With the Bruins on tap, why not discuss Kessel-Seguin?

There seems to be a propensity in Leaf circles sometimes to say we shouldn’t talk about the "Kessel trade", because it’s over and done with.  Now, that's not everyone's view, just an opinion I have seen floated about a fair bit.  (Maybe it was more reflective of when the Leafs were struggling and Kessel was still widely seen as a talented but strictly hot and cold offensive player.)

Just last week, a mainstream hockey writer wrote a piece that, if I saw the headline correctly, essentially said:  it's time to acknowledge Burke made a great trade with the Bruins to obtain Kessel.  Personally, I wouldn't go that far.  I've seen too many trades over the past fifty-some years where one team seems to be the "winner", only to have things change significantly over time.  From my perspective, there doesn't have to be a "winner", anyway.  Sometimes deals work out well for both teams and neither would change a thing.  I just like to assess how a big deal works for both sides, both short and longer-term.

For me, enjoying sports is sometimes rooted in being able to follow precisely this kind of major deal—one that gives fans on  both "sides” something to talk about for years to come.

I mean, isn’t there an element of pure pleasure (and I don’t mean fantasy hockey pools, though that’s fun,
too, for those so inclined…) when, on the same night, you see that Kessel has potted a big goal for the Leafs, but you flick the channel or scoreboard-watch on the 'net, and you notice that young Seguin has a couple of assists?

For those not keeping score, Kessel leads the NHL with 31 points in 24 games and is plus 4 on the year.  Seguin has slowed down a bit lately, production-wise, and now sits at 23 points in 22 games thus far.  He is plus 19.

It isn’t exactly Mantle and Maris gunning for Babe Ruth’s record of 61 home runs in 1961, but it’s pretty cool, nonetheless.  We’re talking about two young stars, maybe NHL superstars, some day soon.

Of course, Leaf fans want Kessel to outdo his Bruin counterpart, and I have to believe Bruin fans feel the same about Seguin.  Again, that’s part of the fun of being a fan.  It can be something that is debated non-stop, for years.

Kessel himself may have long grown tired of the persistent questions about the trade (I can probably take the “may” out of that sentence…), and that’s understandable.  But you can be certain that he wants to do well against the Bruins, and some game soon, it’s going to happen—and he will be immensely relieved. (On that note, can you imagine how much fun a playoff series against the Bruins would be?  A 7-game series would be great in itself.  But throw in the Kessel-Seguin attraction, and you have a real storyline to follow...)

Trades—while difficult for the athletes involved and their families—are the kind of thing that make fans even more passionate about the sport they love and the teams they follow.  (Consider how much discussion there would be in Toronto if the Bobby Ryan "rumours" proved to be true, and he ended up in a Maple Leaf uniform?) And we would no doubt be kidding ourselves if we believed that the players who have been dealt don’t harbor feelings toward their former organization (check my earlier post about Ron Wilson, and his summertime comments about the San Jose Sharks, his previous employer).  It’s human nature.  And that’s part of what makes trades so riveting for fans.

There are things I can’t seem to remember about my fifty-plus years following the Leafs, but I think I remember all the major trades in Leaf history.  The memory bank includes getting Red Kelly in the late ‘50s, the Saturday afternoon when Dickie Duff was dealt to the Rangers (and played aginst the Leafs that very night) in early 1964.  There was the amazing multi-player deal that sent the “Big M”, Frank Mahovlich, to the Red Wings in late February (I think it was), 1968.

I also have fond memories of the January day we traded Mike Walton (talented but very unhappy in Toronto) and got Bernie Parent from the Flyers in a three-way deal with the Bruins.  The Dan Maloney deal was huge in 1978, but I wish it had been possible a few years earlier when Maloney, a rugged winger the Leafs desperately needed, was younger.

Some historical follow-up: the Kelly trade was great for Leaf GM/coach Punch Imlach.  Kelly became a center in Toronto and helped the team win four Cups in the next eight seasons.  The Mahovlich deal actually worked out best for the Montreal Canadiens.  By that I mean the Red Wings flipped Frank (picture at left) a couple of years later to the Habs, and he was a major contributor to two Cups (1971 and 1973) for Toronto’s arch-rivals.  (In fairness, the Leafs got some fine years out of Normie Ullman and to a lesser degree Paul Henderson.  Henderson was a Team Canada hero but never really quite reached the heights expected of him in Toronto before jumping to the WHA.  The Wings received Mickey Redmond in return for Mahovlich, and while the team struggled, Redmond had a couple of 50 goal years in Motown.)

Some of you have heard my tale of woe about Parent before.  He looked great in blue and white  after joining the Leafs part-way through the 1970-’71 season, but just over a year later, the fledgling WHA beckoned.  Leaf owner Harold Ballard wouldn’t pay up, and the rest is Hall-of-Fame history—Parent earning that honor in large part for leading the expansion Flyers to two Stanley Cups in the mid-‘70s.

The Maloney trade cost the Leafs Errol Thompson, a nice winger and two first-round draft choices, but without him, they would never have beat the Islanders in the 1978 playoffs—still one of the biggest upsets in Leaf playoff history.

My point in all this being, I guess, that trades create some great memories.  And they give us something to cheer about, fight about, debate and get passionate about.

So while I respect a fan’s desire not to have the “Kessel-Seguin” discussion any more, for me, it makes the fan experience all the more entertaining.

Especially this week.