Issue emerges about Phil Kessel and a possible contract

Veteran forward Phil Kessel won his third Stanley Cup in the spring with the Vegas Golden Knights, but is still an unsigned free agent with NHL training camps just around the corner. To make sure he gets a chance at playing in the league this season, Kessel recently put his NHL’s ironman streak, which remains active at 1,064 games, on the line in order to sign with a team that won’t feel pressured to have him play over younger teammates.

However, Harman Dayal of The Athletic still believes there is a huge issue when it comes to signing Kessel to a deal, and it has nothing to do with his ironman streak. Dayal wonders if teams are reluctant to sign Kessel due to defensive concerns.

“The big question is whether the offensive impact can outweigh the defensive concerns at this stage in his career. Vegas surrendered a high number of shots and scoring chances against during Kessel’s five-on-five minutes, which translated to a rate of 3.1 goals against per hour, the worst among Golden Knights forwards by a wide margin. Kessel will be another year older, turning 36 before the season starts, so there could be even further decline on the horizon this season.”

Kessel, who put up 14 goals and 36 points in 82 games last season, is aware of his value and that’s why he is willing to be a healthy scratch every so often just to keep playing.

However, he is aware enough of his defensive shortcomings that it could be the reason why teams aren’t calling to sign him at the moment…

There is still a bit of time though, let’s see what happens in the next weeks.

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