Agent: Kessel’s first priority is to get a deal done with Boston

Looks like Phil Kessel wants to remain a Boston Bruin. I also think the Bruins need to try very hard to find a way to get him signed. Again to the people that suggest that the Bruins don't need Kessel and that Marco Sturm is coming back is flawed logic. Sturm has never scored more than 56 points (27-29-56 in 80 games during 2007-2008) in any season during his NHL career and Kessel scored (36-24-60 points) in 70 games this season while missing tweleve games due to injury and illness. Kessel is a RFA so the Bruins will have a chance to match any offers Kessel might receive after July 1st. General Manager Peter Chiarelli is on records as saying the Bruins will match any offer sheets

Reports have been swirling over the last few days that Bruins General Manager Peter Chiarelli and the agent for 21-year-old B’s sniper Phil Kessel are pretty far apart in negotiations, and that a trade of Kessel this summer could be a certainty if that contractual chasm isn’t bridged.

Kessel’s agent Wade Arnott checked in with the Big Bad Blog on Tuesday afternoon, refuted the notion that the sides are at an impasse, and in fact stated that he and Chiarelli have just recently opened up contract discussions. The negotiations began in earnest this week following Kessel’s surgery to repair a torn labrum and torn rotator cuff in his right shoulder.

Kessel, a restricted free agent able to receive offer sheets from other teams if he’s still unsigned on July 1, has made it clear to Arnott that he wants to remain with the team that drafted him fifth overall in the first round back in the 2006 draft.

“We’re in the early, early stages,” said Arnott of the negotiations. “We’re just beginning to chat now. Everything in our industry is still deadline-oriented and Phil is a restricted free agent, so it doesn’t surprise me (that discussions have only just begun). In addition to that, the priority was the surgery on his shoulder. Now that he’s recovering nicely from that I guess Peter has decided that now is the time to turn his attention to Phil.”
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My instructions from Phil are that my first priority is to try and get a deal done with Boston,” said Arnott, who also indicated that Kessel’s recovery from shoulder surgery is going well, but that the young winger is likely to miss a month next season. “His interests lie in remaining in Boston, and we’re going to see if we can get that done first.”

Chiarelli recently indicated that he views Kessel an important part of the Bruins hockey club, but that he wouldn’t feel “rushed” or “hurried” by a July 1 date that allows the speedy young winger to begin courting offers from other teams. The danger is that an opposing team will see an opportunity to strike the Bruins with a blow by inking Kessel to an expensive offer sheet — as the Edmonton Oilers did to the tune of seven years and $50 million with Buffalo Sabres RFA Tomas Vanek prior to the 2007-08 season. The salary cap-strapped B’s would be forced to match the offer — and begin trading off other assets in a position of desperation – or watch Kessel sign with somebody else and potentially blossom into a 40-50 goal scorer.
[Big Bad Blog](props)