It may not have happened on draft weekend, but the Toronto Maple Leafs traded their best player on July 1.
Shortly after free agency opened at noon, Toronto moved Phil Kessel to the Pittsburgh Penguins in return for a package of futures.
The Maple Leafs will receive Kasperi Kapanen, Scott Harrington, Nick Spaling and first and third round picks in the 2016 draft. The Penguins received Tyler Biggs, Tim Erixon and a second-rounder on top of Kessel – and Toronto will retain $1.2 million of Kessel’s cap hit in each of the remaining six years of his contract.
It was the biggest move on a busy July 1 and here’s how Twitter reacted: