RealGM

just wondering if there is any chance of getting it back depending on how bad we do.

No.

No it wasn't protected. And guess what? We gave up TWO of them.

It wasn't but it should've been. Believe me though, if Brian Burke at the beginning of the year would've known the pick would have been this good, he would have never made the trade he made.

Is protecting the pick even possible in the NHL? I can't believe Burke wouldn't at least throw a top 3 protection if possible, even if he thought the team was gonna be good.

I love Kessel but a chance at another top pick gone.

This isn't the first time this question has come up, and I've looked it up despite not finding a completely clear answer. My thinking on the idea of protection is that it's simply not something GMs choose to do. It just isn't used, perhaps teams just don't see the same value in pursuing that avenue. I don't believe it's against the rules, but that might be the case.

You'll see the concept of conditional draft picks being utilized much more in the NHL though.

i think the CBA stipulates that to trade for a restricted free agent, one must give up 2 first rounders and a second rounder unprotected.

^That's not correct. That's signing a restricted free agent to an offer sheet, and that's compensation if the team decides not to match the offer. This was a trade that was worked out seperately. The assumption was Kessel would sign an offer sheet of less than $5.2M, in which case the compensation would be a 1st rounder, a 2nd rounder and a 3rd rounder. However, Boston made it very clear they would match any offer and then look at making a trade if they had to go that route. The Leafs came to them with an offer that was better than the compensation and they had to take it.