NHL: Report Says Leafs Trade for Phil Kessel

A report from the Toronto Star newspaper has indicated that the Toronto Maple Leafs have traded for Boston Bruins sniper, Phil Kessel.

The report has the deal worth $27 million over the next five seasons which works out to $5.4 million per season. There have been talks about the Leafs acquiring Kessel throughout the summer; however both sides reached a stalemate when it came to be known that Bruins general manager Peter Chiarelli wanted Tomas Kaberle involved in the deal to bring Kessel to Toronto and Leafs GM Brian Burke wasn't willing to give him up. The Leafs have reportedly given up a first and second round pick in 2010 and a first round pick in 2011 in order to acquire the young scorer. The emergence of Tyler Bozak, Chrisitan Hanson and Nazem Kadri in pre-season is a promising sign for the Leafs locker room. The talks of the Leafs getting Kessel settled down over the last little while but rekindled when Kessel broke off talks of resigning with the Bruins last week. Kessel, who turns 21 in October, scored 36 goals and tallied 60 points helping the Bruins to first place in the eastern conference. Due to shoulder surgery, he won't be able to hit the ice for the Leafs until mid-November.