The Vegas Golden Knights striker, sitting in front of his locker at the City National Arena after Friday’s rehearsal, was just asked if he remembers the last time he missed an NHL game. Given that he is destined to become the last iron man in the NHL, one would expect him to know the answer. Most players would know this.
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But Kessel is not a player like the others.
“I have no idea,” replied the 35-year-old forward. “You’ll have to check it out.”
How come he doesn’t know?
“I have no doubt he doesn’t know,” said Wade Arnott, Kessel’s longtime agent. “You may be skeptical with such an answer from many players and not believe it. But in Phil’s case, I’m sure he doesn’t.
“Phil isn’t someone who looks at his stats or anything like that. He doesn’t look back. He lives in the present moment. “
Perhaps. But Kessel is ready to make history, starting with the Golden Knights duel against the Toronto Maple Leafs at the T-Mobile Arena on Monday (10pm ET; TSN-4, ATTSN-RN, ESPN +, SN NOW).
Kessel is expected to be on the ice against the Maple Leafs for his 989th straight game, which will allow him to equalize retired defender Keith Yandle for the longest such series in NHL history. The next day, he will have a chance to set a new record against the San Jose Sharks at the SAP Center.
The numbers are staggering.
For your information (and Kessel’s), he hasn’t lost a game since October 31, 2009, when the Maple Leafs lost 5-4 in a shootout against the Montreal Canadiens at the Bell Center.
Three days later, on November 3, the winning streak came to life, although no one could have predicted it at the time, including Kessel. In fact, he was badly beaten that match by defender Mattias Ohlund in the 2-1 defeat to the Tampa Bay Lightning in Toronto.
After standing on the ice for a few seconds, he brushed off the snow and got up. He has done this every time he’s been checked since and is now able to equalize Yandle’s 4,738-day score in his winning streak.
“I’ve always been a player who would rather play than skip a game,” Kessel said in a 10-minute interview with NHL.com. “I try to play in all circumstances.
“Otherwise that’s how it ends, isn’t it?” “
With the exception we don’t know when the sequence will end. In fact, if he continues, he will play his thousandth consecutive game against the Arizona Coyotes in Las Vegas on November 17.
The birth of her first child also didn’t stop the series. On March 8, Kessel, who was then playing with the Coyotes, made an appearance against the Detroit Red Wings before boarding a plane chartered by Coyotes owner Alex Meruelo to return to Phoenix for the birth of her baby. Even that night, Kessel wanted to play the entire match, according to coach André Tourigny.
There have been many obstacles along the way. Alex Goligoski, his former Coyotes and University of Minnesota teammate, remembers Kessel struggling with a soft tissue injury but refusing to miss games. Instead, he took a break from training to recover. Rick Tocchet, who served as assistant manager for the Pittsburgh Penguins during Kessel’s time with the team, said the striker helps himself by not putting himself in situations where he can be hit hard against the boards or knocked down. .
“Yes, there is luck in all of this,” said Golden Knights manager Bruce Cassidy. “And sometimes you are lucky not to put yourself in dangerous situations. Some players have been known to get injured simply because they are in the wrong place at the wrong time. They turn around and make contact with someone. Phil did a good job of avoiding these situations.
“That said, with what he’s about to achieve, all the credit goes to him. “
Kessel doesn’t remember all the minor ailments he had to overcome to maintain the winning streak. He doesn’t want to remember either.
“There were a lot of them,” he said. But I always told myself that I would play anyway because I like to play. I prefer to play than stand in the stands. “
Kessel has 957 points (399 goals, 558 assists) in 1,210 career games with Boston Bruins, Maple Leafs, Penguins, Coyotes and Golden Knights. The highlight of his career: helping the Penguins win the Stanley Cup in 2016 and 2017.
“I’ve had a lot of good teammates and I’ve won the Stanley Cup twice. I’m doing pretty well, right? she asked with a laugh.
Difficult to disagree. But after playing so many minutes in his career, how long are you planning to play?
“Until someone tells me I can’t anymore,” he replied with a laugh.
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Kessel’s flirtation with NHL history could have ended nearly three years before his winning streak began.
Six months after being drafted fifth overall by the Bruins in 2006, Kessel saw his life change when he was diagnosed with testicular cancer on December 11. He underwent surgery to remove the cancer and was back on the ice with Boston against the Ottawa Senators on January 9, after missing 11 games.
“Can you imagine? You’re only 19, you’re still a teenager, you’re finally living your dream of playing in the NHL, and then your whole life is upset, Arnott said. I remember going to Boston, to the hospital at his flank.
