Phil Kessel: Curse or Blessing?

Yes, the game last night, which I was at, was a good debut for Phil Kessel. He hit the net 10 times, the puck seemed to find his stick a lot and his skills with it were apparent. His speed was evident, and he took as solid of a hit as you’ll see in the NHL and continued to play his game without any fear—all while amassing the most ice-time of any Leafs forward.  Truly no surprise when you know that Brian Burke wants to assure fans, media, and brass alike that he made the right choice in in potentially trading so much to acquire this budding young star.

The fact of the matter is that they still lost the game.  And again the Leafs lost in overtime, though in no part was it due to the outstanding job between the pipes by the Monster, without whom this game could have easily been a lopsided win for Tampa. From what I saw, Tampa had the better scoring chances close to the net aside from some mad scrambles late in the game, which Toronto Toronto could not capitalize on.

The Leafs finally have a guy in Phil Kessel, though, that many consider to be a “Top Six Forward.” His skills have brought him a lot of targets by opposing teams, and prior to his break out the Leafs lacked clear line identities resulting in some random defensive matchups. Much like a star running back in football, defensive coordinators design their game plan around stopping the opposing stud. For a team to have success, players surrounding the star have to step up when the defensive attention is focused on stopping the playmaker.

Now that teams will be keying off on Kessel—whether he continues playing with Stajan and Blake or if he ends up with Stalberg and Bozak—anything is possible.  His line will be up against the opposition's number one defensive pairing.

Which other line can step up put some shots in the net?

Teams that do well tend to have star offensive players. Detroit has Zetterberg and Datsyuk, Pittsburgh has Crosby and Malkin, past greats such as Edmonton had Gretzky and Messier—Pittsburgh again had Lemieux and Jagr.  What those teams also had, however, were supporting players who became key to the success of their teams.  Phil Kessel is but one young guy hoping to attain a glimpse of the glory that those players tasted, but if it weren’t for the Glen Anderson’s and Jordan Stall’s, Johan Franzen’s and the other guys that got it done for those teams, they wouldn’t have succeeded as a whole.

Where does Toronto find this secondary support and how does the coaching staff take pressure off whoever is playing on that line with Kessel?

As we know, Toronto is a work in progress and a slow one at that. But with what was given up for Kessel it seems that the whip will now be put to the donkey with a little more vigour and urgency.

Opposing coaches may actually have to game plan now when they play the Leafs. Previously I could hear a coach in the dressing room just telling their team to go out and have some fun as though it were a kid’s house league game.

Perhaps Phil Kessel will be a curse for his line mates by drawing the opposing teams top defensive pairing.  Though for the other three lines that need to produce, he will undoubtedly be a blessing. Hopefully he will also be a blessing for the Toronto faithful for years to come.