Edited Nov. 26, 2017 at 3:39 p.m.
Quoting: TMLSage
Maata for Patches 1 for 1 might not even sway Pittsburg. Leafs traded Kessel to Pitts and retained salary and they wouldn't give up Maata for Kessel.
Kessels contract was too big for PIT to handle, even today with the salary retention it's still tough on the Pens, even though Kessel at $6.8 is fair value.
If I remember correctly, When TOR traded Kessel, everyone got the feeling that the deal could of been just Maatta + 1st, but the Leafs decided to go after Kapanen (the key piece in the deal) and Harrington (before he was a bust, Pens valued him really high and TOR fans thought he was going to be a top4 stud lol) along with more picks.
So I'm pretty sure it was less PIT not wanting to give up Maatta, and more TOR wanting Kapanen but PIT not wanting to give up both, so there was a compromise.
You could also add everyone knew Kessel wanted out of Leaf land (which brings down value), Patches as far as we know, is happy where he is.
going back to this trade, taking Hagelin's $4mil cap hit next year is worth a PIT 1st rd pick (between 25-31 overall) by itself. MTL would just have the luxury of flipping him by retaining salary (something the Pens can't do), because I can see teams willing to take a risk with Hagelin at $2mil cap hit.