Who’d the leafs want for him though? Horton? Burke would probably try to sell Sexton on the virtues of Kessel playing in a low-pressure non-traditional hockey market. ( I have no idea how salary plays into this stuff- I am amazed teams can even trade players anymore, what, with all the strings attached)

We can’t trade a forward for a forward, I don’t see how that improves our club (Unless it’s something like Olesz for Kovalchuk…) We have a stack of AHL talent that someone might be interested in, but unless we’re somehow 6-10 points out of it come March 3rd, I don’t see how we can give up on some of our top line talent for anything that will improve our chances this year.

I still think Ray Whitney makes a lot of sense. Carolina is looking for picks and prospects, Whitney has played here before and could waive his NTC to come back and help us get in the playoffs. I think he fits in on our top line until Horton comes back, and could slide in very nicely with Frolik and Stillman when Horton is back. Which puts Reinprecht, Olesz, and Moore on a 3rd line, and that actually sounds like 3 full lines that could actually chip in, instead of our line and a half that we have now. But this all sounds too good to make sense to the “hockey minds” we have running our organization, soooo I won’t be holding my breath.

Hey, you never open with your best offer. He’s a UFA after this year, right? If the Panthers offer him the chance to showcase himself- that might be enough to get him to agree to a trade. Guys say a lot of things, but the majority of players are competitors who want to win above all else.