Phil Kessel signs a new contract... but not in the NHL!

The NHL's all-time Ironman Phil Kessel ain't ready to pack it in just yet.

Despite no action in free agency and no offers to join training camp on a PTO, Kessel is still not ready to announce his retirement. Instead, he and his agent continue to solicit NHL teams for a new contract.

Well... it appears that Kessel has indeed signed a new contract, but not in the NHL. In fact, not even in professional hockey. Instead Kessel has signed with the World Poker Tour as a brand ambassador.

Check it out:

Somehow I don't think this is the contract that Kessel hoped to be announcing tonight, the opening night of the NHL's full regular season schedule.

Still, he's hopeful that he'll land an NHL deal at some point this season.

From NHL insider Pierre LeBrun for The Athletic earlier in the pre-season:

Phil Kessel is not contemplating retirement yet. He’s eager to catch on with an NHL team on a PTO to prove himself.

A couple of teams have stayed in touch with his agent, Wade Arnott, on it. They wanted to see how things played out in their camps and preseason early on before circling back.

Kessel skated with NHL players in Arizona before camps opened and is training and keeping in shape. I’m told he doesn’t care about his regular season ironman streak if teams were worried about dealing with that. He would be open to missing games and playing whatever role was asked of him.

- Pierre LeBrun

The thing is... who wants to be the coach who scratches Kessel and ruins his Ironman streak?

I understand that Kessel says it's not important to him, but hockey players will say just about anything to get a contract. I can't see any team being interested in Kessel at this point, unfortunately.