All I'm saying is that the Wesley deal wasn't the robbery people thought it was when it was made.

And that a draft pick is always a gamble because you never know how a player's game will translate to the NHL.

If you compare Kessel to the #2 picks of the last 8 years not counting 2009, who is clearly better? In that group there is Jordan Staal, James Van Riemsdyk, Drew Doughty, Evgeni Malkin, Eric Staal, Kari Lehtonen, Jason Spezza, Dany Heatley. I'd say Kessel falls right in line with most of these guys; better than some, not as good as others.

And how can you realistically say Kessel wouldn't have made a difference? Not only would he have added 30-35 goals to the Bruins lineup, but the chemistry he was developing with Savard would have had a huge impact.

To have Kessel on this team, they'd either have to not re-sign Krejci to the contract he got, or get rid of some other guys. I'd rather have Krejci than Kessel, and obviously that's how the Bruins felt as well. Krejci is a 2-way forward, Kessel is not. Kessel scores a lot of goals, but check who he scores them against - the teams like Edmonton, the Islanders, Florida...the bottom of the barrel.

For those #2 picks, Kessel is not in the same class as Malkin, Eric Staal, Heatley, and probably Spezza. It's too early to make a comparison to JVR or Doughty. He's probably on equal footing with Jordan Staal, and better than Lehtonen.

Look I'm not saying that Toronto got the better of the deal, or even that I wouldn't have made the same deal in the same circumstances myself. I'm just bringing all this forward to make the point that to say one side or the other won this trade at this point in time is nonsensical.

And for what it's worth, I don't believe Spezza is anywhere near in the same class as Malkin, Staal or Heatley. Heck I would rather have either Staal than Spezza on my team, but that's another debate for another thread.

As long as Sinden gets his say, the Bruins will be winners in the trade.



You can bash him as much as you want for being the company man, but there is no way you can bash him on picking quality talent.

Yeah...Spezza's crap.....just send him to Calgary with the other crap.

I see Montador is still a moron. He is the #1 reason for the Bruins being eliminated last season.

Granted there was only 7 seconds , but if no one is around, never ice the puck.

Double OT win. That was certainly a punch in the stomach for Buffalo.

The sabres original uniform was great. Why did they ever decide they wanted to look more like the Nashville Predators?

...and they put a big slug on it as their logo.

Onto the 2nd round for the 2nd year in a row. So now, the question is, will Washington continue to play with both hands around their throat, allowing the Bruins to get home ice against the Flyers, or will Ovie and company wake up and force the Bruins to go to Pittsburgh?

Savard has the ok to play for game 1.

SAVARD!!!!!!!

Halfway there....now let's go to Philly and take care of business.

Close it out on Friday boys!