Quote:
Originally Posted by ricardodw
Is Philly a playoff team?
Do they think that with the addition of Glencross for Brayden Schenn that their 2014 1st rounder will be #20 overall?
That is how the Leafs gave up the #2 pick for Kessell. They never ever thought that when they added Kessll that they would be a lottery team.
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That's not a very good comparison. At the time of the trade the Leafs had not made the playoffs in 4 years, had finished last in their division and 12th in the conference in consecutive years(missing the playoffs by a combined 23 points in that time), and in trading for Kessel were trading for a hopeful franchise player.
Burke was banking on Kessel becoming
the guy in TO from day one and I think it's fair to say that most people believed that Kessel was never going to be a franchise player, but a very good support player. There were questions about his compete level, his defensive play and was coming off of shoulder surgery. Basically anyway you slice it it was risky of Burke to put so much stock into Kessel becoming elite. He also needed the additions of Komisarek, Beauchemin and a more mature Luke Schenn and "the best goalie outside the league" Jonas Gustavsson to improve the league worst defense of the previous year(293 GA - 13 worse than the next worst) and 46 goals off of the most porous team in the playoffs the previous year(the Canadiens who finished 8th in the East). That's a huge ask, and the general consensus was that they were a bubble team who finish no better than 7th or 8th in the East.
Philadelphia on the other hand have made the playoffs 4 of the last 5 years, winning at least one playoff series in each of the last 3 times that they made it to the post season and have an established franchise player in Giroux. They are a young team with pieces that are projected to continue to grow(Simmonds, Voracek, B. Schenn, and Couturier) coupled with guys who still possess the ability to turn it around in Luke Schenn and Steve Mason. How bad was Ilya Bryzgalov last year to add?
Knowing Laviolette's style it appears that he just ran stale in the locker room with a hard on player's approach(see Carter and Richards - dry island) and his stint in Carolina where after a Stanley Cup victory he narrowly missed the playoffs twice and was fired after a 12-11-2 start....the team finished the season going 33-19-5 and reaching the Eastern Conference Finals.
Quite simply Philly's nucleus is way better than Toronto's at the time of the Kessel trade, and considering the abrasive nature of Laviolette it's far more likely that the team's recent plight is more down to his staleness than it is the team.
In addition Glencross isn't expected to be
the guy and would be brought in as a guy who brings offence, can kill penalties and has the reputation of a sandpaper playoff type player...all for 2.55 a year. That's very different to Kessel, and the Flyers are very different to that Leafs team.