Phil Kessel-Kasperi Kapanen deal has worked out for Penguins and Leafs

By KEVIN MCGRAN

https://www.thestar.com/sports/leafs/2018/10/17/phil-kessel-kasperi-kapanen-deal-has-worked-out-for-both-teams.html

October 17, 2018

Kasperi Kapanen (Maddie Meyer/Getty Images)

It was July 1, 2015, when the fate of two franchises changed, both for the better.

While free agents were being signed left, right and centre, Jim Rutherford, the general manager of the Pittsburgh Penguins, and Maple Leafs president Brendan Shanahan were putting the finishing touches on a trade that would send Phil Kessel to Pittsburgh.

In a multi-player trade with plenty of spare parts, the Leafs would get two key components: top prospect Kasperi Kapanen and a first-round pick the Maple Leafs parlayed nearly a year later into goalie Frederik Andersen.

With the two teams meeting Thursday night, the full impact of the classic now-for-the-future trade might actually be felt. Kessel, who has helped the Penguins to two Stanley Cups, leads Pittsburgh with four goals and four assists this season. Kapanen moved to the Leafs’ top line recently and is averaging better than a point per game on Auston Matthews’ wing.

Andersen remains day to day with a swollen knee, though the Leafs sent emergency call-up Eamon McAdam to the Marlies on Wednesday.

“To me, the Phil Kessel trade was good for both organizations,” former Leafs assistant GM Mark Hunter told The Star on Wednesday. “Jim Rutherford and Shanny did a hell of a job because of the direction each team was going in.”

By the spring of 2015, the “ShanaPlan” was in full effect. The Leafs had finished second-last in the East, had shed David Clarkson’s salary and had fired coaches Randy Carlyle and Peter Horachek and a number of scouts and executives, including GM Dave Nonis.

They were about to draft Mitch Marner, but the bottoming out had to continue and salary-cap space had to be created. Kessel, and later Dion Phaneuf, had to go.

“We knew we needed to change and go in a different direction,” Hunter said.

The Kessel deal took about two weeks to put together, gaining traction on the draft floor at the BB&T Centre in Florida, when rumours of Rutherford’s interest in Kessel abounded.

“We were in a win-now situation,” Rutherford said Wednesday. “We were always looking for impact players. We liked Kapanen. We knew he’d develop into a good player. But he wasn’t as ready at that point to make the impact Phil could.”

Phil Kessel (Getty Images)

For a while, defenceman Derrick Pouliot, an eighth-overall pick in 2012, seemed to be the prospect Pittsburgh was dangling. He is now with the Vancouver Canucks.

Rutherford met a couple of times with Shanahan and Kyle Dubas, then co-interim GM with Hunter prior to the hiring of Lou Lamoriello. A sticking point for Toronto was retaining a portion of Kessel’s salary — $1.2 million of the $6.8 million a year deal that expires in 2021-22.

“Nobody wants to (retain salary),” Rutherford said. “If you can find a team that wants to retain salary, let me know.”

Eventually, Kapanen’s name came up. The Leafs were sold.

“It was just a back-and-forth, talking about different ideas,” said Rutherford. “Once they knew we were interested in Kessel, it was just a matter of what they could get that would make sense for them. It was a good, solid negotiation. No curves.”

To Pittsburgh: Kessel, Tyler Biggs, Tim Erixon, and the return of Pittsburgh’s second-round pick in 2016 that had previously been acquired by the Leafs.

To Toronto: Kapanen, Scott Harrington, Nick Spaling, a first-round pick in 2016, and a third-round pick in 2016.

“That’s a deal that works the way deals should,” said Rutherford. “It works for both sides.”

They say the team that gets the best player wins the deal. Hard to argue with success. The Penguins rode Kessel to incredible heights. The hot dog aficionado was arguably their best player in the 2016 Cup run.

It didn’t matter in Toronto, where Kessel had become symbolic of the team’s failure. His last-on-the-ice, first-off routine, combined with a lack of training in the summer, didn’t lend itself well to the spotlight in Toronto. And he didn’t like the spotlight.

Kessel’s fans — and there appear to be more in Toronto now than there were when he played here — were happy for him. He brought the Cup to Toronto in a quiet visit to the Hospital for Sick Children. In Pittsburgh, the spotlight was on Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin. Kessel could just be what his Twitter profile says of himself: “Nice guy, tries hard, loves the game.”

Leaf Nation had never forgotten what it took for the Leafs to get Kessel from Boston in 2009: two first round picks (who became Tyler Seguin and Dougie Hamilton) and a second-round pick (Jared Knight). So the return on Kessel had to be high.

It seems it was. Andersen was acquired from Anaheim for that 2016 first-round pick, plus a second-round pick. His netminding has been the best the Leafs have had since the days of Curtis Joseph and Ed Belfour.

Now Kapanen is getting to show what he can do.

“He’s doing well,” Rutherford said. “I’m not surprised. He’s suited for the way the game is played now. We knew that when we drafted him. I’m happy for him. I know how bad he wants it.”

Kevin McGran is a sports reporter based in Toronto. Follow him on Twitter: @kevin_mcgran