Boston Bruins and Toronto Maple Leafs combine for a blockbuster trade on this day in history

16 years ago today, the Boston Bruins ended up trading Phil Kessel to the Toronto Maple Leafs.

Maple Leafs General Manager Brian Burke was in his first full season in charge and decided to make a massive move to try and make the Leafs a better team.

The Leafs were in a rebuild, and Burke wanted to make a big move to shake up the roster and acquire some more speed.

After their captain, Mats Sundin ended up departing, the Leafs were stuck in a rebuild, and a lot of people had faith in Burke being able to restore the franchise's identity.

The Leafs were lacking try goal scoring talent on the team, and that's why he set out to acquire Kessel, who was a pending restricted free agent.

Burke was known for making bold moves, and offered the Bruins draft picks with no restrictions.

Here is the full trade that happened:

After acquiring Kessel from the Leafs, they hoped he would turn into a pure goal scorer, and he went on to score 36 goals, 24 assists in 70 games the next season.

Being divisional rivals, it's not often that the Bruins and Leafs combine for a trade, but that doesn't mean it doesn't happen.

This past year, the Bruins and Leafs combined for a massive trade during the NHL trade deadline, where the Leafs acquired defenseman Brandon Carlo, and the Bruins acquired top prospect Fraser Minten, along with multiple draft picks.

Do you think the Boston Bruins made the right move trading Phil Kessel to the Toronto Maple Leafs?