Free agent winger Phil Kessel still fully intends on playing in 2024-25 – though whether it’s in the NHL remains to be seen, Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet said on Friday’s “32 Thoughts” podcast (audio link).
As Friedman notes, Kessel was one of the players that Major League Hockey, a 3-on-3 league hoping to start operations later this year, approached about signing with a team before the league postponed its launch to Oct. 2025. It doesn’t appear an NHL professional tryout or guaranteed contract is imminent for him, either.
Kessel is a three-time All-Star Game participant and a three-time Stanley Cup champion but was out of the NHL last season after playing with the Golden Knights in 2022-23. He posted 14 goals and 36 points in 82 games, his lowest total offensive output since his rookie season, before going unsigned for all of 2023-24. He was close to inking a deal with the Canucks at the trade deadline, but it fell through due to a lack of cap space.
With a full year off from the game, the NHL’s active and all-time consecutive games played leader is likely a fringe bottom-six scorer or No. 13 forward at best on most teams. If Kessel is willing to risk losing his ironman streak of 1,064 games, which is only at risk of being passed by the Hurricanes’ Brent Burns (843), he’ll have an easier time landing a deal.
Kessel hasn’t been off the ice since winning the Cup with Vegas over a year ago, though. He’s kept in a standard training routine and practiced with the Canucks’ farm club in Abbotsford in the lead-up to his potential deadline deal.
Zero chance he’ll play in the NHL again.
In his last season with Vegas they carried him just so he could get the Ironman streak record.
Then, the in the playoffs, he played the first 4 games in Round 1 (vs Winnipeg) and was then a HEALTHY scratch for the rest of the playoffs.
EIGHTEEN straight games sitting in the press box.
But he was in full gear and on the ice when Vegas – with NO help from Kessel – won the Cup and he skated around with it like HE was the reason they won it.
And the ONLY reason Vancouver even looked at him last season was because his former Penguins buddies (Alvin and Rutherford) wanted to give hime a chance to get his name on the Cup a 4th time without having to put any effort into playing.
Alvin and Rutherford had promised to “reward” Vancouver for their efforts in being 1st overall in the standings after the All Star Break.
Bringing in the has-been Kessel was what they considered a “reward”. So he could take someone’s roster spot while keeping the snack trays in the press box cleaned off.
After Vegas won the Cup – THEY never offered him an Extension and he became a free agent.
NO team offered him a contract in the offseason and NO team even offered him a PTO during the next pre-season.
And he spent 3 WEEKS “conditioning” with Vancouver’s farm team and STILL wasn’t in shape to skate with the Canucks.
Kessel WANTED Vancouver to sign him and then leave him in Abbotsford on a “conditioning” assignment.
But that would have cost Vancouver a roster spot AND cap issues unless they demoted a couple other players.
Just to have Kessel sit on the farm until the team made the Finals. (You only have to “play” ONE game in the Finals to get your name on the Cup. THAT’S IT.)
So Vancouver decided they’d sign him – but put him on Waivers so they wouldn’t lose the roster spot or have Cap issues.
But going on Waivers would have meant ANY team in the league could have claimed him, even a team at the bottom of the standings, and it wouldn’t cost them anything (except a few weeks of very low salary).
Of course Kessel didn’t want that. He wanted to sit somewhere “safe” until Vancouver got to the Finals and then suit up for one game and that’s it.
And it seems his “old boy club” buddies Alvin, Rutherford and Tocchet couldn’t find a way to justify losing players and Cap just to have Kessel sit in Abbotsford for the rest of the season and most of the playoffs.
So what do you think the chances are of ANY other club in the league taking a flyer with him and giving him a PTO ?
There’s a better chance Ottawa and Utah will face each other in the Cup Finals.
^ This right here is a hot take and I am here for it
@kerryd — Take it from me, that is one well-written post!
Wow, thanks for taking us to the depths of your Phil Kessel obsession. That is one amusing pile of infatuation.
Ye olde “double shovel burial” of poor Phil. So many paragraphs.
You do seem unusually angry at a 3 time Stanley Cup champion, iron man and borderline HOF’er who doesn’t care what anyone thinks, even his own coaches.
Posts like this are why it is so fun to laugh at crybaby Leafs fans. Even Cubs fans aren’t this sensitive.
You’re retired……Nobody wants you!!
Go enjoy all the hotdogs you want!!!
He will eat all the hot dogs while looking at his three rings.
He is not retired. Simple concept. Not shocking that it flew right over your melon.
That whole “ironman” thing is becoming a farce, really. Nothing “iron” about a player who hasn’t been playing because he didn’t even make the roster.
Gaming the system more than those guys that lift a bar 2 inches off the ground and call it a “deadlift”.
Hence the fact that the streak was snapped.
I wish it was snapped! The official stats have him as active. Also this article.
Players are active until filing retirement paperwork.
This man is a beauty.
He was a joy to watch, his teammates loved him especially towards the end of his career, he beat cancer, and he was a key part of two Cups and arguably could have won the Conn Smythe over Crosby one of those years.
Really tiresome and unfortunate that comments about his physique or eating habits followed him his entire career. Cancer and fighting it permanently changes you physically and we have no idea how it affected him. Ultimately, he got on a plane, got to the arena, strapped on skates, played shifts to the tune of a perennial 30 goal scorer, then got back on a plane for every single regular season game he was eligible to play in for 13-14 years. Do you know how incredible a physical specimen you need to be to do that?
The physique comments are really stupid too, because the human body is a complicated thing. Some guys look a little chunky but are still incredibly fit. The guy was obviously able to play at an elite level, so who cares if he had a spare tire?
This all reinforces some really toxic attitudes about masculinity, and it’s really screwed up. I used to weigh 300 pounds. I lost 90. Now I’m a bit of a gym rat, and I’m learning Olympic lifting. But I still have a wide frame and more belly fat than I’d like – despite being more fit in my 30s than any point in my life. Being like, “If you ain’t slender and cut, you ain’t fit”… It’s BS. It’s a terrible message to send when it’s not even true.
He is exactly the guy a team like the blue jackets or any other team that knows they’re finishing bottom 5 to 8 maybe should sign. They lose nothing get him for the minimum and if he scores like he has in the past even a fraction of that you get something back at the trade deadline it’s a win-win you really can’t lose
Columbus is a great idea.
thy guy had 30 points last year.. he would be a great depth on a minimum deal for a team like the Panthers who have almost no cap but need more depth
Don’t worry. JBB is filling the Bolts with aging players. He’ll surely get a call from him soon.