There’s no love lost between Phil Kessel and Mike Sullivan, according to a new column by Josh Yohe of The Athletic (subscription required). Yohe reveals specific incidents between the enigmatic superstar and his head coach over the last few years that has created a sort of divide between the two, but makes sure to state that there is no rush to send Kessel packing. The 30-year old forward has never been a coach’s dream player, doing things his own way most of the time. His own way resulted in a career-high 92 points this season, and even with just a single goal in the postseason he still registered nine points in 12 games.
Despite all the success that Kessel has had in Pittsburgh, Yohe explains how he feels about the situation at the end of his piece:
…if this relationship is beyond repair, a trade should be explored. From what I’ve been told, the Penguins aren’t actively seeking a trade involving Kessel, but they’re willing to listen if anyone makes an offer.
This is about a great coach and a star player. Ultimately just how much the coach can tolerate will tell this story’s conclusion because Sullivan will get what he wants.
Kessel is a star in the NHL and has been for a long time. With 741 points in 914 regular season games, he’s still one of the game’s most dangerous offensive machines. Able to score one-on-one, or use his speed and quickness to create space for teammates, he hasn’t registered a season with fewer than 20 goals or 52 points in more than a decade. His contract, expensive as it was when the Toronto Maple Leafs signed him in 2013, is fairly reasonable these days. The Maple Leafs are retaining $1.2MM per season, and the actual salary drops starting next season, and throughout the final four years. Despite his apparent reputation, he would be a desirable asset for many teams.
But, isn’t he that still for the Penguins? This is a team still in a win-now mode with Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin entering their thirties, close to the end of their prime. In a few seasons there may be talk of a rebuild, but not right now. Many believed they had a real shot at a third consecutive Stanley Cup this season, and after his near point-per-game performances in each of the last two postseasons who wouldn’t want Kessel to stick around?
Perhaps the answer is only Sullivan, but what do you think? Cast your vote below, and jump into the comments section to explain why you think the Penguins should or shouldn’t consider moving Kessel.
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I think one of Kessel or Letang is ultimately traded. At some point the cap crunch will catch up to the Pens and there’s also the need to start planning for the next expansion draft in a couple years.
They can’t preemptively trade players for an upcoming expansion draft. They’ll find a way to keep the guys they need to keep. Also, the cap is going up and a lot of the big guys are cost controlled, so I think they may avoid the cap crunch
I think if they can get anything for letang they should get rid of him now. Constantly seems to be hurt and isn’t the player he used to be. But kessel just seems to get better and better defiantly has way more than letang
Kessel has a history of not getting along with coaches. He didn’t get along with Claude Julien in Boston which led to him being traded to Toronto. Then, he didn’t get along with Randy Carlyle in Toronto and was part of the reason Carlyle got fired. It doesn’t shock me that he doesn’t get along with Sullivan. Last off-season, I read that Tocchet was the peace keeper between Sullivan & Kessel. With Tocchet now in Arizona, that buffer is gone. The question the Penguins have to ask is can Sullivan & Kessel co-exist because you don’t want a toxic locker room. If they can’t, something has to change and that could be moving Kessel out of town
I think Phil may have warn his welcome when he was asked to sit a few of the final season games because he was banged up and he refused in order to keep his Ironman streak going
Then disappeared in the playoffs and it was obvious his play was hindered by an injury
I thought the same thing. I would hate to see him go though. It would be hard to replace him offensively. Especially if Sullivan insists on keeping him on the 3rd line to spread out the scoring. Which is probably part of the problem between the 2 of them.
I like Kessel, but he is good as gone. The same was with Ian Cole and he was moved. Read Josh Yohe’s recent article about mike Sullivan-it explains allot.
Almost no chance hes moved.
His NTC pretty much prevents pens from recieving a decent return, and his contract is cheap for a 92 pointer.
Why dump Kessel when you can dump Sheary?
You might be suprised on how similar the returns could be.
Sheary to Buffalo seems like a lock.
Anything is possible and there are too many respected people in the know that have reported this and I suspect the coach gets what he wants. If I am trading a big contract, it would be 58. Lastly, these NMTC players get moved all the time.