Phil Kessel

[Guru Tugginmypuddah]

What an easily intimidated wuss.

And a yawner at that.

 

[Fanatic]

What an easily intimidated wuss.

You're right. He had a wrist injury and played on. So now he is not afraid of his own shadow anymore? Come on.

Kessel is an immensely talented scoring winger. But he is not built for games against Boston and he is surely not built for the playoffs. If the Leafs ever get into the playoffs while Kessel is on the team don't expect much because he is easily shut down.

 

[CarltonTheBear]

Kessel getting a little help from the NHL here:

Tom Gulitti ‏ @TGfireandice
Submitted James Neal as a RW on my NHL All-Star team ballot because that's position he's played. Got sent back to me because he's a LW.

Gulitti ‏is a beat-reporter for the Devils. He also wrote that Kovalchuk is going in under right-wing.

 

[Jalili]

Kessel's a solid guy

 

[TML fan]

What an easily intimidated wuss.

You're right. He had a wrist injury and played on. So now he is not afraid of his own shadow anymore? Come on.

Kessel is an immensely talented scoring winger. But he is not built for games against Boston and he is surely not built for the playoffs. If the Leafs ever get into the playoffs while Kessel is on the team don't expect much because he is easily shut down.

If he's easily shut down, the league definitely has a shortage of shut down players. They probably all play for Boston haha

He's a PPG player in the playoffs. I'm sure they all came against those wussy teams.

 

[TML fan]

What an easily intimidated wuss.

And a yawner at that.

Hey, running away from the competition gets tiring.

 

[Fanatic]

What an easily intimidated wuss.

You're right. He had a wrist injury and played on. So now he is not afraid of his own shadow anymore? Come on.

Kessel is an immensely talented scoring winger. But he is not built for games against Boston and he is surely not built for the playoffs. If the Leafs ever get into the playoffs while Kessel is on the team don't expect much because he is easily shut down.

If he's easily shut down, the league definitely has a shortage of shut down players. They probably all play for Boston haha

He's a PPG player in the playoffs, but I'm sure they all came against those wussy teams.

As John Tortorella says, "he is a good player but nothing worth shitting your pants over".

 

[princedpw]

What an easily intimidated wuss.

You're right. He had a wrist injury and played on. So now he is not afraid of his own shadow anymore? Come on.

Kessel is an immensely talented scoring winger. But he is not built for games against Boston and he is surely not built for the playoffs. If the Leafs ever get into the playoffs while Kessel is on the team don't expect much because he is easily shut down.

well, in a small sample size, kessel has scored at a ppg during his playoff career so far.  Will kessel win a series all by himself? No, but no one does.

 

[Kin]

well, in a small sample size, kessel has scored at a ppg during his playoff career so far.

He also got benched while scoring a PPG so I think we can put that one in the inconclusive category.

 

[LuncheonMeat]

What an easily intimidated wuss.

You're right. He had a wrist injury and played on. So now he is not afraid of his own shadow anymore? Come on.

Kessel is an immensely talented scoring winger. But he is not built for games against Boston and he is surely not built for the playoffs. If the Leafs ever get into the playoffs while Kessel is on the team don't expect much because he is easily shut down.

I think that's true if he's only one of two threats to score.  I think he could really shine in the playoffs if other teams don't have the luxury of double-teaming him and taking their chances with a bunch of lesser-lights.

 

[TML fan]

What an easily intimidated wuss.

You're right. He had a wrist injury and played on. So now he is not afraid of his own shadow anymore? Come on.

Kessel is an immensely talented scoring winger. But he is not built for games against Boston and he is surely not built for the playoffs. If the Leafs ever get into the playoffs while Kessel is on the team don't expect much because he is easily shut down.

If he's easily shut down, the league definitely has a shortage of shut down players. They probably all play for Boston haha

He's a PPG player in the playoffs, but I'm sure they all came against those wussy teams.

As John Tortorella says, "he is a good player but nothing worth shitting your pants over".

Of course not. We save that for our draft picks.

 

[TML fan]

well, in a small sample size, kessel has scored at a ppg during his playoff career so far.

He also got benched while scoring a PPG so I think we can put that one in the inconclusive category.

I think he was benched for a different reason, and he certainly wasn't the last young player Julien sat down during the playoffs.

 

[cw]

What an easily intimidated wuss.

You're right. He had a wrist injury and played on. So now he is not afraid of his own shadow anymore? Come on.

Kessel is an immensely talented scoring winger. But he is not built for games against Boston and he is surely not built for the playoffs. If the Leafs ever get into the playoffs while Kessel is on the team don't expect much because he is easily shut down.

If he's easily shut down, the league definitely has a shortage of shut down players. They probably all play for Boston haha

He's a PPG player in the playoffs, but I'm sure they all came against those wussy teams.

As John Tortorella says, "he is a good player but nothing worth shitting your pants over".

Do the Rangers have any of those guys? None that I can think of. In fact, in my opinion, there are very few of those guys in the league.

The Rangers have one guy who put up four more goals than Kessel this season (but six fewer points playing for one of the best teams in hockey). He is "a good player but nothing worth shitting your pants over". His .71ppg in the playoffs might get some respect but isn't going to frighten anybody. The next closest guy the Rangers have scored eight fewer than Kessel. In fact, at a glance, I'm not sure the Rangers have any other player who scored 30 goals in any NHL season ever.

Why don't you make a list of NHLers "worth shitting your pants over". I guarantee you won't have to spend much time on it because it isn't a very long list.

 

[Deebo]

What an easily intimidated wuss.

