6 More Memorable Phil Kessel Moments as He Closes On Ironman Record

Nice guy. Tries hard. Loves the Game.

Phil Kessel is a fan favorite for many NHL hockey fans. The two-time Stanley Cup Champion and 2007 Bill Masterton Memorial Trophy winner is close to breaking a very special NHL milestone.

On Monday night, against his former team, the Toronto Maple Leafs, Kessel tied retired defenseman Keith Yandle’s consecutive NHL regular season games played record at 989 games. Tonight in San Jose, he will break the record with his 990th straight regular season game.

If he continues to go on strong, he will play his 1,000th straight game against another one of his former teams on November 17 against the Arizona Coyotes.

As he closes in on this spectacular achievement, here are Kessel’s best moments thus far in his 17-year NHL career. These are in no particular order and part two of this mini-series at VHN.

1) Poker Player Phil

A lot of Phil Kessel’s nights in Pittsburgh were spent at Three Rivers Casino in downtown 412. He liked to gamble and had a good relationship with some of the staff and frequent poker players there.

“Did he like his casinos? Yeah, he sure did. But casinos aren’t illegal, you know? There’s nothing wrong with casinos. He’s a single guy. Single guys have to do something with their time. It was never an issue,” said former Penguins general manager Jim Rutherford.

Now in the gambling capital of the world, Kessel says he’s not planning on going crazy gambling. After all, he’s married, a father, and a dog owner now.

“You know what, to be honest, I probably won’t play that much here. I got a wife and a kid, and three dogs. So it becomes less likely that you do that stuff. During the season, you don’t have much time for that,” said Kessel in his first Vegas Golden Knights media availability.

2) You Think It’s My Fault?

After Toronto Maple Leaf’s head coach Randy Carlyle was fired, a Toronto reporter essentially asked Kessel if he was part of the problem. Kessel responded appropriately.

3) All-Star Drafts

In the mid-2010s, the NHL did things a little differently with respect to the NHL All-Star Game. Back then, there were only two teams, with each team captain selecting players in a ‘fantasy draft’ type manner.

In 2011, Kessel was the last pick in the All-Star Draft, being picked after former Golden Knight Paul Stastny. Alex Ovechkin had fun watching Kessel sit alone on the draft floor and took a photo of him.

Fast forward to 2015, and Jonathan Toews picked Kessel midway through the draft to make him feel a little better. He even said Kessel was a “very coachable player,” referencing the media turmoil around Carlyle’s firing. In the business, that’s what we like to call a callback.

But Toews pulled the rug out from underneath Kessel by trading him to the opposing All-Star team, Team Nick Foligno, for Tyler Seguin. This deal referenced a Sep. 2009 trade that sent Kessel to the Leafs from the Boston Bruins. One of the picks the Bruins’ acquired in the deal was used to draft Seguin.

4) Phil Kessel v John Scott

According to Hockeyfights.com, Phil Kessel has been in three NHL fights. All three came during his time with the Toronto Maple Leafs, and all were more wrestling matches than actual NHL fights. During a preseason game against the Buffalo Sabres, he got into things with 6-foot-8, 260 lb John Scott.

I’ll let Scott do the explaining of how things went down from his perspective. Kessel, not a known fighter or agitator, was simply in the wrong place at the wrong time.

5) How’s Your Breath?

During the Pittsburgh Penguins’ back-to-back runs to the Stanley Cup in 2016 and 2017, NBC Sports Network reporter Pierre McGuire asked Kessel a strangely-worded question about his conditioning.

It resulted in a bad-breath joke and one of Kessel’s funniest moments.

6) Cancer Comeback

After all the goals, unreal assists, locker room jokes, hot dogs, and games played, there is one thing that truly stands out as perhaps Kessel’s greatest achievement.

In 2006 at 19 years of age, he was diagnosed with testicular cancer. Luckily, the cancer was found early, and he was able to have surgery to remove it. Kessel missed only 11 games before rejoining the Bruins.

It’s crazy to think that if this had not been spotted, Kessel might never have made it this far.