By Jordan Long
The Pittsburgh Penguins are trying to shed salary so they can sign free agents. Right now they have a projected cap space of around $3.21 million, not enough to improve the team in free agency. They tried to trade forward Phil Kessel to the Minnesota Wild but he has a no trade clause in his contract and rejected the trade.
Kessel is going to have a cap hit of $6.8 million each year for the next 3 years before he hits free agency. That is a lot of money for Pittsburgh to continue to absorb. They want to move on from Kessel. He is going to be 32 when the regular season starts and Pittsburgh would like to be a younger and faster skating team.
The Wild would have made sense. They have a projected cap space of $21.44 million, more than enough to keep Kessel for next year plus money to spend to improve the team. They also have a core who can score in Zach Parise, Mikko Koivu, and Eric Staal. Adding Kessel might have made the offense more dangerous.
The problem is Kessel didn’t want to be dealt to the Wild. Kessel feels the Wild aren’t ready to win a Cup right now and may not be for the next few seasons. The Wild even had General Manager Paul Fenton talk to him to convince Kessel to be part of the Wild’s franchise but that didn’t help. Kessel still felt that the Wild wasn’t the right fit.
The Wild have reached the playoffs 6 out of the last 7 years. This past season was the only time they didn’t, finishing at 37-36-9 for 83 points, 7 points back of the Colorado Avalanche for the 2nd Wild Card spot. Sure it was a poor season but if this team is healthy they will have a chance to make the playoffs but Kessel is right. They are not going to make a run to the Stanley Cup Final. It could take a few years for them to do so.
The Penguins must make Kessel happy. There are plenty of teams to pick for them to make a trade with. He would like to make 1 or 2 more runs at the Cup and be in the postseason every year. Kessel has won 2 Cups but still would like to add to that. Hopefully Pittsburgh makes him happy and he is traded to a team who can help him, not only reach the playoffs, but make a deep run at a Cup.
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