Quote:
Originally Posted by T@T
1. Dion was not wanted here by management for a reason, Sutter should have got more for him but fact remains he wasn't a good teammate and a waste of $6.5m in capspace for a team up against it. In an attempt to make Dion into a better teammate and responcible player Burke gave him the captaincy..big fail.
2. Kessel hasn't been a bomb (80 points this year) but would you trade a 22 Seguin and a 20 year Hamilton for him? BTW Seguin now has 82 points this year. the only thing that might be worst than this trade is Boston trading Seguin.
3. JVR is the best player trade Burke ever did IMO, Good ol Philly.
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1. Dion - Sutter bombed the deal right from the start. The fact that he didn't shop the guy and wanted to prove a point to Dion that he wasn't all that, was personal and it led the team down a bad stretch to what it is today. Dion still is crappy, but he wasn't worth the pittance he was dealt for. Giving him the captaincy helped him mature quite a bit, but not having a head for defensive responsibility exposes the guy regularly.
2. I'd do the Kessel deal. Who knew Toronto was going to be 2nd last that year? Nobody could have predicted that, and you can't build a team around the draft unless you have a few really good guys on the team to support a winning culture. Look at Edmonton. It's frustrating losing as a young player who the franchise puts a lot of pressure on. Edmonton tries this and fails. The Kessel deal allowed the pressure to be put on a player who proved he could score. The year the Leafs finished second last they were projected to be around the 8th in their conference. It wasn't foreseeable it would be low enough to get Seguin. Look at how lousy that draft was. It just turned out somewhat debatable, but it was a good deal for both sides.
3. JVR was indeed a good deal.