What I’ll be watching this week are the swirling trade winds surrounding 21 year old Bruins winger Phil Kessel. Last week the B’s leading scorer said he was no longer negotiating an extension with the Black and Gold, and was intending to sign an offer sheet with another club.
The B’s have less room under the salary cap than Kirstie Alley’s waistband, which puts GM Peter Chiarelli in a precarious position. If a team signs Kessel to an offer sheet, he almost certainly can’t match it, and the Bruins would receive a 1st, 2nd and 3rd round pick as compensation. His only other option would be to trade the teams top goal scorer before somebody snatches him away.
According to multiple reports, the Toronto Maple Leafs seem to be the most likely landing spot. Chiarelli is apparently asking for 2 first round picks as well as a second, while the Leafs are asking for a 3rd rounder back. That’s pretty good value, but it does leave the B’s with 36 goals to replace.
It’s an interesting parallel to what the Patriots did last week when they dealt Richard Seymour to Oakland. The Pats sacrificed what could be a big part of their 2009 club, set themselves up nicely for the future and saved some cap space. The Pats generally got high marks for the deal because of the success they’ve had. But let’s face it, the Bruins have not earned our trust in that way. They have been the least successful of the four Boston franchises of late, and rather than getting the benefit of the doubt from the fan base, they will get scrutinized for not re-signing a young goal scorer in his prime.
The bottom line is, it’s a matter of dollars and cents, and the Bruins just don’t have enough in the piggy bank for Kessel. Jeremy Jacobs has a reputation for being a penny pincher, but in this situation, that’s not what’s going on. Kessel or not, the B’s still have a good club, and hopefully they make a deep playoff run. Because if they take a step back in the win column, it won’t just be Kessel they lose. It will also be some of the fans they won back last season.
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