You're right. He had a wrist injury and played on. So now he is not afraid of his own shadow anymore? Come on.

Kessel is an immensely talented scoring winger. But he is not built for games against Boston and he is surely not built for the playoffs. If the Leafs ever get into the playoffs while Kessel is on the team don't expect much because he is easily shut down.

We'll leave the expecting nothing from a top 10 NHL scorer to you.

 

[Fanatic]

What an easily intimidated wuss.

You're right. He had a wrist injury and played on. So now he is not afraid of his own shadow anymore? Come on.

Kessel is an immensely talented scoring winger. But he is not built for games against Boston and he is surely not built for the playoffs. If the Leafs ever get into the playoffs while Kessel is on the team don't expect much because he is easily shut down.

We'll leave the expecting nothing from a top 10 NHL scorer to you.

Why is it not okay to say both;

1. Kessel is a greatly talented goal scorer who would do well on any NHL team, and

2. He is someone that appears to be easily shutdown in physical games (like games with Boston and like playoff games) and I would not build my team around a guy like that?

 

[losveratos]

What an easily intimidated wuss.

You're right. He had a wrist injury and played on. So now he is not afraid of his own shadow anymore? Come on.

Kessel is an immensely talented scoring winger. But he is not built for games against Boston and he is surely not built for the playoffs. If the Leafs ever get into the playoffs while Kessel is on the team don't expect much because he is easily shut down.

We'll leave the expecting nothing from a top 10 NHL scorer to you.

Why is it not okay to say both;

1. Kessel is a greatly talented goal scorer who would do well on any NHL team, and

2. He is someone that appears to be easily shutdown in physical games (like games with Boston and like playoff games) and I would not build my team around a guy like that?

He's a PPG in the regular season now and he's been a PPG in the playoffs as well.

What you're talking about is just biased idiocy.

 

[Deebo]

What an easily intimidated wuss.

You're right. He had a wrist injury and played on. So now he is not afraid of his own shadow anymore? Come on.

Kessel is an immensely talented scoring winger. But he is not built for games against Boston and he is surely not built for the playoffs. If the Leafs ever get into the playoffs while Kessel is on the team don't expect much because he is easily shut down.

We'll leave the expecting nothing from a top 10 NHL scorer to you.

Why is it not okay to say both;

1. Kessel is a greatly talented goal scorer who would do well on any NHL team, and

2. He is someone that appears to be easily shutdown in physical games (like games with Boston and like playoff games) and I would not build my team around a guy like that?

Say whatever you want.

 

[Tigger]

well, in a small sample size, kessel has scored at a ppg during his playoff career so far.

He also got benched while scoring a PPG so I think we can put that one in the inconclusive category.

What's inconclusive about it?

 

[TML fan]

What an easily intimidated wuss.

You're right. He had a wrist injury and played on. So now he is not afraid of his own shadow anymore? Come on.

Kessel is an immensely talented scoring winger. But he is not built for games against Boston and he is surely not built for the playoffs. If the Leafs ever get into the playoffs while Kessel is on the team don't expect much because he is easily shut down.

We'll leave the expecting nothing from a top 10 NHL scorer to you.

Why is it not okay to say both;

1. Kessel is a greatly talented goal scorer who would do well on any NHL team, and

2. He is someone that appears to be easily shutdown in physical games (like games with Boston and like playoff games) and I would not build my team around a guy like that?

As has been mentioned, the notion that the 6th highest scorer in the NHL is easily shut down is simply absurd.

Nobody builds a team around 1 player, unless it's the goalie. It kind of takes the TEAM aspect of the sport right out of the equation.

 

[cw]

What an easily intimidated wuss.

You're right. He had a wrist injury and played on. So now he is not afraid of his own shadow anymore? Come on.

Kessel is an immensely talented scoring winger. But he is not built for games against Boston and he is surely not built for the playoffs. If the Leafs ever get into the playoffs while Kessel is on the team don't expect much because he is easily shut down.

We'll leave the expecting nothing from a top 10 NHL scorer to you.

Why is it not okay to say both;

1. Kessel is a greatly talented goal scorer who would do well on any NHL team, and

2. He is someone that appears to be easily shutdown in physical games (like games with Boston and like playoff games) and I would not build my team around a guy like that?

Probably the best NHL team I ever saw relative to their peers, the 70s Habs, did so with a fairly similar player: Guy Lafleur. Lafleur didn't have 1/10th Kessel's defensive conscience - he retired when they asked him to play two way hockey. He was a little over a ppg/playoff game (like Kessel). He definitely wasn't physical and Kessel's a little bigger. Relative to his peers in his day, he was more skilled than Kessel but I bet Kessel would look darn good in that Habs line up and probably perform fairly close to Lafleur because today's athletes are stronger, faster, etc and he doesn't smoke a pack a day like Lafleur did.

The difference is the 70s Habs had a bunch of good players surrounding him. At the time, certainly during their earlier years, guys like Larry Robinson were hardly a household name compared with Lafleur. Appreciation for some of the other members of that cast came later. Lafleur was "the guy" on that club.

Very similar players in style, physical ability, etc - on very different teams. I think it worked out rather well for that club. But of course, that's just my opinion backed up by hockey history.

Alex Mogilny, a similar talent, did just fine putting up 83 pts for Devils on the way to a Cup. Once again, the cast of characters surrounding him was really the difference.

Again, Kessel is the least of this roster's problems. He could rack up a bundle of goals for any Cup winner I've seen since the 60s and they'd all be glad to have him.