota, Montreal, New York (Rangers), Philadelphia, and Pittsburgh.
So, the Boston Bruins have a chance of getting a pure goal scorer to wear the Black and Gold. Sounds like an amazing idea, right?
No. This won’t work on so many levels. It’s a bad idea. It’s a terrible idea. It’s an idea so wrong that any Boston sportswriter who even contemplates it should be made to take shots of Boston Harbor water until they start (or stop) hallucinating.
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Now, let’s go over all the reasons why this is insane.
First off, Kessel has an eight million dollar cap hit. The Boston Bruins are in enough financial trouble without adding Kessel’s expensive price tag. There is no way the B’s can afford him without clearing out players that can benefit the team.
Second, Kessel has proven in the past to have no desire to play the Claude Julien system. It’s the biggest reason number 81 got 86’d in Boston. He just wanted to score goals, and not worry about anything else. He tried to do that with the Leafs and it didn’t help. The only thing that brought the Maple Leafs fans’ was an awful lot of grief, and we don’t need him to bring our fan base any more.
Next, The Maple Leafs (if they choose to make a trade with Boston) would want someone of the caliber of Milan Lucic and/or Patrice Bergeron to move Kessel. The Bruins have been reticent about moving Lucic, and they’ve all but put number 37 in the rafters of the TD Garden.
Finally, Don Sweeney is the general manager now. Sweeney would not let his first big act as the B’s general manager be this. He saw what a mess Kessel was while he was in the organization, and I’m sure he wouldn’t let history repeat itself.
So, it’s an incredibly bad idea. We’re pretty sure the Boston Bruins know it as well. So, let’s be thankful that we gave up that lemon before it turned out to be a total disaster. (And Kessel, thanks for Dougie Hamilton. He’s working out pretty well here.)