Phil Kessel Frustrating to Play With? The Canadian Media Continues it’s Narrative
By Mike Necciai
Phil Kessel simply can’t escape the negativity in the Canadian media. At this point, it’s beginning to look like nothing short of a smear campaign aimed at one of the more prolific scorers in hockey and based on the fact that he wasn’t able to save the Toronto Maple Leafs.
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Sportsnet.ca posted an interview with former Maple Leaf Colby Armstrong, who also had a stint with the Pittsburgh Penguins early in his career. Below is Armstrong’s response to a very directed question of whether or not he admired Phil Kessel or found him frustrating.
“We all see what he does: He skates fast to the puck, he shoots the puck, he can make things happen. But when the game’s on the line, if he can get a goal for you, that’s about all he’s gonna do. As far as winning battles and the extra mile, it did become, for me as a teammate, a little bit frustrating at times.”
Immediately, this became another question of Kessel’s character as a player and teammate. A follow-up question a little later in the interview was along the lines of whether current Pens see the baggage that comes with Phil Kessel and if they are concerned. They then alluded to not understanding the intrigue with one-way hockey players and whether you can be successful with them, as well as whether the other “twenty-some” players that are expected to play a two-way game see “floaters” like Kessel as an issue.
The issue all along with Phil Kessel and the Toronto Maple Leafs is that he was expected to turn around a struggling franchise under immense pressure from the media and fans, and he simply isn’t built for that. The Maple Leafs never surrounded Kessel with the correct supporting cast, and criticizing his two-way play on a team in which he was the only real scoring threat is absurd.
The conversation that took place in this interview is a glaring example of the media’s agenda with Phil Kessel.
Colby tries to shed positive light on Kessel multiple times in that interview and it’s immediately steered back to negativity. What a shame.
— Mike Necciai (@Michael29Angelo) July 9, 2015
Armstrong attempts to explain how much of a fit Pittsburgh is for Kessel, and the conversation was deflected each time. They don’t want to give him credit or see him for what he is, and it’s because they don’t want to place blame on the organization that set him up for failure.
I have multiple questions for those that think it’s an issue that Kessel “will score a goal when the game is on the line, but that’s all he’ll give you”.
First, isn’t that what you want from your leading scorer when the game’s on the line? The thought process that leads people to believe that everyone should be mucking and grinding in battles when the game is on the line is lost for me. Someone has to score, and if he’s on the ice with players like Colby Armstrong, Phil Kessel should be focused solely on scoring.
That leads me to my second question. Why is Phil Kessel on the ice with Colby Armstrong when the game is on the line? This is a major part of why so many teams have failed to improve for such a long time. If you’re deploying guys like Armstrong when the game is on the line because he’s a hard worker, you’re going to lose. It’s as simple as that. Which leads me to my most important question.
If you think it’s frustrating as a fourth-line grinder to play with Phil Kessel, can you imagine how frustrating it is as a prolific offensive threat to play with you?
The Pittsburgh Penguins have proved that one individual cannot win hockey games. It doesn’t matter how good one guy is if he’s playing on a line with incapable forwards. Kessel is a perimeter player that will bury the tying goal if someone can create space and get him the puck. Armstrong isn’t going to do that. Tyler Bozak isn’t going to do that consistently either.
@ChrisMuellerPGH If Colby had done more scoring and less meaningless "extra mile" stuff, perhaps he'd still be employed.
— Jesse Marshall (@jmarshfof) July 9, 2015
The expectations are high for Phil Kessel in Pittsburgh as well. But, for the most part, people know what they’re getting. I’m not sure what it will take for the Canadian media, more specifically the Toronto media, to begin focusing on their team’s current roster and future as they seem to still have an obsession with downplaying Kessel. Maybe it will take a successful franchise, which is unfortunate for Kessel because that means the attention will still be on him for many years to come.
Thankfully, in Pittsburgh we just want him to do what he does best. Score goals.
Next: Projecting Phil Kessel's 2015-16 Stat Lines