Sportsnet's Craig Simpson Not A Fan Of Kessel Trade
PITTSBURGH (KDKA 93-7 The Fan) - The Penguins traded for Phil Kessel on Wednesday to add a scoring winger to the lineup. Today, on "The Cook and Poni Show," Craig Simpson of Sportsnet, said he was not a fan of the deal.
"I thought that it was a risky deal for the Penguins. There's no question that Phil is going to be a motivated player. He's got an awful lot to prove. There's no denying the offensive skill that he has," Simpson said. "The next step is to grow up a little bit and to be a committed player."
Simpson also talked about the Penguins having so much money tied up in their star players.
"I think the Penguins have not been able to be a good playoff team because of that $9.5 and $8.7 (million) at the top. You look at (Kris) Letang at $7.5 (million), there just hasn't been that depth. And if you throw in Kessel at that $6.75 (million), I'm not sure Pittsburgh can be a great playoff team under that scenario," Simpson said.
Simpson said that the Penguins could be hurting themselves long-term by continually trading away draft picks and prospects.
"The damaging thing to me, when you look at the Penguins over the last four years even, is they've given up on a lot of those picks. They've traded away the first round pick or they've traded away prospects," Simpson said. "More importantly, within the structure of your team, you have to have some of those guys on either entry-level contracts or on those secondary bridge contracts that fit into your niche, but they play at a high level."
Hear the whole interview here:
