from Michael Grange of Sportsnet,

The temptation is there. Within the Toronto Maple Leafs front office it’s likely bordering on something near a compulsion:

We must trade Dion Phaneuf or Phil Kessel – and ideally both – before the 3 p.m. Monday NHL trade deadline.

I’m here to say: don’t do it. This is not the time to shed the Leaf’s best forward and best defenceman.

The reason is simple: The Leafs don’t know if they’re going to draft Connor McDavid yet, and won’t until the NHL draft lottery is held after the regular season ends.

Drafting McDavid could change everything, including the potential roles for the likes of Phaneuf and Kessel. At the very least their value doesn’t diminish between now and then.

The case for getting rid of the pair is obvious: Each are symbols of a maddening, bloated, rotted present and relics of a failed past, full of wrecked transport trucks and seasons that start out full of promise before crumbling under the weight of their own analytics.

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