Quote:
Originally Posted by Leafs67
Burkes previous dealings with Kessel with USA Hockey suggested that even at 21 he had the correct demeanour and NHL experience to better withstand the Toronto marketplace than those picks. And your assumption about Toronto's willingness to accept a long term rebuild is actually not accurate. Toronto is driven by corporate money. If the product stinks, you lose that key piece. They couldn't afford to alienate corporate partners with a long term rebuild, thus Burke was brought in to overhaul on the fly.
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the product has sucked regardless of the kessel deal, yet the ACC has been one of the toughest tickets to come by at reasonable rates throughout this period.
at the end of the day, there was a miscalculation that the roster was good enough to justify giving up 2 first rounders that they thought would be late picks to get a player that would take them over the top. There was a miscalculation that kessel could be a player that could elevate the team to be a playoff team over the term of his contract. People can point to individual stats as much as they want, but who cares, the leafs made the playoffs once during his contract term (last year pending). Kessel has not done enough to justify the cost to the franchise (2 lottery/top5 picks in successive years to build around).