As astute and long-time Pensburgh readers are no doubt aware, one of the biggest reasons this blog has been anti-trade Phil Kessel isn’t just because it’s difficult to replace such a productive winger that performs as well consistently as Phil does. Even though that is plenty good a reason to start with.
Beyond that, the same way the Pittsburgh Penguins acquired Phil Kessel for only two assets of value (then prospect Kasperi Kapanen plus a 2016 first round draft pick, that was lottery protected at that) is the same reason why trading Kessel out isn’t likely to yield an acceptable or worthy return.