This is for you, Malek: http://www.cbssports.com/nhl/blog/eye-on-hockey/21622213/phil-kessel-and-the-problem-with-being-the-best-player-on-a-bad-team
Kessel is the best player on the Leafs
Being the best player on the Leafs is like being the best player on the Raptors. Kessel would have a tough time cracking the top five on a team like the Pens or Hawks.
Kessel has probably been the Leafs most dangerous player this season, has generated more shots on goal than almost any other player in the league (and by extension, has created a large number of scoring chances), and is probably due to break out once some of his puck luck changes.
He does get a lot of shots on goal, and that in itself is important in hockey. It should be noted that a) he's a puck-hog, b) gets a shit-ton of power-play time, c) most of his shots are from 15 feet or more (hell, nearly half his shot are from 29 feet out).
he has yet to score a goal in five games this season (oh no!).
8 and 1/3rd now.
it's impossible to say Toronto would have been a better team the past three years and won more games (which is what Burke would have needed to save his job) had that trade not been made. Because they wouldn't have.
So instead of being a bottom-ten team each year with Kessel, the Leafs would be a bottom-five team each year without him. The latter situation, in a league that rewards tanking, is preferable.
Especially when that player is not only the best one you have, but is also (and this is often times overlooked when it comes to Kessel) one of the best goal-scorers in the entire league.
Phil Kessel is a bit like a prime Ryan Howard. Yes, Howard was one of the best home-run hitters, but he was bad at most everything else.
But how much more is Kessel supposed to do in Toronto? What isn't he doing that he could be doing to make the Maple Leafs better?
Backcheck, go near the net, take contact.
Just look at last year's Maple Leafs team and the five players who spent the most time with Kessel and how they did with him vs. without him.
This is misleading; if the players were not playing with Kessel, that means they were playing on a second, third, or fourth line, with lesser players
overall with different roles (i.e., checking the other team's best line).
Hey, maybe Lupul made them better!
Example:
Bozak With Lupul:50.0 GF%
Without Lupul: 38.2 GF%
Basically the same as with and without Kessel
LilesWith Lupul 58.3 GF%
Without Lupul: 36.7 GF%
with Kessel: 49 GF%
without Kessel 49 GF%
hmmmm
Komisarekwith Lupul: 50 GF%
without Lupul: 34.9 GF%
with Kessel: 39 GF%
without Kessel: 38 GF%
We can invert the relationship with Kessel:
with Lupul: 51 GF%
without Lupul: 40 GF%
The problem with the Maple Leafs is they don't have more players like Phil Kessel.
As a Leaf, Kessel has been a -40 (Winnipeg-like). If the Leafs had more players like Kessel, the team would still be outscored--thus still lose more games than they win.
Kessel has his flaws as a player, but the idea that he is better suited to be a secondary player seems a little odd when the list of players who have scored more goals than him over the past four years consists of eight players. That list, in order, is Steven Stamkos, Alex Ovechkin, Patrick Marleau, Ilya Kovalchuk, Corey Perry, Jarome Iginla, Jeff Carter, and Rick Nash.
Several of those players are, or have been, considered secondary players. Furthermore, those players are better than Kessel at other aspects of the game.
