Top 16 Centers in NHL 2011-2012 (points)
1. Malkin - Drafted top 5
2. Stamkos - Drafted top 5
3. Spezza - Drafted top 5
4. Tavares - Drafted top 5
5. Sedin - Drafted top 5
6. Thornton - Traded
7. Kopitar - Drafted First round (not top 5)
8. Staal - Drafted top 5
9. Seguin - Drafted top 5
10. Datsyuk - Drafted 6th round
11. Richards - Free Agent
12. Flippula - Drafted 3rd round
13. Couture - Drafted First round (not top 5)
14. Bergeron - Drafted 2nd round
15. Ribiero - Drafted 2nd round
16. Krejci - Drafted 2nd round
7/16 - Drafted top 5
3/16 - Drafted 2nd round
2/16 - Drafted 1st round (not top 5)
2/16 - Drafted out of 1st/2nd round
1/16 - Trade for
1/16 - Free Agent
Top 16 wingers in the NHL 2011-2012 (points):
1. Giroux - Drafted first round (not top 5)
2. Kovalchuk - Free Agent
3. Phil Kessel - Traded for
4. James Neal - Traded for
5. Patrick Elias - Drafted 2nd round
6. Marian Hossa - Free Agent
7. Ray Whitney - Free Agent
8. Gaborik - Free Agent
9. Eberle - Drafted first round (not top 5)
10. St. Louis - Undrafted Free Agent
11. Pomminville - Drafted 2nd round
12. Eriksson - Drafted 2nd round
13. Moulson - Free Agent
14. Sharp - Traded for
15. Parise - Drafted first round (not top 5)
16. Zetterberg - Drafted 7th round
6/16 - Free Agent
3/16 - Traded for
3/16 - Drafted 1st round (not top 5)
3/16 - Drafted 2nd round
1/16 - Drafted after 1st/2nd rounds
If you had to choose elite center or an elite winger, which would you choose. According to the situation above, an elite winger is so much easier to get through free agency or trade than a elite center.
Look at it this way...no matter how hard you want it, this current Leafs team will likely NEVER pick top 5 again. We were bad enough once, and we unfortunately traded that pick away. As of now, as much as some of you won't admit it, we aren't that bad, and management is not going to "blow it up" enough to get us there.
My point here is...if you can trade Kessel for a player that was drafted high with the potential to be a top line center, you do it 7 days a week. Wingers are (as shown above), sooo much easier to find, either in later 1sts, trades or free agency. Not to beat a dead horse, but had we not traded for Kessel, ended up with Seguin, we could have signed either Gaborik or Semin the last two off-seasons to easily replace what Kessel is doing for the team now.