Phillip J. Kessel

[King Colby]

Kessel is a loser. I've said it time and time again, there is a reason he plays 82 games every season.

Josh Miller (of all people) made a funny tweet:

"If Phil Kessel started a game with 10 inflated balloons tied to his body, he would finish the game with 10 inflated balloons tied to his body."

I don't know who Josh Miller is, but who cares about Phil's physical game. If that grinds your gears, you're looking too hard to hate Phil. There's plenty of other reasons not to like him, but that's an odd one to single out.

What's wrong with not liking someone for being a complete and total perimeter player? I'm not asking him to start taking the body, but it would be nice if he would at least make an appearance in a dirty area once or twice a game...

And josh miller is a former steelers punter haha

[llipgh2]

I don't know who Josh Miller is, but who cares about Phil's physical game. If that grinds your gears, you're looking too hard to hate Phil. There's plenty of other reasons not to like him, but that's an odd one to single out.

Former Steelers punter. Played for Patriots and I think the Titans as well. Talking head now on the Fan.

[meow]

Kessel is a loser. I've said it time and time again, there is a reason he plays 82 games every season.

Josh Miller (of all people) made a funny tweet:

"If Phil Kessel started a game with 10 inflated balloons tied to his body, he would finish the game with 10 inflated balloons tied to his body."

I don't know who Josh Miller is, but who cares about Phil's physical game. If that grinds your gears, you're looking too hard to hate Phil. There's plenty of other reasons not to like him, but that's an odd one to single out.

What's wrong with not liking someone for being a complete and total perimeter player? I'm not asking him to start taking the body, but it would be nice if he would at least make an appearance in a dirty area once or twice a game...

And josh miller is a former steelers punter haha

Haha. This just got weirder. A punter talking about being physical.

It's just an odd thing to even bring up. It's like not being a fan of Letang because he doesn't win enough faceoffs.

[King Colby]

Kessel is a loser. I've said it time and time again, there is a reason he plays 82 games every season.

Josh Miller (of all people) made a funny tweet:

"If Phil Kessel started a game with 10 inflated balloons tied to his body, he would finish the game with 10 inflated balloons tied to his body."

I don't know who Josh Miller is, but who cares about Phil's physical game. If that grinds your gears, you're looking too hard to hate Phil. There's plenty of other reasons not to like him, but that's an odd one to single out.

What's wrong with not liking someone for being a complete and total perimeter player? I'm not asking him to start taking the body, but it would be nice if he would at least make an appearance in a dirty area once or twice a game...

And josh miller is a former steelers punter haha

Haha. This just got weirder. A punter talking about being physical.

It's just an odd thing to even bring up. It's like not being a fan of Letang because he doesn't win enough faceoffs.

Well i think the reason many people dislike kessel is exactly that - unwilling to pay the price. Avoids areas of the ice where contact is prevalent. I dislike any player who plays that game.

I get what youre saying - kessel is what he is and he ain't gonna change. And thats why hes the complete wrong guy to add to a team with aspirations of winning in the playoffs.

If he can do enough good to outweigh what he lacks he is more palatable. 20 goals and 45 points aint enough to do that though. And it isnt close.

[meow]

Truth

[mikey]

Perron was the dirty area guy...we didn't want him any more...we wanted to get tougher to play against (at some point?) and added Hagelin, Kessel, Schultz, further back Lovejoy...all softer speedmen...

The game plan shifted quick, for better or for worse...

[NTP66]

Source of the post The game plan shifted quick, for better or for worse...

FIFY

[columbia]

If team toughness is the problem, hoping that Kessel will step up isn't a rational solution.

Disclaimer: I don't think that a lack toughness is their problem.

[meow]

Lots of truths up in here.

Up in here

Up in here

[mikey]

I'm not sure that it is either, for the record. But it seemed that Rutherford made it a point to toughen us up...and then just as quickly tore it down, without the league changing as well. A lot of bodies move in and out of here. I don't view that as a positive really.

[MalkinIsMyHomeboy]

we didn't get Kessel to be an enforcer. And no one is complaining about Sid's physicality either.

Kessel might be having a (relatively) bad year but we don't have to crucify him yet.

[mikey]

We don't have to...

[NTP66]

I'm not sure that it is either, for the record. But it seemed that Rutherford made it a point to toughen us up...and then just as quickly tore it down, without the league changing as well. A lot of bodies move in and out of here. I don't view that as a positive really.

Who did he bring in to toughen us up? Perron? One guy, unless I'm missing somebody here. And no, I don't count Sestito.

