Wow. It’s done. After all of the rumors, Phil Kessel has finally been traded.
The return is lower than expected, especially with the retention of XM in salary. Initially, it seems as though all the talk of not making a deal for the sake of making a deal was just that – talk.
The Toronto Maple Leafs would have been better off waiting on a Phil Kessel deal for a fair value return – which this, right now, is not fair value for a player like Phil Kessel. It’s still a decent return, but it’s not near what it could have been.