The Philadelphia Flyers fetched forward Kris Versteeg from the Toronto Maple Leafs for late picks in the 2011 first and third rounds. It took a first round pick for the Boston Bruins to pry Chris Kelly away from Ottawa. According to TSN’s Darren Dreger, these are the kinds of trades that raise the price on guys like Florida’s Stephen Weiss.
Kris Versteeg Trade Raised The Price For Stephen Weiss, Others
There’s no doubt teams are heavily scouting the Panthers - and for most of those teams, Weiss is at the top of their list.
However, in light of Toronto’s return for Kris Versteeg (a first and third-round pick), it might take a mammoth offer to pull the 27-year-old centre out of Florida.
That was written before the Kelly trade, but it still applies in both cases. You can even make an argument that the Mike Fisher trade last week was the trend-setter here, the one that raised the bar on the Versteeg and Kelly trades.
Consider that Weiss is an integral part of the Panthers and that really ups the ante. As SB Nation’s Litter Box Cats points out, anything less than a “stellar deal” would be unacceptable. Versteeg is a similar player to Weiss in terms of his stats, but in terms of his value to the Maple Leafs, it was nowhere near the level of value Weiss has in Florida.
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