On the Kessel Front...

The last couple of weeks has been an interesting ride for Preds fans following the Kessel deal. The media and rumor sites have kept the pot stirred and Preds officials confirmed that they had made offers.

I never really fully drank the kool-aid that we would be the eventual winner in the Kessel sweepstakes. Brian Burke was dead set on getting Kessel and I think we may have been the pawn that drove up the price to the benefit of the Boston Bruins.

The initial rumored offer of Blum, Rads and a first would have been a good deal for the Preds, especially if Kessel could have been signed for $4.5 million a year or so. The deal breaker for the Preds, as reported by Brandon Felder, was that the Bruins wanted Colin Wilson.

Many folks may criticize David Poile for not closing the deal, but this is one that needs a year or two to get a true perspective of the the players that were in the mix. If Blum and Wilson develop and contribute as expected and Rads were to make a successful return, which I think is unlikely, then nothing Kessel would bring to the table would be worth the price we would have paid.

Additionally, with a shrinking salary cap next year, the high per year cost of Kessel's eventual contract would have placed the Predators in a precarious situation in being able to resign Pekka Rinne, Dan Hamhuis and others and still come in below the cap midpoint that has become such a cornerstone of our small market operation.

One thing that we have learned from the whole Kessel chase is that David Poile still has a few pesos to spend if the right D-man and/or second line winger becomes available as the September 30th deadline approaches for teams to get under the salary cap.

http://www.predsontheglass.com/2009/...irate-day.html