Phil Kessel
Philip Joseph Kessel Jr. is an American professional ice hockey winger who is an unrestricted free agent. Nicknamed "Phil the Thrill", he has previously played for the Boston Bruins, Toronto Maple Leafs, Pittsburgh Penguins, Arizona Coyotes, and the Vegas Golden Knights of the National Hockey League. Kessel is a three-time Stanley Cup champion, winning back-to-back championships with the Penguins in 2016 and 2017 and with the Golden Knights in 2023.
Kessel is a product of the USA Hockey National Team Development Program as an identified elite player under the age of 18. He finished his amateur career playing collegiate hockey in the NCAA for the University of Minnesota in the Western Collegiate Hockey Association. He was then selected fifth overall in the 2006 NHL Entry Draft by the Boston Bruins. After his rookie season, 2006–07, he was awarded the Bill Masterton Memorial Trophy for overcoming testicular cancer while continuing his professional career. In 2009, Kessel was traded from Boston to the Toronto Maple Leafs where he spent six seasons before being dealt to the Pittsburgh Penguins in 2015. Kessel won his first and second Stanley Cup championships with the Pittsburgh Penguins in back-to-back seasons with wins over the San Jose Sharks and the Nashville Predators, respectively; he then won a third Stanley Cup championship with the Vegas Golden Knights in 2023, over the Florida Panthers.
Kessel is known as a natural goal scorer, having totaled 400 goals over the course of his career, and for holding the all-time NHL ironman record for the most consecutive games played, with 1,000+; during the 2020–21 season, he became the fifth player ever to record 900 consecutive games played. During the 2022–23 season, Kessel passed Keith Yandle's streak as the longest in NHL history on October 25, 2022, after playing his 990th consecutive game; several weeks later, on November 17, Kessel became the first player in NHL history to play 1,000 consecutive games. Kessel's streak has spanned 1,064 consecutive games since the onset of the 2009–10 season. the streak stands as the NHL record.
Kessel plays internationally for the United States, and has played at three World Championships and the 2010 and 2014 Winter Olympics, winning a silver medal in 2010 and being named the top forward in 2014.
Playing career
Amateur
Kessel played youth hockey with the AAA Madison Capitols in his hometown of Madison, Wisconsin. An offensive standout from a young age, Kessel put up 286 points in 86 games with his AAA bantam squad in 2001–02. He followed up on that effort the next year with the Capitols under-18 team where, during the 2002–03 season, he produced 158 points in 71 games. Kessel credits former Capitols coach and 1980 U.S. Olympian Bob Suter for becoming the player he is today.For the 2003–04 season, Kessel moved to Ann Arbor, Michigan, to join the United States National Team Development Program's U17 squad. He set NTDP records for goals for a U17–18 players. During the 2004–05 season, Kessel played full-time on the U18 team scoring 52 goals and 98 points, both of which were, at the time, records for an U18 player. His points record was surpassed by Patrick Kane who recorded 102 points and the same 52 goals in the next 2005–06 season. Almost 15 years later, on March 15, 2019, another Wisconsin phenom Cole Caufield scored a career-high six goals to reach 105 and pass Kessel's career 104 goals from 2003–05 for the NTDP lead.
Kessel graduated from Pioneer High School in 2005. However, because his birthday falls after September 15, he was not eligible for the NHL Entry Draft that year. After finishing his two years at NTDP, Kessel enrolled at University of Minnesota on a sports scholarship and played for the Golden Gophers men's ice hockey team for the 2005–06 season. His first collegiate goal came on a penalty shot, marking the first time in team history that a player scored his first career goal on a penalty shot. As a rookie freshman, Kessel finished second on the team in scoring with 51 points in 39 games, behind Ryan Potulny. He was named the 2005–06 WCHA Rookie of the Year and named to the 2005–06 All-Rookie Team.
Kessel was drafted fifth overall by the Boston Bruins in the 2006 NHL Entry Draft. He subsequently signed an entry-level contract with the team on August 17, 2006, thereby forgoing his final three years of college eligibility.
