Thank you.kramerz80 wrote: ↑I hope you're kidding, although I feel like you're serious when you write this crap. It will be nowhere near impossible to move these two, both have value for a lot of teams.
Just because Kessel isn't Toews or Crosby doesn't mean he is worthless and can't be traded. His contract is exactly where it should be in terms of $ and an elite goal scorer in the NHL is not easy to come by. Only 3 players have more goals than Kessel in the past 5 years combined - Ovechkin, Perry and Stamkos. You've got to be bat***** crazy if you think that teams would not want to have this kind of firepower on their wings. He's only 28 years old and is not a pending UFA anytime soon. Ovechkin and Stamkos aren't known to be defensive specialists either, do you think that they would also be impossible to be moved?
I didn't expect Kessel or Phaneuf to be moved before the deadline as most didn't. It's tougher to make those moves mid season due to salary cap issues, they'll have a number of teams interested in the summer once they know what the cap is gonna be next year and a lot of teams will have more cap room with contracts coming off their books at the end of the year. I thought Lupul may have been moved, but I'd expect to see him go over the summer as well. Phaneuf will be the hardest of the 3 to move, but there will be enough interest to get a deal done.
Kessel will be EASY TO MOVE. EASY. The question is how much do you get back for him - the asking price will NOT be low.
Phaneuf will be more challenging, but to think this is impossible is ridiculous. He is and can be a 2nd D, or a top end 3rd.
What Toronto fans don't get is that when you rebuild - you can only trade your assets ONCE. What you get back is your foundation for the rebuild - whether its picks or prospects or both. You don't simply give them away. If it takes til next year to trade them, then so be it.
Toronto will not have to take any salary back on any players - but what I hope they do is offer to take some salary back for the first few years (if thats possible) since we won't be near a cap team. In doing so, cap teams would be all over that and it'll give them a few years to fix their cap issues!