Kessel Rumor Not True

Last Thursday afternoon, a rumor came out that Boston Bruins forward Phil Kessel was traded to the St. Louis Blues. It started when the ‘New England Hockey Journal’ published a headline that said “Kessel traded to Blues” – but there was no story (just a blank page) which made it suspicious for the start.

As most false rumors are, this one was quickly put to rest. News later came out about what exactly happened: the Hockey Journal had some technical difficulties and the headline accidentally slipped through the system while they were running a test.

The Hockey Journal apologized and issued this statement on Friday:

On Thursday, a headline appeared on hockeyjournal.com indicating that Bruins forward Phil Kessel had been traded to the St. Louis Blues. There was no article accompanying the headline nor is any article of that nature planned. During an internal training exercise, a draft of a Web page that was never meant to be posted on the site showed up on the site due to a server problem. We are investigating how that happened.   We offer our apologies to Phil Kessel, the Bruins and any visitors who were misled by this erroneous posting, and will take measures to make sure a mistake like this does not happen again.  

Mike Zhe, editor of New England Hockey Journal

So Blues fans, Kessel is not coming to St. Louis. There was never anything to the rumor.

It would have been nice to acquire him given his level of skill, but there are many reasons why such a trade would not make any sense:

1.) The Blues have enough scoring depth as it is, so if they were to make a trade, I can pretty much guarantee it would not be for a forward but rather for a defenseman.

2.) With skill comes a high price, and the Blues likely would have had to part ways with a player such as David Perron – which likely will not happen. Perron will play a huge part in the future of the Blues.

3.) Kessel’s injury might keep him out until December, so why trade for a player that might only play half the season?

I would not expect any big trades between now and the start of the season. The Blues’ roster seems set in stone.