2011 NHL Draft: Phil Kessel Trade Continues To Haunt Toronto Maple Leafs

A couple years ago the Toronto Maple Leafs acquired Phil Kessel from the Boston Bruins. In doing so, they pretty much mortgaged their future. They traded their first-round pick from 2010, second-round pick from 2010, and their first-round pick from 2011 in order to get Kessel.

Phil Kessel has not disappointed. He has had consecutive 30-plus goal seasons, including 62 points this season. However, the Maple Leafs were in no position to let go of valuable draft picks. The Maple Leafs hadn't (and still haven't) made the playoffs since God knows when.

When a team is in that position, they need to rebuild from the bottom with strong draft picks and build a solid foundation. With Kessel, they ended up receiving the second pick in the NHL draft last year and this turned out to be Tyler Seguin, the 19-year-old who scored three goals in the Eastern Conference Finals this year. 

Seguin is getting valuable playoff experience this year and might get his name on the Cup in his first season. He has a bright future ahead of him and the Maple Leafs are kicking themselves in the forehead because they passed up the opportunity to get him.

To think things couldn't get worse for the Leafs, the Bruins ended up taking their ninth pick from this year's draft. Also, the second-round pick from last year's draft, Jared Knight, turned out to be a pretty good player for Boston, too. He made his AHL debut this year and had two assists in three games. In the OHL, Knight scored 70 points in 68 games and he looks like he's a promising prospect for the B's. 

With the Bruins already in the Stanley Cup Final this season, they only get stronger in the future with such high draft picks. Meanwhile, the Maple Leafs get poor draft picks and a player who can barely crack 60 points. That is not a recipe for success.

And now this summer, the Bruins can probably go after Ryan Strome, who scored 106 points in 65 games with the Niagara Ice Dogs of the OHL, or Ryan Murphy, a high scoring defenseman who should provide the Bruins blueline with a scoring punch.

These are players that need to be developed in the Maple Leafs' system so that they can put them back in the playoffs again. The Phil Kessel trade is slowly turning into one of the worst trades in recent memory for the Leafs.

They will continue to struggle and their divisional rival Boston Bruins, who are already a Stanley Cup caliber team as evidenced by this year's run, have a great future with Seguin, Knight, and whoever they draft this year at No. 9 overall. 

It's one thing mortgaging to your future away, but to mortgage it away to one of your rivals is an irreversible mistake. The Leafs will continue to be a down trodden second rate team until they make smarter front office decisions.