“Luckily he did well. But she transformed him. The opposite would have been surprising. “
Indeed, Kessel’s worldview would have profoundly changed from this experience.
“It’s not easy,” he said. Suddenly she opens your eyes. You learn and grow fast enough. She changed who I am. Change your perspective on life.
“You never know what can happen in life. Life is short. The important thing for me was to play. I had no complaints about the hockey surroundings. I loved playing then and I still love playing now. With what I had been through, everything else didn’t matter. “
“Something else” is in the public eye. Kessel never liked being in the spotlight and was often seen as sulking when he was. He has never felt comfortable with him in this situation and has not apologized for it, even when he has been criticized by the media over the years.
Kessel said her cancer made her realize what’s important. Fame is not her, she said.
“I’ve never paid attention to what people say about me, except what my friends, family and teammates say,” said Kessel. Many people don’t know me personally. And many people who talk about me sometimes don’t know hockey. “
Coyotes CEO Bill Armstrong said Kessel’s public image is very different from the person behind closed locker room doors. Kessel played for Arizona from 2019-2022 before signing a one-year $ 1.5 million deal with the Golden Knights on August 24.
“Phil was great,” Armstrong said. He was an important part of our organization. He is a very interesting person. I often find it misunderstood. “
In which way?
“Sometimes when he’s going through times when he’s not playing well, there are some conversations you need to have with Phil, and he’s receptive,” Armstrong said.
“He feels frustrated. People think they don’t care, but I don’t think they care at all. I think he cares almost too much about the team. He puts almost too much pressure on his shoulders and closes in on himself. And if you don’t play him right, you might think he’s lazy. But Phil does exactly what you ask him to do.
“Phil has many qualities. He is exemplary, believe it or not, with the way he skates at his age and not at the skill level. We are happy that he has a chance in Las Vegas. “
So far, Kessel has become one of the most popular players of the Golden Knights.
“Anyone who knows Phil off the ice knows how fantastic he is in the locker room,” said the Las Vegas defender Alessio Pietrangelo. “Everyone wants to be close to him, so it’s a great acquisition for us.”
Cassidy noticed too.
“The kids here love Phil,” he noted. He has a different sense of humor. He relaxes the atmosphere in the locker room. I love the time spent with him. He likes to talk about hockey and I think he was good in Vegas.
“I talked to several people about how he contributed in different dressing rooms. “
So far, Kessel has proven that he is as good at making jokes as he is at being a Turk.
Here is an example.
Kessel was never recognized for his defensive prowess. He has a career differential of minus-148, numbers that put him far from a Selke Trophy nomination for the NHL’s best defensive forward.
It does not matter. After making some nice defensive moves on his Golden Knights debut, he quickly received a new nickname from his teammates. He now he is called Selke in the locker room in Las Vegas.
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Kessel will be the first to tell you that it will never appear on the title page of a bodybuilding magazine.
He stands 5 feet 11 inches tall and weighs 208 pounds. Tocchet has already made jokes about Kessel’s tummy. It even went viral on social media for his love of hot dogs.
He doesn’t exactly have the stature of a player on the verge of becoming the greatest iron man in NHL history.
“I’m just a hockey player,” Kessel said. They are available in all shapes and sizes. “
In her case, her physique can be deceiving.
“Look at his stats and see how good he is as a skater,” said Pietrangelo. Does his physique really matter? I do not think so.
“Look at the. He has a lot more power than me. There’s a reason he’s a good skater.”
The defender of the Coyotes Shayne Gostisbehere he thinks he knows why.
“They say Phil doesn’t work out and all the bullshit,” Gostisbehere said. But when he goes to the gym, I swear he has the strongest legs he has ever seen in my life.
“These photos with the hot dogs … This aura around him, the media and the public attribute to him. They create this bubble around him. But everyone who has played with him knows the real Phil and knows he works hard. “
As the record approached, Kessel became increasingly superstitious. He prefers not to talk about it so as not to sabotage his moment with the story.
But that doesn’t take away what it is about to accomplish.
“If you think about it, it’s really great,” said his airline partner Jack Eichel, who grew up in New England and witnessed Kessel’s exploits with the Bruins. “You rarely see a player playing 82 games. That he has been there for several seasons in a row is impressive. “
And you’ll never hear Kessel brag about it.
“I just want to be seen as a good teammate,” he said. I still like to play hockey.
“As long as this is the case, I will continue. “
