When Brendan Shanahan was a kid he’d go out into the driveway and play lacrosse, alone, and he’d almost enter a trance. It was the same with hockey, with chasing his brothers, with competing. He needed it. One of his own kids has that drive. He can see it. You either have it, or you don’t.
Toronto’s Phil Kessel era ended Wednesday, when the talented, mercurial, polarizing winger was traded to Pittsburgh. The Leafs got back a depth forward in Nick Spaling, a young depth defenceman in Scott Harrington, a first-round pick, a third-round pick, and an 18-year-old Finn with some upside. Kasperi Kapanen’s reputation in Finland is that he is skilled, needs more muscle, and needs to work on his work ethic. Sounded a little like a poor man’s version of a guy we knew around here, actually. Now that you mention it.
But a Kessel trade was never going to be a blockbuster, because by the time talks got serious, there was one bidder. Partly, it was the seven years left on Kessel’s deal at $8-million (U.S.) per year; his roll-out-of-bed-and-score-30-goals work ethic; his disastrous season last year; the Toronto mess. There were a small handful of teams who were interested. There was one who could, and would, get something done.
“This is really about a recognition on our part that what were doing here . . . wasn’t good enough,” Shanahan told the media, when the deal was done.
Now, what has happened in Toronto wasn’t all Phil Kessel’s fault. This franchise has been monumentally mismanaged, from era to era to era, and Kessel wasn’t exactly playing with the Chicago Blackhawks.
But he is a flawed player with a big deal, and the franchise decided that if they were going to dig out the soft rotted core of this team, they had to do it. And this is what they found. You couldn’t give away Tyler Bozak or Joffrey Lupul right now; there is a thought that captain Dion Phaneuf could benefit from Mike Babcock as a coach. If another deal comes around that works, it works, but for now, this is what they had. Hey, maybe Babcock can squeeze something else out of the other guys.
The Leafs decided that mixing Kessel with Babcock wasn’t worth trying, and that’s the key calculation here, and the risk. They moved him because they could.
“I think that he had productive years, he’s a talented player,” said Shanahan. “This wasn’t about singling out one guy because we’re trying to pin the blame on one guy. Teams came after me on Phil because Phil is a talented player.”
That’s why the deal doesn’t look like much of a win. The Leafs had to send back a second-round pick, and have to pay $1.2 million of Kessel’s salary through 2022, so now people can finally say the Leafs are paying Phil Kessel to do nothing and finally be right. But Penguins GM Jim Rutherford, who has $38 million committed to five players through 2019, said that money was a deal-breaker.
And the judgment on the Leafs was clear: Kessel had to go. His skill is unquestioned; his will, less so. He’s not in his prime; he’s leaving it. There were worries about the example he gave to young players. Shanahan pointedly gave this team the chance to show him what they were, and Kessel responded by playing the whole season at his end of the rink, and vanishing. What did Randy Carlyle and Peter Horachek both say when they left here? Some people just don’t want to change.
“Anything that has been going on is going to get cleaned up,” said Babcock at the draft. “We are going to be a fit, fit team. We are going to be a team that goes to the media every day after a win or loss or a practice and owns their own stuff. Period. When it’s good it’s good, when it’s not good you are going to step up.”
Maybe that was an emotional decision as it much as it was cold calculation. Maybe they could have waited. But either way, it’s done.
Toronto has been smart under Shanahan. They’ve moved David Clarkson’s contract, drafted for volume and skill — and emphatically not for size, which is at least a bet on a coherent style — and have tried to find competitive inefficiencies. This franchise is in better shape than it used to be. But this deal underlines what Babcock said when he was hired: Pain is coming. Managed well, that’s fine.
That doesn’t mean this will work, but we have to wait to find out. Five years ago Brian Burke stood in front of reporters asking the same question about the deal that brought Kessel to Toronto, and he said, “Was it worth it? Was it not worth it? I find it amusing. I got news for you: we’re all going to know. This is no different from two farmers standing side-by-side arguing whether they plant soybeans or corn. Guess what — we’re going to know, at some point, who won. We don’t have to argue the whole time the plants are growing, for God’s sake. We’re going to be able to tell. You’ll all have an answer on this.”
The field is being replanted, with new crops. The only choice is patience, and to watch it grow.
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