Do we want Kessel and Phaneuf back for next year?

[HamiltonNHL]

please delete

Delete who ?
Kessel or Phaneuf ?

 

[gamer1035]

The last 4 years, these two clowns have played great the beginning and cooled off. Let them go on their hot streaks, then dump them.

Unless we get good value for them now. I'm talking mantha type package for Phaneuf, and a blue chip #1 potential C/D for Kessel. If we don't get at least that, keep them.

 

[hockeywiz542]

Don Cherry says Mike Babcock should remove the captaincy from Dion Phaneuf while whipping Phil Kessel into shape.

“I guarantee you Kessel is going to be 10 pounds lighter when he reports.â€

“He won’t come to camp laughing about how he was only on skates 10 times [in the off-season]. He better be ready.â€

"He'll [Babcock] straighten Dion out. He'll have him back there the way he played for Calgary. One thing I would do, and I know it's going to upset a lot of people, I would take the captaincy off him."

"Then he [Phaneuf] can just play."

"Believe me, the Leafs are gonna win. The big thing, though, is to take that captaincy off him."

 

[HEAVY DUTY]

nope. leafs need a fresh start.

kessel, lupul, bozak and phaneuf need to be gone. will not be happy if any of the 4 are at training camp this september.

 

[rdawg1234]

Get rid of these two please, can we finally just end this Phaneuf, Kessel and Bozak era!?

I've gone through high school and university with these talented but heartless and lazy players.

I want neither near the team, Kessel is embarrising with how much he avoids contact and phaneuf is a #2-3 guy being forced into the #1, but also has no business being our captain

I'm not saying they arent valuable, Kessel is like a younger Gaborik, useful to a stacked team and can put them over the edge with his playoff scoring, that itself is worth a great prospect+1st. It's just that he's not the guy I want leading this team.

Phaneuf as well, solid d-man, worth 6-6.5m probably, but we just need a damn fresh culture around here.

and please god get rid of the lackadaisical Bozak, guy is so beyond lazy on the backcheck going controller disconnect. Has tonnes of skill but just doesn't care that much.

My god i get mad just thinking about these players, this is one of my least favourite leaf teams i've watched, and yet I'm more excited than ever with the culture change happening in management and babcock ocming in. Now can we get a culture change with the actual team!?

 

[Darcy Tucker]

Get rid of these two please, can we finally just end this Phaneuf, Kessel and Bozak era!?

I've gone through high school and university with these talented but heartless and lazy players.

I want neither near the team, Kessel is embarrising with how much he avoids contact and phaneuf is a #2-3 guy being forced into the #1, but also has no business being our captain

I'm not saying they arent valuable, Kessel is like a younger Gaborik, useful to a stacked team and can put them over the edge with his playoff scoring, that itself is worth a great prospect+1st. It's just that he's not the guy I want leading this team.

Phaneuf as well, solid d-man, worth 6-6.5m probably, but we just need a damn fresh culture around here.

and please god get rid of the lackadaisical Bozak, guy is so beyond lazy on the backcheck going controller disconnect. Has tonnes of skill but just doesn't care that much.

My god i get mad just thinking about these players, this is one of my least favourite leaf teams i've watched, and yet I'm more excited than ever with the culture change happening in management and babcock ocming in. Now can we get a culture change with the actual team!?

Babcock coming in is more reason to keep these players and see how they can perform under him. If he can get our top players playing well they will be worth much more on the trade market. They are locked up long term and right now their worth is at an all time low. If we can get a good season or two out of them teams will be more willing to break the bank to get them because they know they will have an elite player locked up for a long time. There is no reason to trade our two best players for meh deals just for a culture change. It makes no sense.

 

[The_Chosen_One]

First off, just going to say that the myth that Kessel does not work out is completely ridiculous. From his own admission, he works out 5 days a week. What he doesn't do is skate a lot during the offseason, which a lot of pro's will admit to doing the same (notably, Erik Karlsson said himself that he barley skated last summer).

The rest, I agree with. Kessel has shown no signs that he will regress anytime soon. This season he was on pace for 80+ points again until this team (and Kessel) crashed and burned. This is called burn out people, it happens in all professions, how long did people honestly expect Kessel to carry this team by himself before he just couldnt anymore?

