Kessel for Kaberle deal crumbles before completion - Details

According to the Boston Globe, the Boston Bruins had a deal in place Friday to ship right winger Phil Kessel, their high-scoring restricted free agent, to the Toronto Maple Leafs for veteran defenseman Tomas Kaberle, just the kind of skilled, minutes-crunching blue liner who could make Boston a bona fide contender to be an Eastern Conference playoff champion, maybe even a Stanley Cup champion, next spring.

The Globe, quoting to sources on both sides of the deal who had first-hand knowledge of the negotiations, the Bruins arrived at the draft late Friday afternoon believing they were swapping Kessel, 21, for Kaberle, 31. The Bruins initially asked for Torontos top pick in this past weekends draft, No. 7 overall, to be included in the swap. But when Toronto general manager Brian Burke turned down that package, Bruins GM Peter Chiarelli countered with Kessel and Bostons top pick next June for Kaberle and the No. 7.

A swap of players. A swap of first-round picks. Deal done. Or so the Bruins believed. So much so, said one source, that they planned to select hard-rock winger Zack Kassian with the No. 7 pick.

When the Bruins front-office brass arrived at the Bell Centre in Montreal around 4:30 p.m., some 2½ hours before the draft, Chiarelli and Burke soon met among the forest of 30 team tables spread out over half the arenas floor. It was at that point, one of the sources said Monday, when Chiarelli first learned that Burke believed the only pick in the deal was the first-rounder the Bruins would hand over in 2010.

The No. 7 pick, Burke believed, remained his, and he stood ready to acquire Kessel and Bostons top pick next June in what amounted to a two-for-one for Kaberle.

The response from a near-speechless Chiarelli: No deal, according to the Globe.