Over the last several weeks, the league has seen long-time NHL veterans such as Zach Parise and Corey Perry find new homes well into the 2023-24 season. One veteran who has seen his name pop up in more chatter over the last couple of days is Phil Kessel.
In a report today, Rick Dhaliwal of The Athletic mentions that the Vancouver Canucks are one of the teams checking in on the three-time Stanley Cup champion. If Kessel can regain form relatively quickly, the Canucks could field one of the deepest teams entering the 2024 Stanley Cup playoffs, especially after having acquired Elias Lindholm and Nikita Zadorov this year via trade. It is important to note that from 2015-17, Kessel played under the current Canucks head coach Rick Tocchet when Tocchet was an assistant coach for the Pittsburgh Penguins from 2014-2017.
Nevertheless, it has been nearly 10 months since Kessel skated in his last NHL game, coming on April 24th in the Vegas Golden Knights’ opening-round matchup against the Winnipeg Jets in last year’s playoffs. Over the full length of last season, Kessel was relatively successful, scoring 14 goals and 36 assists in all 82 games while averaging a touch under 13 minutes of ice time per night, the lowest mark of his career.
Other snapshots:
- Per a team announcement, the St.Louis Blues have placed defenseman Justin Faulk on the team’s injured reserve for the second time this calendar year. Once again suffering from a lower-body injury, it does not appear to be connected to the injury that kept Faulk on the injured reserve from January 4th to January 11th. However, unlike his last injury, Faulk’s timeline has been listed as week-to-week.
- Leaving the team’s bench in the first period of their final game before the All-Star break, TSN’s Bruce Garrioch reports that Ottawa Senators defenseman Jake Sanderson will not play this weekend, and there is no timeline for his return. Playing in the ’Battle of Ontario’ in a few days, the loss of Sanderson will surely be felt by the team, as the pairing of Sanderson alongside Jakob Chychrun has been one of the best in the league in terms of Expected Goals For and Expected Goals Against per 60 minutes according to MoneyPuck.
Nobody needs chubs Kessel unless you are looking for a healthy scratch for the playoffs!
Healthy is a stretch
Lol! That was good.
Just shy of 1,000 career points in the NHL. What have you bums accomplished in your pathetic lives?
Kessel also played for Tocchet for two seasons when Toc was head coach of the Coyotes.