There’s now just under a month until the March 21 NHL trade deadline, so the rumors are only going to be picking up. With the Bruins currently in playoff position but still looking like an incomplete team, there will be plenty involving them.
On Wednesday morning’s Greg Hill Show, Jermaine Wiggins shared one he has heard recently, and it involves a particularly interesting name.
“The streets are kind of talking a little bit that there might be a reunion of some sorts with one Phil Kessel,” Wiggy said. “Boston could be interested.”
Listen to the full clip here:
Kessel, of course, spent his first three NHL seasons with the Bruins from 2006-09 after they drafted him fifth overall in 2006. They then traded him away during a contractual dispute, though, sending Kessel to Toronto for two first-round picks that turned into Tyler Seguin and Dougie Hamilton (both of whom the Bruins also traded away young, ironically).
Kessel, now 34, has spent the last three years with the Arizona Coyotes. He is in the final year of his contract, has a $6.8 million cap hit, and will be an unrestricted free agent after the season. There is no reason for the rebuilding Coyotes to hang onto him, so the expectation is he’ll be moved before the deadline. We mentioned him as a possibility for the Bruins last month, although the two sides hadn’t really been linked at that point.
The veteran right wing is no longer the elite scorer he was in his prime, but he still had 20 goals and 43 points in 56 games last season. That has dropped to six goals and 33 points in 50 games this season, but it’s worth noting that his career-low 5.8% shooting percentage this year is likely to bounce back at least a little bit. His individual high-danger chances and average shot distance are still roughly in line with where they’ve been in recent years. Kessel’s playoff resume, which includes 45 points in 49 games during the Penguins’ back-to-back Stanley Cup runs in 2016 and 2017, also should not be ignored.
Kessel has the right to submit an eight-team trade list, meaning he can give the Coyotes eight teams he would accept a trade to and block a deal to anyone else. Whether he would be open to a Bruins reunion is unknown. Things did not end well in Boston in 2009, but that was a long time ago, and the general manager he was negotiating with then (Peter Chiarelli) and the coach he reportedly butted heads with (Claude Julien) are both long gone.
As we all debate who should line up at right wing next to Patrice Bergeron and Brad Marchand -- if David Pastrnak stays with Taylor Hall on the second line and Craig Smith stays on the third line -- it’s not hard to imagine Kessel as a fit there.
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