Now that the Phil Kessel-to-Pittsburgh trade is in the books, it’s time for the opinions to flood in about whether or not the blockbuster trade of the first day of free agency was a good one for both sides.
Don Cherry wasted no time in voicing his views. He called in to Sportsnet’s Tim & Sid following his appearance at Rogers Centre, where he threw the first pitch at the Blue Jays’ Canada Day game.
“This is good for Kessel,” Cherry said. “It’ll be great for him. He was the guy [in Toronto], he had the gun to his head all the time. Now he’s going to Pittsburgh and you’ve got Crosby, you’ve got Malkin, you’ve got Letang and guys like that. He’ll just sit back and score goals now.”
The trade sent Kessel, forward Tyler Biggs, defenceman Tim Erixon and a 2016 second-round pick to the Penguins in exchange for forwards Nick Spaling and Kasperi Kapanen, defenceman Scott Harrington — “a guy from Kingston, Ontario … how could you go wrong?” — and a first- and third-round pick in 2016. In addition, Toronto will retain $1.2 million of Kessel’s salary for each the remaining seven years on his contract.
“I thought the Leafs did a good job,” Cherry said. “They got some young guys and they only had to eat $1.2 [million of Kessel’s contract]. That’s pretty good … I thought they’d have to eat at least three [million].”
“It’s good for Kessel, too, to get out of here,” said Cherry. “He was dying last year. [The Leafs] are going to miss his goals, but he had to go, unfortunately, and you watch — he’ll do good next year.
“He’ll get 35-40 [goals] easy, next year, and he’ll be a better guy for it.”
