LGD: Kesselmania LXIX
By Jon Steitzer
5 years agoDo you still get excited for Phil Kessel games or has the Matthews, Tavares, Marner, Rielly, Andersen, Kapanen, Marleau, Kadri, (hopefully soon) Nylander era overshadowed Phil and made his era on that you’d sooner forget?
Personally, I fall into the latter, but there is still no doubt that Kessel was the highlight on some really terrible Leafs teams, and deserves our lingering respect for his charity work, and his ability to own Steve Simmons on a regular basis. For fun let’s revisit how the two main pieces of that trade stack up…
| GP | G | A | PT | AGE | |
| PHIL! | 5 | 4 | 4 | 8 | 31 |
| KAPPY! | 7 | 4 | 4 | 8 | 22 |
No that’s how you cherry pick stats, baby! WOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! Considering the Leafs also picked up Freddie Andersen with the 1st the Pens included in the deal, and the awfulness of not having Kessel in 2015-16 led to the Leafs landing Auston Matthews, I think we can feel pretty good about this arrangement. I’m sure Kessel isn’t complaining either and enjoys his Stanley Cup rings and limited exposure to Toronto Media (although it’s hard to find a bigger group of CHUDs than the Pens beat writers.)
Anyway, Kessel is back. Some of you care, some of you don’t. It’s cool either way. What’s more important is the Leafs win.
Lineupz
| LW | C | RW | Forwards |
|---|---|---|---|
 PATRICK MARLEAU Rating: 74.5#40 LW |  AUSTON MATTHEWS Rating: 86.8#4 C |  KASPERI KAPANEN Rating: 73.2#58 RW | FL1 Rating Rating: 78.14#15 FL1 |
 ZACH HYMAN Rating: 72.5#74 LW |  JOHN TAVARES Rating: 82.0#10 C |  MITCH MARNER Rating: 78.6#27 RW | FL2 Rating Rating: 77.70#3 FL2 |
 PAR LINDHOLM Rating: 73.4#77 LW |  NAZEM KADRI Rating: 76.7#33 C |  CONNOR BROWN Rating: 70.4#95 RW | FL3 Rating Rating: 73.50#5 FL3 |
 ANDREAS JOHNSSON Rating: 73.4#54 LW |  FREDERIK GAUTHIER Rating: 70.2#167 C |  JOSH LEIVO Rating: 73.2#55 RW | FL4 Rating Rating: 72.28#6 FL4 |
| DEFENSIVE PAIRINGS | Defense | |
|---|---|---|
 MORGAN RIELLY Rating: 80.0#4 LD |  RON HAINSEY Rating: 73.8#38 RD | DL1 Rating Rating: 76.86#10 DL1 |
 JAKE GARDINER Rating: 75.9#20 LD |  NIKITA ZAITSEV Rating: 70.7#82 RD | DL2 Rating Rating: 73.28#17 DL2 |
 TRAVIS DERMOTT Rating: 73.4#43 LD |  IGOR OZHIGANOV Rating: 72.6#50 RD | DL3 Rating Rating: 73.02#5 DL3 |
I’m not ready to be upset about the lack of Justin Holl in the lineup. I’d just like to see Justin Holl at some point. I think Holl likely understands and appreciates his situation more than Carrick, Corrado, and Leivo before him. As well as he’s a bit older and reserve player is a reasonable ceiling for him to achieve. I feel like this was extremely close to complaining about a lineup that does nothing but win, so I’m gonna shut it down, and save my Hainsey and Zaitsev feelings for another day.
Update:
Update:
I’d rather see Andreas Johnsson stay in, but again, I’m not ready to be angry about any of this.
| LW | C | RW | Forwards |
|---|---|---|---|
 JAKE GUENTZEL Rating: 79.1#14 LW |  SIDNEY CROSBY Rating: 86.3#5 C |  BRYAN RUST Rating: 73.0#60 RW | FL1 Rating Rating: 79.47#9 FL1 |
 CARL HAGELIN Rating: 71.8#90 LW |  EVGENI MALKIN Rating: 85.1#6 C |  PHIL KESSEL Rating: 79.2#8 RW | FL2 Rating Rating: 78.71#1 FL2 |
 DOMINIK SIMON Rating: 71.0#102 LW |  DERICK BRASSARD Rating: 73.2#85 C |  PATRIC HORNQVIST Rating: 77.4#21 RW | FL3 Rating Rating: 73.87#2 FL3 |
 DANIEL SPRONG Rating: 75.2#34 LW |  MATT CULLEN Rating: 68.7#186 C |  RILEY SHEAHAN Rating: 69.6#104 RW | FL4 Rating Rating: 71.17#18 FL4 |
| DEFENSIVE PAIRINGS | Defense | |
|---|---|---|
 BRIAN DUMOULIN Rating: 74.3#32 LD |  KRIS LETANG Rating: 81.6#4 RD | DL1 Rating Rating: 77.97#7 DL1 |
 OLLI MAATTA Rating: 72.5#60 LD |  JAMIE OLEKSIAK Rating: 71.3#73 RD | DL2 Rating Rating: 71.92#21 DL2 |
 JACK JOHNSON Rating: 71.0#94 LD |  JUUSO RIIKOLA Rating: 72.5#62 RD | DL3 Rating Rating: 71.75#13 DL3 |
Does this lineup not look exactly like what the Leafs lineup will look like in 5 or 6 years? (okay, maybe longer). The blueline is equally awful to the Leafs, but Toronto can at least take comfort in not having Jack Johnson, who I think is legitimately the closest comparable in the league to Nikita Zaitsev, but we’re not ready to admit that yet. Anyways, it looks like another situation where these teams should combine for 100 goals tonight, so expect it to end 2-1.
Starting Goaltenders
It looks like the status of Andersen’s knee has been upgraded to good enough, so he’ll go for the Leafs tonight. Though if he’s still not at 100% it probably wouldn’t be the end of the world if the Leafs platooned him and Sparks for the next little while.
Matt Murray may be in net for the Penguins. Remember when he was going to be really good? It turns out he’s just really good at getting hurt. Murray says he’s ready to go if needed, but I can’t imagine why the Penguins would rush him back from a concussion. I get not being excited to start Casey DeSmith against a team that will give him the beating he deserves, but maybe don’t ruin your starter in October. That’s good advice for both of these teams.
Anyways, the game starts at 7:00 PM ET, and Ontario folks can see the game on TSN 4.
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