Kessel's game has improved, dramatically. But Boston made that trade, won a cup right away, and has become one of the most solid teams in the conference, year-in and year-out. Leafs need to develop something similar going forward to even up the trade. Starts with a big win tonight!
As much as I agree that Boston is a great team even without Kessel a few things can be argued about that statement:
Boston's core team hasn't changed much. Chara, Marchand, Lucic, Kreijci, Bergeron, Seidenberg, etc were there with Kessel, and post Kessel. This core group did win a cup, but they also were knocked out last year in the first round, and the year before winning the cup, they were clearly lacking in offensive production.
Which leads to my next point, the Bruins traded Kessel, and immediately went looking for an offensive player to replace him. It's not as if they traded away their 3rd spare tire since they only needed the one. They traded one of their wheels and went out to purchase another one. This guy was Horton.
Lastly, it can be argued that the key to Boston winning the cup wasn't Seguin, or the absence of Kessel, but the addition of Kaberle...HAHAHA right? No, they add Kaberle, win the cup, he's one of what, 2 players who doesn't come back, and they get knocked out in the first round.
Wait a minute, that's just coincidence.....and so is the fact that they have become this stanley cup winning team after trading Kessel.
I think my point has more merit simply because there were so few changes and the results were so dramatically different.