Professional
Boston Bruins (2006–2009)
On August 17, 2006, the Bruins announced that they had signed Kessel to a three-year, entry-level contract worth the rookie maximum of $850,000.Kessel made his NHL debut on October 6, 2006, in an 8–3 loss to the Florida Panthers. On December 11, Kessel's family announced that he was hospitalized for a reason unrelated to hockey, and WBZ-TV reported that Kessel was diagnosed with a form of testicular cancer. On December 16, Kessel was pronounced cancer-free. On January 5, 2007, he was assigned to the Providence Bruins, Boston's American Hockey League affiliate, for conditioning purposes and then recalled on January 7. Kessel returned to the Bruins lineup on January 9, against the Ottawa Senators, after missing only 11 regular season games following cancer surgery.
Kessel was named to the 2007 NHL YoungStars Game in Dallas on January 23, 2007. He recorded a hat-trick and an assist during a 9–8 Eastern Conference victory. While Kessel was not among top rookies in goals or assists, for the 2006–07 season he was second among rookies with four shootout goals. Each was a game-deciding goal.
At the conclusion of the season, Kessel was voted by Boston sports writers as the team's candidate for the Bill Masterton Memorial Trophy after battling testicular cancer.
At the 2007 NHL Awards Ceremony at the Elgin Theatre in Toronto, Kessel was officially selected as the recipient of the 2007 Masterton Trophy.
For the 2007–08 season Kessel led the league with 5 game-deciding shootout goals. He set a Bruins career record with 9 shootout-deciding goals, surpassed by Patrice Bergeron seven years later.
Kessel scored the first Bruins goal of the 2008–09 season, in a 5–4 Bruins victory against the Colorado Avalanche. Kessel ended the regular season on a high note, scoring his second career hat-trick in the April 12, 2009, 6–2 visitors' victory against the New York Islanders, and amassing the highest number of NHL regular season goals so far in his career with 36, the most on the Bruins that season. He also tied Ed Olczyk for longest point streak by an American-born NHL player in late 2008. It is now the third-longest such point streak after Patrick Kane's 26-game streak in late 2015 and 20-game streak in the beginning of 2019.
Kessel played an integral role in Boston's run during the 2009 Stanley Cup playoffs, leading the Bruins with six goals before losing to the Carolina Hurricanes in the Eastern Conference Semifinals in seven games. After the playoffs, it was reported that Kessel needed off-season shoulder surgery to repair an injury most likely incurred during a 2–0 loss to the Columbus Blue Jackets on March 10. The surgery was successfully performed during the off-season, with recuperation forcing Kessel to miss the start of the 2009–10 season.
Toronto Maple Leafs (2009–2015)
On September 18, 2009, the Bruins traded Kessel to the Toronto Maple Leafs in exchange for a 2010 first-round pick, a 2010 second-round pick and a 2011 first-round pick. Immediately afterward, the Leafs signed him to a five-year, $27 million contract.Kessel, however, was sidelined for the first month of the season still with a shoulder injury incurred the year before that required surgery. Finally, on November 3, 2009, Kessel made his much-anticipated debut as a Leaf against the Tampa Bay Lightning. He had a total of ten shots on goal in the game, a career-high, though he did not record any assists or goals. Despite not recording any points and his team falling 2–1 to the Lightning in overtime, Kessel was named the third star of the game. He scored his first goal as a Maple Leaf four days later in a 5–1 win over the Detroit Red Wings at the Air Canada Centre. December 5, 2009, marked the first time that Kessel played against his former team, the Bruins, at TD Garden. His return to Boston was marked with thunderous taunting chants of his name by his former home crowd, along with a chorus of boos every time he had possession of the puck. Kessel was on the ice for the first three of the seven goals that Boston scored in their 7–2 victory, eventually finishing the game a −3 plus-minus with two shots on the night. After the game, Kessel said in a post-game interview on NESN that the fans' reaction "did not affect ." He did state, however, that it was the "worst game had played in a while", and that he needed to "play better."
After the 2010 NHL Winter Classic between the Boston Bruins and Philadelphia Flyers on January 1, 2010, USA Hockey announced that Kessel, along with then-Maple Leaf teammate Mike Komisarek, made the Olympic roster to represent Team USA at the 2010 Winter Olympics.. In six games at the Olympics, Kessel tallied a goal and an assist as the U.S. won a silver medal, falling to Canada in the final.
On April 2, 2011, Kessel posted his third consecutive 30-goal season, reaching the mark after scoring against the Ottawa Senators. At the time, he was among eight other NHL players, including League stars Sidney Crosby and Alexander Ovechkin, who have scored 30 goals or more in a season three times since the 2008–09 regular season.
