Has Phil Kessel worn out his welcome with the Penguins?
All may not be well with the Pittsburgh Penguins, but does that mean Phil Kessel will be traded?
The Pittsburgh Penguins run for a three-peat as Stanley Cup champion ended early this year, in the second round of the playoffs to the eventual Eastern Conference champion Washington Capitals. Ron Cook of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette recently opined that a bad relationship between coach Mike Sullivan and winger Phil Kessel was what “torpedoed” Pittsburgh’s Stanley Cup chances. Now, things have reached a different level.
According to Tim Benz of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, via Mark Madden of 105.9 FM in Pittsburgh, the Penguins are trying to trade Kessel. Madden also added that “Kessel is ok with that.”
Kessel set a career-high with 92 points this season (34 goals and 58 assists), as he played every game for the eighth-straight season. But he had just one goal (nine points) in 12 playoff games, and once the Penguins season ended it was revealed he played through injuries all season.
GM Rutherford on if Kessel was dealing with injuries in the playoffs: "He's dealt with injuries all year. He played through those during the whole regular season. I know some of those things he dealt with caught up with him. Nothing will require surgery."
— Pittsburgh Penguins (@penguins) May 9, 2018
The eight-year, $64 million contract Kessel signed with the Toronto Maple Leafs still has four years left on it. But the Penguins are carrying a more reasonable $6.8 million cap hit after Toronto retained a portion. He also has a modified no-trade clause, with a list of eight teams he’d accept a trade to submitted by him each year. But if Kessel is fine with being moved, maybe he’d waive that no-trade limit.
Kessel is reportedly unhappy with not being able to play on a line with Evgeni Malkin full-time. So that’s the likely source of any rift with Sullivan, as NHL coaches are known to tinker with lines just for the sake of tinkering. Kessel has also been deemed a hard player to coach, as further evidenced by his past trade departures from the Boston Bruins and the Maple Leafs.
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Difficult personality or not, players as productive as Kessel is aren’t easily moved. But as next month’s draft gets closer, the Penguins could give themselves some cap relief by entertaining a move, and Kessel would garner plenty of interest on the trade market.