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The Toronto Maple Leafs acquired the rights to Boston Bruins sniper Phil Kessel for a pair of first draft picks in a bold move to add some scoring punch to their line-up.

Taken by the Bruins with the fifth overall selection in the 2006 entry draft, Kessel (pictured right) had 36 goals last season for Boston.

The Leafs paid a high price to land the 21-year-old forward, however, surrendering first and second round draft picks in 2010 and another first round selection in 2011.

"It's a very high price but it's one we feel makes sense for us," Toronto general manager Brian Burke said. "What's made it possible to expend those picks is two focuses - one is that he's a young player, he's not even 22 yet.

"Second, we think with some of the players we acquired without giving up picks like Tyler Bozak, (Robert) Slaney, (Christian) Hanson and (Jonas) Gustavsson, these are players that were they available on the draft would command a high price like that."

"We feel by stocking the cupboard we can take some of the cans off the shelf for the future."

Toronto wasted no time securing Kessel to five-year $27 million (£16.5m) deal according to local media reports.

Kessel, however, is not expected to make his Maple Leafs debut until mid-November after undergoing shoulder surgery in the off-season.

"We don't expect to see him for awhile," admitted Burke. "He is skating but can't take any contact so it will be awhile before our fans see him but he brings tremendous speed, goal scoring ability and should improve our power play."

Eurosport