Why a Phil Kessel reunion could make sense for the Leafs

Trying to sum up the Phil Kessel era with the Toronto Maple Leafs isn’t an easy task.

Depending on who you ask, Kessel was characterized as either an underrated star or an overrated player who never quite had the leadership qualities to succeed in a major market like Toronto.

He was seen as unlike many other star players: shy and awkward in front of cameras but possessed a unique skill set on the ice.

While Kessel’s individual numbers in Toronto were always quite strong, the team saw no playoff success with him on the roster, making the postseason just once as part of the infamous 2013 series (and Game 7 collapse) against Boston.

Now age 34 and in his 16th NHL season, Kessel is in the midst of the twilight stage of his career, while his Arizona Coyotes are in a bit of internal chaos right now.

They’re sitting at the bottom of the Western Conference standings, have just eight players signed for next season, and are slated to spend the next three years playing in a 5,000-seat arena at Arizona State University while they wait for their new home digs to be built. It’s hard to imagine Kessel sticking around there long-term.

Meanwhile, cup-chasing Toronto has employed its fair share of veterans in the latter stages of their careers over the last few seasons: Brian Boyle, Tomas Plekenac, Joe Thornton, Wayne Simmonds, Jason Spezza, and Patrick Marleau, to name a few. Kessel, on his second go with Leafs, could be next.

Here’s why a Kessel reunion in Toronto could make sense, whether in the next few weeks (but more likely in the summer):

Full circle

Dion Phaneuf was the team captain for much of Kessel’s tenure, but Kessel was the face of the Leafs for a half-dozen years during his NHL prime.

The Leafs paid a premium to get Kessel in 2009, trading away two first-round picks that eventually turned into Tyler Seguin and Dougie Hamilton, both NHL stars in their own right.

Kessel was then eventually traded away from Toronto to Pittsburgh with little team success to show for it, spending his entire Leafs tenure on a bad team that made the playoffs once in a lockout-shortened 2013 season.

That Leafs era can’t really be viewed as anything other than a failure, but the same can’t be said about Kessel himself.

Over his six seasons in Toronto, Kessel had 181 goals and 213 assists in 446 games, including four seasons over 30 goals. Since 2000, just two Leafs — Mats Sundin and Auston Matthews — have put up a higher goal total than the American winger. Kessel led the team in scoring every year he played in Toronto while making three All-Star Games.

The impression Kessel left with certain media members and fans is well documented. Some people don’t like him for whatever reason, and perhaps they never will. One of the narratives that followed him around was that he’d never be able to lead a team to a Stanley Cup.

Kessel immediately put that idea to bed, winning two championships in his first two seasons in Pittsburgh. On a team that had Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin, Kessel hit new heights in a differing role, scoring a career-high 92 points in 2017-18.

Sure, Kessel might not have been the biggest star on the Penguins, but he didn’t have to be — he simply found an organization that fit him in perfectly to their master plan.

It’s clear his connections to the city still run deep — Kessel even brought the Stanley Cup to Toronto’s Sick Kids hospital in 2016.

If Kessel came back to Toronto, his expectations of needing to be the team’s best player wouldn’t be there like they were with his first go-around with the team.

It might be the nostalgia talking, but Kessel coming back to Toronto as a depth winger to slot up and down the lineup could be a perfect way to cap off his career.

Trade or sign?

Kessel is 11th on TSN’s latest Trade Bait list, an indicator that he’s likely available on the market in the coming weeks before the March 21 trade deadline.

Toronto is actually still retaining money on the eight-year contract they signed with him in 2014, some seven years on from the trade.

Per CapFriendly, Toronto has just over $200,000 in cap space, while Kessel’s carrying a cap hit of $6.8 million. There are a few combinations that could make a trade to Toronto before the deadline make sense from a money standpoint (adding up a combination like Justin Holl, Alex Kerfoot, and Petr Mrazek could technically make a trade work), though it’s hard to imagine the Leafs moving multiple rostered players to make room for just one.

Most likely, Kessel could be sought out by the Leafs in the free-agent market this summer after finishing the season either in Arizona or elsewhere, signing on a short-term deal with a much lower salary. With six goals and 27 assists this season in 50 games, Kessel still has some offensive firepower, but he’s not going to be breaking the bank on his fourth NHL contract.

For everyone involved, bringing Kessel back to the Leafs just makes too much sense. It’s just a matter of when.

You might also like:
• Why the Leafs might be interested in trading for Luke Schenn