SI: Kessel named easiest all-star to intimidate

[maplesyrup]

SURPRISE FOLKS... HE'S SOFT! So what? Move on. 

So what? It affects the team. They're on a 4 game losing streak, barely hanging onto a playoff spot and that's an issue going forward.

Guess what? The league is full of guys not named Malkin, Datsyuk, and Stamkos. Kessel isn't perfect but I fail to understand why that hurts the team.  You know what's hurting the team? Burke not having enough other guys surrounding Kessel that make his imperfections less of an issue.

 

[Andy007]

SURPRISE FOLKS... HE'S SOFT! So what? Move on. 

So what? It affects the team. They're on a 4 game losing streak, barely hanging onto a playoff spot and that's an issue going forward.

It's an issue in the same way that Brown's lack of scoring is an issue. I think I'd like to see a goalie start winning games before Kessel taking a hit against the boards.

 

[Bullfrog]

No, not really. Nor does it explain why he's always been known as a soft player (including prior to any cancer diagnosis) and was known to be intimidated at his combine interviews. anyway, this is just a comment on your strange logic.

There is a difference between not wanting to get hit and being afraid to get it. That's where my "strange logic" comes from.

The strange part is where you assume this has anything to do with his cancer.

And while the difference you've explained is plainly obvious (what player in the NHL WANTS to get hit??) you seem to be missing the point that he'll bail on a play in an attempt to get hit. To the point that some players are even faking a hit and it stops him (I've seen this at least twice in the last few weeks.) So, the criticism stems from his often unwillingness to take a hit and still make the play. Sure, sometimes he'll take a hit, (I'm sure someone can make a convincing montage for us) but more than not he'll avoid it and miss an opportunity.

 

[TML fan]

I don't get it. Are you saying Kessel is a bad player?

No, I'm saying it's a bad thing if one of the team's better offensive weapons can have his effectiveness reduced when the other team starts hitting him, regardless of whether or not the root reason is "intimidation" or a realization of the relative meaningless of hockey games brought on by the hard won wisdom one achieves after dealing with a serious illness.

But it's a better thing that one of the team's best offensive weapons can have his effectiveness reduced by being injured and not actually playing in all the games.

 

[Kin]

Guess what? The league is full of guys not named Malkin, Datsyuk, and Stamkos.

And, every year, 29 out of 30 teams don't win the Stanley Cup. Call me a crazy dreamer if you have to but I'm operating under the assumption that the end goal is to be that 30th team one year.

Kessel isn't perfect but I fail to understand why that hurts the team.

This isn't just a question of perfection. It's not like absent this issue Kessel is a perfect player. It's just a serious question going forward about Kessel's place on the team.

You know what's hurting the team? Burke not having enough other guys surrounding Kessel that make his imperfections less of an issue.

One of the things that came up at the Kessel trade by those of us mystical wizards with the stunning clairvoyance to see it was putting the cart before the horse was that the Kessel trade was going to make adding the sort of top tier players that can be those #1 players on a cup winning team hard/impractical. Going for the quick rebuild was going to make drafting those guys nigh impossible and, as we've seen, trying to sign them in free agency is a crap shoot at best. Burke can't conjure those guy out of thin air. If he's unwilling or unable to sign Brad Richards then he has to take chance on Tim Connolly.

The team has a ton invested in Phil Kessel in all senses of the word. Because of that his imperfections do hurt the team. Is that holding him to an unfair standard? Maybe, but that standard has to be met if the team is going to win anything.

 

[Kin]

But it's a better thing that one of the team's best offensive weapons can have his effectiveness reduced by being injured and not actually playing in all the games.

If the choice a player has is to be able to perform despite a physical game being played or being injured then, quite frankly, that player has a very limited effectiveness ultimately either way and the team should be looking in a different direction.

But the reality is that's not the case. Nobody would ever accuse Jarome Iginla of avoiding contact and he's maybe been the most durable player in the league.

