There is no doubting the talent of Toronto Maple Leafs forward, Phil Kessel.
There is also no doubting the enigmatic and often mercurial personality that comes along with that talent.
Kessel is nothing if not a big bundle of baggage wrapped around one heck of a hockey player.
He's got the hands of a surgeon but the brain of a pissed off teenager.
One second he's red hot, the next he seems like he doesn't even want to be on the ice.
One minute he's slicing through the offensive zone, rolling like an eighteen-wheeler without brakes, the next he's gliding through the neutral zone, without a care in the world.
For Leafs fans who remember what it took to get Kessel from the Bruins, and who believe his lows are worth the heights of his highs, the discussion of whether or not the team should move him is a difficult one.
For Leafs fans sick of watching his act, the discussion is a moot one.
The only thing certain at this point is, if the Leafs do make him available, there are any number of teams that will come calling for his services.
In fact, a number of them already have.
"I can tell you that I've spoken to some teams - I'm not going to tell you who at this point because I was asked not to - but they said they have contacted Toronto to say, 'If you guys are ever getting serious about Kessel, let us know and we'll get in on it.' So that has happened," said ESPN's Pierre LeBrun, while appearing on a recent episode of Toronto's TSN 1050 on Friday, as transcribed by NicholsOnHockey.com.
After Leafs GM Dave Nonis and, presumably, team President Brendan Shanahan decided to part ways with head coach, Randy Carlyle, the conversation around the still-in-it Leafs shifted, at least partially, to the future and, more specifically, the futures of a handful of players in the White and Blue.
Players like captain Dion Phaneuf and Kessel.
Now, with the team transitioning to interim coach Peter Horacheck's defense-first philosophy - which has, coincidentally or not, coincided with their worst run of the season - Kessel has scored only two goals in the last 14 games, again raising the specter of his on-again, off-again persona and how it fits in the long-term for the Leafs.
As LeBrun notes, should Nonis and Shanahan decide to pull the plug, plenty of teams would, and more importantly, already have, made their interest known.
"Well, yeah. Why not? With all that's happening with Carlyle's firing and Kessel's in the spotlight, other teams aren't idiots. But it goes to show you, for all the people who called in to say there's no way there'd be a market - there would be a market. Okay? It would not be an issue.
"And again, we don't know if they're going to move him. They may not. But I'm telling you, there are other teams that would be interested. There's no question about it."
Kessel still leads the Leafs with 19 goals and 43 points and he's still a hugely talented player - but for the perennially middling Toronto organization, it's as much about context as anything.
He's a streaky, frustratingly emotional guy and at the end of the day, a team searching for consistency may need more out of their best player than goals without wins and points without postseasons.
