General Leafs News & Notes

leafman101 said:

Regardless he blantanly says it was overall a positive experience for the team in answer to the question of if it was his worst loss ever.

To try and desipher each line in a vaccum of a translated interview that likely doesn't mean anything important either way is kind of a waste of time.

The problem with Grabo is he stunk this year. No need to grasp as straws like this.

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Montana said:

+1


Despite his poor performance in the playoffs in particular, it certainly wasn't due to a lack of effort.....guy was one of our hardest workers the entire series.

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Montana said:

Komarov was 2/7 (28.6%) in the face-off dot during the playoffs. Was 29/57 (50.9%) during the regular season.

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Last year, Brian Burke told a story about one of his first interactions with Phil Kessel, long before Kessel was a member of the Toronto Maple Leafs. Burke was interviewing Kessel in 2006, his draft year, and the answers he heard from the talented winger were mumbled. Kessel stared at his feet. He was shy and appeared to have a serious lack of self-confidence.

"I was like 'Pass. Not my kind of player,' " said Burke, who at the time was the general manager of the Anaheim Ducks.

But through the years, while spending time with Kessel in international competition, getting to know him better and seeing how he interacted with teammates, Burke's initial impression changed. He grew to like Kessel and eventually covet his rare ability to change a game on a moment's notice.

Often, the Phil Kessel he first met is the one the public sees. Kessel doesn't seek attention and occasionally has to be dragged out to fulfill media obligations.

Knowing this, Leafs general manager Dave Nonis relayed to the Toronto media on Thursday just how devastated Kessel was following the Boston Bruins' historic Game 7 comeback Monday over the Maple Leafs in their first-round playoff series.

"I'm not sure everyone in this room gets a feel for him because he's not gregarious, I would say, with you all the time," Nonis said during his season-ending news conference. "He's a good person and he cares. I don't think there was a play er on our team more devastated than Phil. His play on both sides of the puck was as good as it's ever been."

The last sentence is a key one, because it surely will come up when Nonis and Kessel's agent, Wade Arnott, sit down this summer to talk about a contract extension. Contrast it with how careful Montreal GM Marc Bergevin was in praising P.K. Subban in his season-ending news conference, mentioning that there was still room for improvement from his Norris Trophy-nominated defenseman, and it sounded almost as if negotiations were already starting.

Toronto and Kessel's camp can start talking informally about a contract extension now, but nothing has happened yet.

"He's in my mind one of the top players in the league. Would we look to extend Phil? Again, he has a year left in his contract, there is no urgency in getting him signed to an extension," Nonis said. "Phil Kessel is going to be a good player in this league for a long time. If there's a deal there that makes sense for both of us, no question, we'll look to bring him back for an extended period."

But that's the challenge. What's a deal that makes sense?

Kessel likes playing in Toronto. Despite his introverted personality, he's embraced playing in a passionate hockey market. He's seen the team grow each year he's been there, and like any star player across the league, he wants a chance to win.

He also wants to see that winning and growth continue, so he will be watching closely what Nonis' next steps are this summer in building on what was a successful first year as general manager.

Kessel will earn $5.4 million in the final year of his current contract and is poised for a huge raise, especially considering he's making less than teammate Mikhail Grabovski. Just how big a raise he expects may help determine whether he remains with the Maple Leafs long term.

We're still early in the cycle of this CBA, so salary comparables are being developed. Complicating things even more is that the cap is set to drop next year for the first time, making it tough to project how much room the Maple Leafs may have in the future when calculating what a fair price for Kessel might be.

"I think that the NHL has already distributed preliminary analysis of where the cap is going each year for the next three or four years. I know that we have our own," one prominent agent said. "It's been artificially set at $64.3 million, then I think we'll be up in the 66-67 range the following year, and we'll be back to $70 [million] by Year 3."

If that's the case, it shouldn't put too much of a squeeze on Kessel.

"Kessel's value will not go down," he said, but added that Kessel's game isn't as well-rounded as that of some other stars, which may hurt him at the negotiating table.

"He doesn't possess four or five tools," he said. "He's a guy who is a sniper."

During an era in the NHL when goal scoring is as hard as it's ever been, that skill is a commodity. He's not the big, fast forward the Los Angeles Kings are winning with, but he can still change a game in an instant.

Part of the reason the Maple Leafs could get outshot every game and still remain competitive is that it takes just one shot from Kessel to even what might be a lopsided game to that point. Still just 25 years old, Kessel was one of 15 players to score 20 or more goals during this lockout-shortened season.

Kessel also produced in the playoffs. He had four goals and two assists in the Maple Leafs' series loss to the Bruins, and now has 21 points in 22 career postseason games. He's slowly starting to build an impressive playoff résumé, at a time of season normally better suited for bigger, more physical players.

The biggest names to sign contract extensions under the new CBA are Anaheim's duo of Corey Perry and Ryan Getzlaf. Perry signed an eight-year, $69 million deal to remain in Anaheim. That's an annual salary of $8.625 million.

Getzlaf signed an eight-year, $66 million deal that works out to an average of $8.25 million per season.

There's more to like in both Getzlaf and Perry's overall game than Kessel's, and both have a championship (not to mention Perry's Hart Trophy). But Kessel had more goals than both combined in the same amount of playoff games this year. And he's younger than both. It's still possible his best hockey is yet to be played, which might not be the case for Getzlaf and Perry, both of whom are 28.

Another comparable is Carolina winger Alexander Semin, who signed a five-year deal worth $35 million to stay with the Hurricanes. In 513 games played, he has 210 career goals, and that deal shows just how much GMs value goal scoring. Semin averages 0.41 goals per game during the regular season.

In the past two seasons, Kessel has averaged 0.45 and 0.42 goals per game. And again, he's younger than Semin, who is 29.

So the $8 million annual range is a reasonable starting point for a player of Kessel's age and ability. The Maple Leafs just have to decide if that's the path down which they want to proceed.

"They'll know internally if they want to keep him or not," one NHL source said. "If they don't, they'll let him go. The trouble is, if you let him go, how do you replace him?"

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"Kessel's value will not go down," he said, but added that Kessel's game isn't as well-rounded as that of some other stars, which may hurt him at the negotiating table.

"He doesn't possess four or five tools," he said. "He's a guy who is a sniper."

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