If Kessel had gotten 8 more points this season he would be sitting 4th in overall points scored in the NHL in the past 5 seasons, ahead of "elite leaders" like Tavares and Crosby. He currently sits in 8th, above Getzlaf, Perry, Kane, Sedin, Malkin etc etc.

Kessel could be producing even when he's in his mid-30s. He's strong, thick base makes him a powerful skater. I can't see that changing even as he gets older nor will his offensive instincts.

Problem with Kessel is supporting him. We're probably going to need to acquire Backes-type centreman to get the best out of him. I doubt Kadri, Nylnader or even Marner complement his skillset either.

 

[hockeystick89]

Eh I was all for scraping these guys for just about anything last season. I have to imagine the team is going to let Babcock get his hands on them first before moving either one of them.

 

[Willchel Marlynder]

Short answer: No.
Long answer: Noooooooooooooooooooooooooooo.

Babcock coming in is more reason to keep these players and see how they can perform under him. If he can get our top players playing well they will be worth much more on the trade market. They are locked up long term and right now their worth is at an all time low. If we can get a good season or two out of them teams will be more willing to break the bank to get them because they know they will have an elite player locked up for a long time. There is no reason to trade our two best players for meh deals just for a culture change. It makes no sense.

Wow if we were Edmonton this would be Ales Hemsky all over again. Hopefully the Leafs learned from Edmonton's mistake so we don't have to repeat it.

 

[MR4]

I'd rather, if I had to choose one, to keep Kessel over Phaneuf as maybe Phil finally gets a fire lit under his ass and he significantly improves.

If I had to guess, I'd say Phaneuf stays and Kessel goes.

 

[slozo]

Kessel to me seems like a really toxic personality who has completely given up on the team. In his interviews, everything screams "I hate this city, its fans and its media." He does it in a very passive aggressive way, a sort of "I'm not going to make sacrifices on the ice for this ****ing team, and I'm certainly not going to train in the offseason" attitude, but it's still toxic.

Phaneuf, meh, I'm cool with dealing him or keeping him, but if we're rebuilding we may as well trade him before he gets old. Kessel, though, is the one who I think really has to go, just to get started building a hard working, highly committed team spirit. You can't build a great locker room if the most talented player has a "**** this organization" attitude.

Completely agree.

Kessel absolutely needs to go. It's a prerequisite to a rebuild of any sort . . . a rebuild of our character, a rebuild of our will to win. A rebuild of professionalism.

Phaneuf . . . one could go two ways with this, and I am starting to believe the decision might even be predicated on whether we get Hanifin or not. My prediction: if we get to draft Hanifin at #4, Phaneuf is gone. If we don't, and it's Marner or Strome . . . I think they might keep Phaneuf, at least in the short term. Might only be until the trade deadline, but yeah - he would help to give stability to any rebuilding team. He does put in his effort. He's a dummy, yes . . . a terrible guy in the room apparently, and I think that's maybe past the rumour stage at this point . . . but maybe if his captaincy is stripped (I swear I didn't get that from Cherry) he can just be a guiding steady force.

I'd tend towards trading him for prospects and picks or whatever, but . . . could live with him in the lineup.

Kessel, I fear, might become the next Semin . . . and if kept, besides all that other negative crap, would become untraceable within a season. Or nearly so. Imagine if he proves that this last half season was not just a slump? Oh yeah.

 

[dballislife2]

make kessel captain, mind as well see what u really got before u trade him

 

[slozo]

The sooner both are gone, the better.
Cookies, pylons and slow motion run on interviews, be gone!

This, btw, was funny as hell. Very close to reality . . . too close!

 

[Leaf Lander]

Kessel sat on his stick and decided not to play

To me there is zero tolerance for that kind of smuckness


Phaneuf should go for change sake

 

[Magic Man]

No thanks.

 

[ITM]

We absolutely do not want Kessel and Phaneuf back next year. We absolutely do not want Kessel back other than in the form of those pieces we acquire for him. It's a normal thing to keep holding on to something you see potential in, demonstrable value in, but the negatives of Phil Kessel all but obscure what good he contributed.