 

[TML fan]

No, not really. Nor does it explain why he's always been known as a soft player (including prior to any cancer diagnosis) and was known to be intimidated at his combine interviews. anyway, this is just a comment on your strange logic.

There is a difference between not wanting to get hit and being afraid to get it. That's where my "strange logic" comes from.

The strange part is where you assume this has anything to do with his cancer.

I find it hard to believe that a man who has battled a serious illness gets intimidated by relatively meaningless things, and that perhaps he avoids hits because he has made being healthy a priority in his life? Again, not speaking for Kessel. That's just how I view it. I don't see someone who has faced something as serious as that and gotten himself back to a point where he can be one of the top people in his field, as someone who is easily intimidated.

 

[TML fan]

But it's a better thing that one of the team's best offensive weapons can have his effectiveness reduced by being injured and not actually playing in all the games.

If the choice a player has is to be able to perform despite a physical game being played or being injured then, quite frankly, that player has a very limited effectiveness ultimately either way and the team should be looking in a different direction.

But the reality is that's not the case. Nobody would ever accuse Jarome Iginla of avoiding contact and he's maybe been the most durable player in the league.

I must have missed the part where he wasn't performing.

 

[Kin]

I must have missed the part where he wasn't performing.

That's a shame. There was a great Mats Sundin tribute.

 

[TML fan]

I must have missed the part where he wasn't performing.

That's a shame. There was a great Mats Sundin tribute.

Oh yeah, the Habs intimidated the crap out of him.

 

[Kin]

Oh yeah, the Habs intimidated the crap out of him.

As sad as it is, they knocked him around all game. Check the GDT and all of the "Brown is finally standing up for Kessel" talk.

 

[AlmosGirl]

145 players eh? That should just about cover all the 4th liners, fringe NHLers, and bottom pairing defencemen in the NHL.

The man battled cancer at 20 years of age. I don't imagine too many things intimidate him.

This and after something like that, I'm sure he could care less what a few "fringe" NHL'ers think.

 

[Corn Flake]

Oh yeah, the Habs intimidated the crap out of him.

As sad as it is, they knocked him around all game. Check the GDT and all of the "Brown is finally standing up for Kessel" talk.

He got clocked once really well by Subban.  Brown eventually got to PK near the end of the game.  That isn't intimidating the guy all game.

The Habs "knocked around" the Leafs all game by getting in their face in the neutral zone. It wasn't intimidation, it was just aggressive defensive play in the neutral zone. Frustrating and terrible looking? Yes. Intimidating? Not hardly .

 

[pnjunction]

It's not fair to pick on Kessel...our whole forward group is softer than microwaved butter

 

[TML fan]

Oh yeah, the Habs intimidated the crap out of him.

As sad as it is, they knocked him around all game. Check the GDT and all of the "Brown is finally standing up for Kessel" talk.

He's been in on 3 of the last 5 goals the team has scored in losing efforts, including 2 points vs Philly.

 

[Kin]

He's been in on 3 of the last 5 goals the team has scored in losing efforts, including 2 points vs Philly.

If that counts as effectiveness in your book, hats off.

 

[Kin]

This and after something like that, I'm sure he could care less what a few "fringe" NHL'ers think.

I don't think the issue is how Kessel feels about the poll or even that the poll exists. I think the problem is that the poll reflects reality.

 

[TML fan]

This and after something like that, I'm sure he could care less what a few "fringe" NHL'ers think.

I don't think the issue is how Kessel feels about the poll or even that the poll exists. I think the problem is that the poll reflects reality.

The one you created in your mind?

 

[Kin]

The one you created in your mind?

Or the one where Kessel is pretty universally acknowledged in this thread as a soft player. You pick.

 

[TML fan]

The one you created in your mind?

Or the one where Kessel is pretty universally acknowledged in this thread as a soft player. You pick.

I'm good where I am.