Kessel scores how many?

[bustaheims]

I think Phil will continue to be Phil, love him or hate him, except he'll be doing it with much better players.

He also won't be the focal point of the offence or the other team's defensive strategy. That should help him out, too.

 

[Heroic Shrimp]

[tweet]631611428961677312[/tweet]

 

[jdh1]

More from @PeteBlackburn

I think the black is quite slimming on him.

That's funny....hot dogs in Pittsburg.

 

[CarltonTheBear]

I'm going to guess 42, in honour of his best bud.

 

[cabber24]

I'm going to say he scores 50. Great fit in PIT.

 

[rdowdall]

I'm going to say he scores 50. Great fit in PIT.

No matter how many he scores, at least it will answer the question "How many goals would Kessel score with a real #1 centerman?"

 

[Crucialness Key]

After a careful examination of relative puck possession stats and Corsi and biometrics and zone starts, I calculate that Kessel will score exactly 1 billion goals next season.

 

[Bullfrog]

Is it too late to change my prediction to 81 goals?

 

[bustaheims]

eleventy quabillion.

 

[Frank E]

I can't wait for the articles in our media when he's got 25 goals by Christmas.

"Leafs castoff has 25 goals, wasn't good enough for last place Leafs?"

"Kessel was always a great player and competitor"

 

[Crucialness Key]

After a careful examination of relative puck possession stats and Corsi and biometrics and zone starts, I calculate that Kessel will score exactly 1 billion goals next season.

eleventy quabillion.

And yet, the truth will probably lie somewhere in the middle.

 

[cabber24]

After a careful examination of relative puck possession stats and Corsi and biometrics and zone starts, I calculate that Kessel will score exactly 1 billion goals next season.

eleventy quabillion.

And yet, the truth will probably lie somewhere in the middle.

You forgot to carry the 1 therefore the right answer should be 50.

 

[Arn]

Just the 2 against Carolina

http://video.penguins.nhl.com/videocenter/console?hlg=20152016,1,24&lang=en

I reckon he's going to hit 46 this year.

 

[Joe S.]

My guess is there will be little to no coverage about Kessel. Maybe an article the first time he plays the leafs but that's about it.

 

[WhatIfGodWasALeaf]

My guess is there will be little to no coverage about Kessel. Maybe an article the first time he plays the leafs but that's about it.

lol

 

[bustaheims]

My guess is there will be little to no coverage about Kessel. Maybe an article the first time he plays the leafs but that's about it.

My guess is there'll be at least one before the first game against the Leafs, and probably one after - and one the first time he's back in Toronto, if that's a different game (not sure, but I think it is). Other than that, it'll only be if he has a big game against the Leafs, does something particularly special in other games or is having an MVP calibre season.

 

[CarltonTheBear]

Here's #1:

[tweet]653053628870172672[/tweet]

Classic Phil snipe

 

[dappleganger]

Beauty goal. Phil is going to be so good with Pittsburgh.

 

[herman]

I hope he finds his stride in Pittsburgh.

http://www.sportsnet.ca/hockey/nhl/30-thoughts-reeling-blue-jackets-search-for-answers/

16. One coach on the Crosby/Kessel pairing: ?It?s early. But Kessel?s game is transition, or moving away from the puck to find space for an open shot. Crosby likes to play tight to his teammates, set up that 10-foot pass for a goal. Their games are not compatible, yet.?

The bigger issue may be that Crosby and Kessel both prefer their way. Will they say, ?How can we help each other?? or will they say, ?I need you to change to mesh with me?? The answer determines if they can work it out.

17. Pretty interesting stuff from former Toronto coach Peter Horachek on building a relationship with Kessel.

?Because he is such a quiet player, it takes coaches a really long time to get to know him. And the reason why is that he doesn?t trust very easily. There has to be an opportunity for a coach to spend time?with him over a whole season to get him to trust you.?

He added you have to be really careful when calling out Kessel in front of the team. Sometimes you can?t avoid it, but ?for the most part I think he responds best when it?s one on one with you, so it?s best to bring him into your office to talk.?

The good news for the Penguins is a couple of people compared him to Jeff Carter, who found a great spot as secondary fit in Los Angeles. If that is Kessel?s future, Pittsburgh will gladly take it.

18. One other note about Kessel: while doing some research, information came to me that, during his time in Toronto, he met someone who ran a children?s charity, offered his phone number and said he?d be glad to help. He did. Very quietly, demanding no publicity.

I wanted to include this information in the piece we ran last weekend, but the charity would not do it without his permission. I?m still waiting ? and not holding my breath. But I thought it should be mentioned.

 

[CarltonTheBear]

Pascal Dupuis is returning to Pittsburgh's line-up and that, along with a bunch of losses, has made the Pens blow up their lines. New top-9 is:

Dupuis-Crosby-Hornqvist
Plotnikov-Malkin-Kessel
Kunitz-Bonino-Sprong

Even from the start many commentators were saying that Kessel and Malkin were a better match than Kessel and Crosby. I think that makes a lot of sense too.