TSN: Chris Johnston on TSN 1050 radio on Ironman Phil Kessel looking to continue his career and how the market for him hasn’t formed yet.
“Well, it hasn’t been that significant, right?” Johnston said when asked of the interest in Kessel on the open market. “He’s sitting here this close to camp without a new contract. I think it’s probably important that he’s signaled that he’s willing to have his consecutive game steak – he has the No. 1 spot in NHL history now – that he’s willing to let that go. He’s not looking for a team that’s going to commit to playing him 82 games in the season, he just wants to play.
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“He’s fine at this stage in his career taking, probably, not a big contract and not expecting a massive role. I do think that will ultimately help him find a place but who knows? Maybe, if push comes to shove, it’s going to have to start with a tryout somewhere…”
Johnston adds that Kessel can still put up some numbers and help a team on the power play.
Kessel is eight points away from reaching 1,000 in his career. His Ironman streak is at 1,064 games and his career total is at 1,286 games.
NHL Network: Mike Johnson and Brian Boyle on Phil Kessel.
** NHLRumors.com transcription
Jamieson Coyle: “Elliotte says Phil Kessel wants to play and get this, he’s open to making it work, which means that Ironman streak which he currently holds and is still currently intact. He said look, if you sign me, I can help your club. I don’t care about that streak. It’s not that he doesn’t care about it, but it doesn’t, he doesn’t have to play every single night just because of that streak.
What do you make of that statement from Phil Kessel, and if you’re a team out there, can he still help your roster?
Boyle: “Well yeah I think he has, he’s close to a 1,000 points.
Coyle: “Eight away.”
Boyle: “He’s had an unbelievable career. Now he says that and probably believes that. Doesn’t mean it’s not going to be talked about by the media in whatever city might potentially sign him.
But he’s been on three Stanley Cup winning teams. He can skate still. He can still move and he’s still offensively gifted I think. Obviously, it has to be the right fit. We talked about it yesterday a little bit. It has to be the right fit. But if he wants to play and compete, there’s no denying his success in the league.”
Johnston: “I think he doesn’t say or address the idea of the streak, it almost makes it more difficult for him to find a job. So I think by him saying this now, when he does get scratched, which he would have to be, the coach is not going to take any heat. ‘How could you do?’
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Cause we’ve seen with Keith Yandle at the end of his career. Some challenging times and coaches not sure about putting him in the lineup. If you got Yandle you were basically committed to playing him every game. And that was the same thing for Kessel, but not the case anymore.
You can comfortably scratch him game one and it’s not gonna be a big deal cause he just made it not a big deal by acknowledging that that is totally fine.
So that opens up to me more teams in the NHL cause now he doesn’t have to play top-six minutes. He can kind of be an extra guy and in and out depending how injuries and everything else because previously he had to play every game, he’s gotta play on a bad team, right? Because he’s probably not good enough to play his role on the top teams any more.
So I do think it helps him find a job and it’s sensible. Unless you wanna stop playing, you can’t expect that at his age and his production to play his role every single night, So good idea for him. It opens up more possibilities.”