I think had Kessel provided a different demonstration from character, then the slump would have been written off as an acceptable anomaly given the season. And moreover, this new Leafs management has actually stood by it's word. I EXPECT Shanahan and Co. to deal Kessel if their January address meant anything. Remember when Shanahan noted that he had a discussion in the locker room defining the rest of the second half of the season as THE time in which the on-ice group would have the chance to tell management who they really were as players? And any number of non-committal comments henceforth clearly indicate that Kessel is all but gone. Maybe not by the draft, trade deadline or maybe even not by November. But this group is going to get value for Phil Kessel.

Phaneuf...If he lingered it wouldn't be the worst thing for this club. I'm much more concerned by the Kessel-Bozak dynamic. It appears the same can't be said for Phaneuf which is why I caveat. But without question, get the most we can for these two and roll on, I say.

Enough is enough.

 

[HellasLEAF]

I'd like them both gone.

To the highest bidder.

And I like Phil, I do thing he can be even better under Babs.

But trading them is the right move. Along with some others

 

[Todd Skill]

New beginning please.

 

[Rare Jewel]

Dion gets a hell of a lot more abuse from the media and fans, So I could see if he did want to be moved even if he's saying he's "in" with Babs here now. If the interest is mutual though, And it could be seeing as he was almost moved to Detroit, Then I could see him back. I like the idea of having Rielly specifically being insulated with a good vet presence. Not sure Robidas and Polak are enough.

For Kessel - We can't give him away, So if nobody gives us at least an adequate offer, Then he's back as well. I am sort of intrigued to see what Babcock could do with him though.

 

[Rayban*]

I wanna see them gone only if we get good value for them. Otherwise let kessel get back on pace for 35-40 goals and trade him at the deadline.

 

[hamzarocks]

This, btw, was funny as hell. Very close to reality . . . too close!

holy crap thats hilarious, i love dion and kessel as players , but he and kessel both talk like they hate being in the nhl or something. At this point its probably best for both the leafs and those two that we trade them to contenders or rising teams. We need to get great assets back though. They both are very underrated imo. I think kessel is as good as patty kane, if he played on the second line and played with as much talent as kane does he would be perceived very similarly. I also think dion is a sure fire top pairing dman. He has had to work with crap on his pairing and has had to much pressure put on him by making him captain. I hope he goes to a contender and can play as a nukmber 2 dman and show people he is a top 25 dman in the game.

 

[AvroArrow]

Kessel's value has probably dropped after last season, so i don't think he goes anywhere. If he does it probably won't be until the trade deadline unless we get some ridiculous offer before that. Phaneuf on the other hand, i don't expect to be back at all

 

[ldnk]

If we are truly rebuilding, I don't know why anyone would want them back. Both will be exiting their primes making 7M/8M each by the time we are competitive. How is that in any way desirable? Especially when you consider the assets we can get in return for moving them, assets that will probably be much more effective by the time the team is trying to be competitive.

If the front office feels like they get a better return on Kessel/Phaneuf and that keeping them around won't make the team appreciably better form a competitive standpoint next year then, yeah, I would rather they hold on to them. Ultimately they likely both aren't worth keeping around by the time the team fully rebuilds but making impulsive decisions isn't the way to positively affect a rebuild.

 

[Ratboy]

Well Babcock did say it would be painful.
For me, that means the core returns.

I sure hope not. It's not that they can't be useful players on other teams, but they're entering their prime and aren't really of use to us, and we need to focus on younger players and hopefully creating a great culture for them to develop in.

I feel like Kessel has a sense of entitlement he can't shake, cause he's got so much talent but doesn't put in the extra effort to truly lift his level of play.

 

[Macman]

Kessel sat on his stick and decided not to play

To me there is zero tolerance for that kind of smuckness


Phaneuf should go for change sake

Exactly. Kessel can't be around the Browns, Nyanders and hopefully Marners of this organization. He's gotta go. As for Phaneuf, I feel sorry for him and he should be set free for his own good if not ours.