On the eve of the draft, a lot of interesting trades are being floated. One rumor about a potential landing place for Phil Kessel came from Damien Cox, who said:
PITT targeting Phil Kessel as one of 4 or 5 scoring forwards that interest them. Everybody wants young Penguin D.
— Damien Cox (@DamoSpin) June 25, 2015 Phrasing aside, the young Penguin D could include any of Derrick Pouliot (21), Olli Maatta (20), Brian Dumoulin (23), or Scott Harrington (22). Pouliot has a current salary of $863,333, and is an RFA in the 2017-2018 season.
Maatta's salary is $894,166, and he's signed through 2016-2017. Dumoulin, who spent the year with the WBS Penguins and only played in five post-season NHL games, made $890,000. He becomes an RFA shortly. Harrington, who also spent the year with the WBS Penguins (and was not called up to the NHL), made $575,000, and becomes an RFA in the 2016-2017 season.
Trading Kessel would put the Leafs at $12 million under the salary floor, and add depth to a Penguins team that runs thin beyond its top four forwards.
And according to president Brendan Shanahan, Kessel is a hot commodity for more than just the Penguins.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-partner="tweetdeck"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Phil Kessel has garnered more trade interests than any other <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/leafs?src=hash">#leafs</a> player, per Brenden Shanahan.</p>— Chris Johnston (@reporterchris) <a href="https://twitter.com/reporterchris/status/614163841040060416">June 25, 2015</a></blockquote>
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