Kessel had another strong start to a season in 2011–12, scoring his first hat-trick as a Maple Leaf in just the team's second game of the season on October 8, 2011, against the Ottawa Senators. He finished the month as the NHL's top scorer and was subsequently named the NHL's First Star of the Month for October. That season, Kessel was once again named an NHL All-Star and was selected to Team Chara in the eighth round of the Fantasy Draft by Toronto linemate Joffrey Lupul.
On February 6, 2012, Kessel reached the 300-point plateau after a three-point performance against the Edmonton Oilers. The next day, he hit the 30-goal mark for the fourth-straight year after beating Ondřej Pavelec of the Winnipeg Jets. Later that month, Kessel continued to reach milestones, scoring his 65th point of the season in a 2–1 loss to the San Jose Sharks.
An NHL player's poll conducted by Sports Illustrated and released in February 2012 named Kessel "the easiest to intimidate" in the NHL. He was named by 15% of NHL player respondents while Vancouver Canucks' Daniel and Henrik Sedin were next with 8%. The results were based on the input of 145 NHL players who responded to Sports Illustrated's survey. The poll drew controversy from many, including then-Toronto General Manager Brian Burke due to the inflammatory nature of the question and which players were polled.
In another player survey, this one by The Hockey News, Kessel was ranked as the 16th best player in the League by his peers. The results in this survey were based on responses from five players from each of the 30 NHL teams. Players were not allowed to vote for members of their own team.
On March 31, 2012, Kessel scored his 37th goal of the season in a 4–3 win over the Buffalo Sabres, eclipsing his career-high of 36 set with Boston. He finished the season with 37 goals and 82 points, both new career-highs, and both placed him sixth in the NHL. After the season he was awarded the Molson Cup for the third straight year since becoming a Maple Leaf.
Kessel began the 2012–13 season with his longest goal drought to begin a season at ten games, finally breaking the slump after scoring the game-winning goal against Winnipeg on February 7, 2013. On April 20, 2013, in a 4–1 win against Ottawa in which Kessel recorded two assists, he and the Maple Leafs clinched a playoff spot in the 2013 Stanley Cup playoffs. This marked the first time Kessel had made it to the playoffs since his move to the Maple Leafs in 2009 and ended a seven-year playoff drought for the club dating back before the 2004–05 NHL lockout. To conclude the season, Kessel scored ten goals and seven assists for 17 points over his last ten games to retake the scoring lead for Toronto. Kessel eventually finished seventh in NHL scoring, posting his second consecutive point-per-game season.
On October 1, 2013, Kessel signed an eight-year, $64 million contract extension, which was the largest contract in Maple Leafs' franchise history at the time. During the 2013–14 campaign, in the week of October 21 and 27, Kessel scored in all three of Toronto's games. In the Maple Leafs' first game, he scored his fourth career hat-trick, including the game-winner, in a 4–2 victory of the Anaheim Ducks. He then scored in Toronto's next game, a 5–2 loss to the Columbus Blue Jackets, and concluded the week by recording a goal and an assist in a 4–1 victory over the Pittsburgh Penguins. For his efforts, Kessel was named Second Star of the Week after leading the NHL with five goals scored in that timeframe. Kessel continued his successful week with a two-goal, two-assist effort against Edmonton in a 4–0 Maple Leafs victory. After the 2014 NHL Winter Classic, in which Toronto defeated Detroit Red Wings 3–2 in a shootout, it was announced that Kessel, along with teammate James van Riemsdyk, had been named to Team USA's roster for participation in the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi. On February 1, 2014, Kessel scored his fifth career hat-trick against the Ottawa Senators, which was also his 30th goal of the season, marking the fifth time he has had scored at least 30 goals in one season in the NHL. On February 15, he scored another hat-trick, this time for Team USA against Slovenia during the 2014 Winter Olympics. He finished with five goals and three assists for eight points in six games to lead the tournament in scoring, was named to the tournament All-Star Team and earned Best Forward honors. Despite the personal success, however, Kessel and the U.S. lost the bronze medal game against Finland, falling 5–0. In the end of the 2014 NHL year he led Toronto in goals, assists and points for the third consecutive season.
Throughout the 2014–15 season Toronto slid down in the Eastern Conference standings: head coach Randy Carlyle was fired on January 15, 2015, after Toronto lost seven of their last ten games, and interim head coach Peter Horachek won just nine of the last 42 games of the season. Kessel's 61 points made him the team point leader.