NHL Notes: Opinions and Some Good Reads

Things to ponder while waiting for Home Game #2 of the pre-season. The Phil Kessel Trade. The Toronto Maple Leafs dealt two 1st round picks and a 2nd rounder to Boston for Phil Kessel. Was it a win or a loss? How you score this likely depends on where you think the Leafs will finish. Personally, I think the Leafs are still going to finish in the bottom 10 of the NHL even with Kessel, which means they just gave up a top 10 pick. Another factor is that Phil Kessel has a reputation as a giant prick. Before he was drafted none of his teammates had anything good to say about him and the same is true now that he is in the NHL (see this article for more CBCSports.ca - Blogs - Without proper pieces, a Kessel experiment would fail). Phil Kessel reminds me a lot of Joe Murphy--a very talented hockey player who was a little bit of a headcase. Advantage: Boston. Junior Players Making the Jump to the NHL Our Colorado writer has a taken a look at players who skip the AHL and go straight to t...