Friedman: Flames a good fit for Kessel?

[CaptainCrunch]

No thanks

We have to many contracts coming up as it is.

Kessel with a guaranteed long term deal is going to be impossible to motivate.

He won't want to come to Calgary.

The price for him would be too high

[codynw]

Originally Posted by Dagger

Mind explaining how you came to this conclusion? The man has had relatively little help in Toronto. Pair him with good players and he'll purr.

Hard to surround him with good players when he makes that kind of money.

[CaptainCrunch]

Originally Posted by Dagger

Mind explaining how you came to this conclusion? The man has had relatively little help in Toronto. Pair him with good players and he'll purr.

when you pay a guy a 8 million dollar a year contract, you don't want him to be a player that needs other players to make him better. He needs to be driving your offense and making his line better..

He did very little of that last year.

[GioforPM]

Yup. Not too many wingers deserve "centrepiece" salaries.

[Resolute 14]

Originally Posted by Dagger

Mind explaining how you came to this conclusion? The man has had relatively little help in Toronto. Pair him with good players and he'll purr.

Because lazy, one-dimensional players don't drive team success. And it isn't like the Leafs are as thinly talented as the Oilers have been. This is a team that has been safely in playoff spots the last two years, only to completely fall apart when the pressure ramped up. Kessel himself is an embodiment of this - he had monster first halves, and mediocre second halves.

More often than not, Kessel was a liability who made his teammates worse.

[foshizzle11]

Originally Posted by CaptainCrunch

when you pay a guy a 8 million dollar a year contract, you don't want him to be a player that needs other players to make him better. He needs to be driving your offense and making his line better..

He did very little of that last year.

I can see how some would argue that he didn't have top line mates in TO but I agree with you on this one that he needs to run the show, be the leader because he is paid the big bucks.

I heard some TO radio hosts talking about Phil and they think he is great and don't want him to go anywhere but his fitness needs to improve and if he took better care of himself the would be an even better player. So some suggested that the leafs should have built in some sort of bonus for him in his contract surrounding his fitness levels. Like if he wants the full $8m, then he would have to be top 3 in fitness testing or something, or else he only gets $6.5m of his contract. Something to that affect.

Honestly, he needs a coach who has the balls to sit him if he can't compete hard in training and care about his fitness like say a guy like Gio does. If they are paying him the big bucks, he should be expected to lead by example and be the fittest guy on the team IMO.

[OldDutch]

Come on Friedman, you're better than this

and by this I mean "cause Brian Burke works there". I wasted watching the entire clip to hear the laziest line in all of hockey. I know it's summer but come on.

[Coach]

Originally Posted by Dagger

Mind explaining how you came to this conclusion? The man has had relatively little help in Toronto. Pair him with good players and he'll purr.

You don't pay a guy that kind of dough who needs better players around him. You pay it to players who make those around them better.

Even harder to get those players when you and your equally as ineffective captain take up a quarter of the teams cap space on their own.

Kessel has a long way to go when playing without the puck before he can put his teams lack of success on his "help".

[Erick Estrada]

Lets not forget physical conditioning is very important to Hartley and the Flames. Kessel is fat for crying out loud. I just don't see the match.

[codynw]

Originally Posted by Erick Estrada

Lets not forget physical conditioning is very important to Hartley and the Flames. Kessel is fat for crying out loud. I just don't see the match.

[CaptainCrunch]

Originally Posted by foshizzle11

I can see how some would argue that he didn't have top line mates in TO but I agree with you on this one that he needs to run the show, be the leader because he is paid the big bucks.

I heard some TO radio hosts talking about Phil and they think he is great and don't want him to go anywhere but his fitness needs to improve and if he took better care of himself the would be an even better player. So some suggested that the leafs should have built in some sort of bonus for him in his contract surrounding his fitness levels. Like if he wants the full $8m, then he would have to be top 3 in fitness testing or something, or else he only gets $6.5m of his contract. Something to that affect.

Honestly, he needs a coach who has the balls to sit him if he can't compete hard in training and care about his fitness like say a guy like Gio does. If they are paying him the big bucks, he should be expected to lead by example and be the fittest guy on the team IMO.

don't think that they can do those kind of bonuses under the CBA.

Kessel isn't on a entry level deal.

He's certainly not on a one year deal after returning from a long term injury and he's not over the age of 35.

[BACKCHECK!!!]

Geeze, reading this thread you'd think the guy didnt just lead his NHL team in goal scoring for the 7th straight year, while working his way into the top 5 of the NHL ironman list, despite being only 27 years old.

But the Toronto media turns on a guy, and suddenly the public consensus is that he's a useless bum, with the worst contract in the league.

"Wouldn't want him to steal Emile Poirier's spot."

I'm not saying that he's a good fit for the Flames, but seriously. He was named best-forward of the 2014 Olympics. He's an all-world talent.

People hate him because the Toronto media hates him.

[Dagger]

Originally Posted by CaptainCrunch

when you pay a guy a 8 million dollar a year contract, you don't want him to be a player that needs other players to make him better. He needs to be driving your offense and making his line better..

He did very little of that last year.

Phil Kessel is an elite scoring winger without much help. Expecting increased production with better line mates is not unreasonable, and given his already impressive totals, there is every chance he scores 40 or more and is a point per game player.

Hardly anybody on the Leafs did anything of mention this year, that doesn't make them poor players, ir makes it a poorly constructed team. If they want to have a garage sale, this is the place to find a deal.

[Dagger]

Originally Posted by Erick Estrada

Lets not forget physical conditioning is very important to Hartley and the Flames. Kessel is fat for crying out loud. I just don't see the match.

Mike Richards was just fine after he was introduced to our current head of fitness with Los Angeles.

[Flash Walken]

I would take Kessel if Toronto retained 35-50% of his salary.

[Dagger]

Originally Posted by Flash Walken

I would take Kessel if Toronto retained 35-50% of his salary.

If they did that, the asking price for him would go up. At a $5.6m AAV he becomes one of the best contracts in the league, and the Leafs have $2.4m in dead money until 2022 and have to eat $16.2m. At that point they'll rightly ask for a core player.

[calumniate]

He's just such an awkward duck. With all the praise Hartley has credited the team being a 'good group', the thought of having Kessel on this team just doesn't compute.

I don't think there's a single flame that is weird around the media or has any quirks that cause distractions to the team.. knock on wood. Flames have focused on character a lot recently.

[Roof-Daddy]

Such a "pros" vs "cons" situation with this one, because arguments can easily be made for both sides IMO. I'd be pretty much right on the fence with this one.

However, I fall right off the fence into the "no f'n way" yard the second any TO exec brings up any of:

Monahan
Bennett
Gaudreau
Brodie
Giordano

...those players are immovable, and complete deal breakers in this instance.

[Flash Walken]

Originally Posted by Dagger

If they did that, the asking price for him would go up. At a $5.6m AAV he becomes one of the best contracts in the league, and the Leafs have $2.4m in dead money until 2022 and have to eat $16.2m. At that point they'll rightly ask for a core player.

I might be inclined to do it even then.

[CSharp]

Someone needs to get fired if Kessel becomes a Flames and some of the prospects/young blue chip players go to the Leafs. You'd think that twice bitten is one shy too many. I do not want to see another fleecing here.