Reference:

Being that the Pens didn't do much at the deadline (anything on the day) to improve themselves I was wondering what my two top rivals (Was, Phi) did in comparison. Nothing at the deadline. So I looked over this season, starting 7/1/15. This is trades only, does not include FA signings/losses.

Washington
Got: Oshie, Weber, Winnik, 5th
Gave: Brouwer, Laich, Carrick, Copley, 2nd, 3rd, 3rd
Oshie is more offensive, but Brouwer brought offense and physicality. Brower was a 23g/43p guy. Oshie is having a slight down year and is on pace for 25g/51p. That is not that much difference considering Brouwer gives 50% more hits. The rest has little impact on the ice.

Philadelphia
Got: Weal, 3rd
Gave: Schenn, Lecavalier
That is their only trade this year. Pure salary dump even though Phi is paying 1/2 the cap hit for Lecavalier for the next 2 years. This is as close to doing NOTHING over a season as you can get while still making a deal.

Rangers
Got: Staal, Hellberg, Jensen, 6th
Gave: Etem, Saarela, 2nd, 2nd, 6th
Staal is a bit of a wild card, but as 2 points in 7 games as a Ranger shows, he doesn't really have it any more.

Islanders
Got: Prince, Cliche, Verhaeghe, Gibson, Nilsson, Finn, Beck, 7th
Gave: Grabner, Beck, 3rd
Beck in and out. Organizational depth, but no real help.

Pittsburgh
Got: Kessel, Daley, Hagelin, Bonino, Schultz, Jeffrey, Erixon, Biggs, Plachta, Milindy, O'Donoghue, Clandening, 2nd, 2nd, 7th
Gave: Sutter, Kapanen, Harrington, Perron, Spaling, Scuderi, Plotnikov, Marcantuoni, Clandenning, 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 3rd
Obviously you an discuss what the value of Kapanen and the 1st will be 3 or 4 years from now, while others will argue that the "window" for Crosby and Malkin winning has closed... blah blah blah.


Overall when you look at the got/gave lists, the Pens are the only team of the group that I feel is better off (on ice) right now than it was 6/30/15, via trades.

[columbia]

We don't have to...

[mikey]

Source of the post Who did he bring in to toughen us up? Perron? One guy, unless I'm missing somebody here. And no, I don't count Sestito.

Hornqvist, Perron, Downie, Klinkhammer, Plotnikov, Lapierre, Winnik, Cole...and then something in the machine went *click* and then started to slide back down hill...Lovejoy for Despres, Warsofsky, Cullen, (Fehr is tough enough), Kessel, Bonino, Clendening, Hagelin for Perron, Schultz, Plotnikov out, Farnham out...

It's very video game-y sometimes here...again, I'm not saying right wrong or indifferent...but we look like a team that can't make up its mind...

[NTP66]

Wow, I completely forgot that Hornqvist was one of his, and that Lapierre was ever on the team. Point taken, but I still think we have gotten progressively better.

[Gaucho]

Looking at that list, it seems like a rather cute attempt to build a tough team.

[Jim]

I was used as a reference... yikes!

[NTP66]

I was used as a reference... yikes!

Yeah, and you didn't go back far enough, ya bum.

[MalkinIsMyHomeboy]

speaking of Lapierre, I find the Wikipedia paragraph about his short term with the Pens pretty funny

On January 27, 2015, Lapierre was traded from the Blues to the Pittsburgh Penguins in exchange for Marcel Goc.[24] Lapierre played a key role during the 2015 playoffs, getting under the skin of the New York Rangers by drawing penalties, instigating fights, taunting and most notably doing play-by-play towards the Rangers' bench. He played an important role on the face-off dot and on the penalty kill, frustrating the New York Rangers and his former head coach in Vancouver, Alain Vigneault.

kind of a weird tone

[Silentom]

Sounds like a man crush.

[MalkinIsMyHomeboy]

it makes it sound like we won the series

[MR25]

Why do people say Kessel isn't someone you want in the playoffs?

In 22 career playoff games (15 with Boston, 7 with Toronto), he has 13 goals and 21 points. He was pretty much the only thing in the Toronto-Boston series that was keeping Toronto in it.

[Jim]

I was used as a reference... yikes!

Yeah, and you didn't go back far enough, ya bum.

What do you mean?

[NTP66]

I was used as a reference... yikes!

Yeah, and you didn't go back far enough, ya bum.

What do you mean?

I was kidding around about you only going back to 7/2015, whereas had you gone back earlier to the start of his position, I wouldn't have forgotten about some players.