NHL iron man Phil Kessel still hasn’t given up on a possible return to the NHL

American hockey forward Phil Kessel, who is the iron man of NHL history, played an incredible 1,064 regular season games without missing a game. So far this season, he has not played a single game and is without a commitment.

Possible return to the ice by Kessel?

As mentioned, the American hockey player, who is 36 years old, is without a commitment so far this season. And he has no intention of quitting. There are many players who are not up to his standards.

Kessel himself is disappointed that no club has shown interest in him so far as he is a free agent. But he still hasn’t given up hope of playing this season after all. He’s also counting on the fact that teams will want to reinforce themselves with experienced players before the playoffs. And this may just be the chance for the experienced scout.

Only 8 points away from the mythical 1,000

Yet Kessel is a fairly productive hockey player. He has played 1,286 games in the regular season so far, scoring a cool 992 points. He’s also surpassed the 400-goal mark. He has a record of (413+579) and has amassed 83 points in the playoffs in 100 straight games.

He also has an Olympic silver medal from 2010, where he and Team USA lost to Canada in the final. 4 years later, he left without a medal, but he was the tournament’s scoring leader. He also has three Stanley Cups in his collection, triumphing in 2016 and 2017 with the Pittsburgh Penguins. And last season with the Vegas Golden Knights, although he only appeared in 4 games.

In his overseas career, he managed to break the 30-goal mark six times in a season and surpassed the 80-point mark four times. And in the playoffs, he was one of the best players in Pittsburgh’s triumphs, scoring 45 points in 49 games.

Kessel can still be a valid player

The problem is that since the 2019-20 season, the productivity that teams were used to from him has started to rapidly decline. Of course, this was also due to the fact that he was playing in a weak Arizona team. The latter was definitely not fighting for playoff position at the time.

This resulted in him spending last season with the Vegas Golden Knights. However, he was no longer one of the central figures of the team, nor did he get as much space in the playoffs. And after the season his team did not renew his contract.

Since then, as an unrestricted free agent, he has been waiting for an offer from any team, because he is a fighter and really doesn’t want to quit hockey at 36. A hockey player who has been accused of being overweight would certainly deserve a chance on a team at least on the third line.

There is a parallel with Corey Perry. The deserving veteran was brought in to Edmonton to bring much needed experience to the playoffs and the Edmonton team finally made it to at least the finals. Either way, there is still a little over a month left before the trade deadline, so hope is still alive for Kessel. It’s not about a million dollar contract for him, it’s about getting back on the ice where he surely belongs.

Source: NHL