Kessel on his way out in Boston

I have been following this story for some time now and it appears that Bruins fans are losing patience with former Gopher Phil Kessel after only 1 1/2 seasons. Oh the irony. I have read where there the fans say that Phil is having a sophomore slump. I believe this observation is silly since I believe that Phil has made some improvement over last season, he will finish with more points as well.

It is pretty much the same complaints we have all heard in the past; Phil is selfish with the puck, Phil runs into team mates in the offensive zone. I have also heard more complaints along the lines of Phil's doesn't work that hard and that he's lazy. Some of these complaints may or may not be true but I have a hard time believing that Boston would just trade away their first round draft choice.

This is not the half of it, it seems that Kessel could be on his way out in Boston because his team the Bruins is suffering through a scoring outage and a tough patch were they have lost a lot of man games to injury. This was a interesting article that I found while reading a Boston Bruins fan message board.

Ultimately, it may come down to kids, and how willing the Bruins are to give up future promise for present production. There will be bidders for Phil Kessel, who was benched after two periods Sunday, his game noticeably lacking edge and dimension in this, his second NHL season. Goalie prospect Tuukka Rask and improving blue liner Mark Stuart also will bring bids, but they likely would be more difficult to sacrifice than Kessel, whose speed, though alluring, in some ways is holding him back from discovering what else he can do out there. Julien, like Dave Lewis last season, is beginning to realize it.

Kessel was the No. 5 pick in the 2006 draft. Five years earlier, Stanislav Chistov was taken fifth overall by the Anaheim Ducks, who dealt him last year to the Bruins. He wasn't totally useless, but he wasn't much more. Today, Chistov is back in Russia, another once-prime prospect gone bust. Kessel has more to offer, because of his speed and a knack around the net during shootouts. But he must show the coaching staff that he's willing to be smarter and work harder, especially in the dirtier areas of the ice.