“Phil Kessel Traded to Blues” was the headline on a story without any subtext included with it on Thursday evening. The New England Hockey Journal, a well-respected hockey website, posted this error that sent the fans of the Bruins and Blues into a state of panic. Bruins fans were terrified that they did not get a decent return while Blues fans were anxious over who had to be traded. Online hockey message boards lit up with questions on how the deal went down and when the teams were going to officially announce the news. The media bonanza even made it as far as ESPN.com when they posted “Rumors: P. Kessel maybe headed to Blues.”
The publication that was the cause of this debacle finally released this statement to the world the very next morning:
“To our visitors:
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
New England Hockey Journal
www.hockeyjournal.com”
So that's that, right? The journal made an error that was fixed with an apology and now we can all forget this ever happened. It is not that easy.
Why would this headline be chosen as a training exercise? This is a completely believable headline. There have been talks of Kessel being moved since his contract is still yet to be renewed and he has a history of being a hemorrhoid in the locker room. The Bruins are over the cap as it is so they have to be entertaining trade offers at the moment. This move would make sense for both teams too, considering they both belong to separate conferences and Kessel has IIHF World Juniors history with Blues defenseman Erik Johnson. If this was the real reason that the headline was accidentally posted, why not use a completely outrageous title? I would have gone with, “Head Coach Gretzky Gives Birth to Orangutan.”
As a fellow online writer, I know that when you get word that something may be going down, you prepare the story and get the beginning made up so that you are the first to announce the deal. I have been guilty of this myself; I claimed that Dany Heatley had been traded to the Oilers and had my analysis posted before he had declined the deal.
Let's not kid ourselves St. Louis; Kessel would be a great acquisition to the Blues lineup. While he would have to go through an adjustment period with switching conferences, his speed and hard work along the boards would be a welcomed addition. Rumors were circling that Alex Pietrangelo or David Perron were on their way out with this deal, so it is hard to say who would have gotten the better end of the trade as of now. If this was a player-for-player deal and did not involve any other variables, Perron would make perfect sense to be on his way out. Kessel is more of a proven player than Perron, scoring 36 goals last season and being more of a force on the power-play. Perron is also on the last year of his contract, and the Blues have to start thinking about what the asking price for Johnson will be next summer. While Kessel would most likely ask for more than Perron, Kessel brings more to the table which in turn means that the Blues may not need a Paul Kariya contract around come next season.
A deal may still be in the works, St. Louis. Don't be surprised if there is a major press conference next week.
Keywords: alex pietrangelo, dany heatley, david perron, erik johnson, iihf, new england hockey journal, nhl, phil kessel, st. louis blues
