Arizona Coyotes Journey to the desert : Phil Kessel
By Jim Lynch
Phil Kessel is an Arizona Coyote. Let me say it again, Phil Kessel is an Arizona Coyote. For this Friday’s journey to the desert, we are looking at one of the newest members to the ‘Yotes this season.
Phil Kessel has had a very successful long career. He has played for teams like the Boston Bruins, Toronto Maple Leafs, Pittsburgh Penguins, and now the Arizona Coyotes. Kessel has scored some 359 goals over the course of his NHL career. It is nice to see him finally end up in Arizona.
To get to Arizona, Kessel was traded from Boston to Toronto, then from Toronto to Pittsburgh, then from Pittsburgh to Arizona. Kessel broke into the league at the age of 19 years old for the Boston Bruins.
In his time in Boston Kessel, a fifth overall draft pick in 2006, put up 126 points. He played in all 82 games one season and competed with some of the best in the league. Kessel helped lead the Bruins to a deep run in the Stanley Cup playoffs in 2009 until they lost to Carolina in a game 7.
Kessel would probably still be in Boston if it was not for a shoulder injury that was going to keep him out of the start of the year. So Boston traded him for some draft picks to Toronto.
Toronto gained an elite star that would go on to help the team in many ways. Just look at his stats over the course of his career so far.
| Scoring | Goals | Assists | Shots | Ice Time | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Season | Age | Tm | Lg | GP | G | A | PTS | +/- | PIM | EV | PP | SH | GW | EV | PP | SH | S | S% | TSA | TOI | ATOI | FOW | FOL | FO% | BLK | HIT | TK | GV | Awards |
| 2006-07 | 19 | BOS | NHL | 70 | 11 | 18 | 29 | -12 | 12 | 10 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 14 | 4 | 0 | 170 | 6.5 | 984 | 14:04 | Byng-59,Calder-11,Bill Masterton Memorial Trophy” href=”https://www.hockey-reference.com/awards/masterton.html?utm_source=direct&utm_medium=Share&utm_campaign=ShareTool#2007″>Masterton-1 | ||||||||
| 2007-08 | 20 | BOS | NHL | 82 | 19 | 18 | 37 | -6 | 28 | 14 | 5 | 0 | 3 | 16 | 2 | 0 | 213 | 8.9 | 372 | 1249 | 15:14 | 137 | 187 | 42.3 | 17 | 11 | 37 | 30 | Byng-37 |
| 2008-09 | 21 | BOS | NHL | 70 | 36 | 24 | 60 | 23 | 16 | 28 | 8 | 0 | 6 | 17 | 7 | 0 | 232 | 15.5 | 400 | 1159 | 16:34 | 42 | 45 | 48.3 | 16 | 6 | 42 | 33 | AS-13,Byng-9 |
| 2009-10 | 22 | TOR | NHL | 70 | 30 | 25 | 55 | -8 | 21 | 22 | 8 | 0 | 5 | 17 | 8 | 0 | 297 | 10.1 | 526 | 1368 | 19:33 | 59 | 63 | 48.4 | 13 | 13 | 30 | 46 | |
| 2010-11 | 23 | TOR | NHL | 82 | 32 | 32 | 64 | -20 | 24 | 19 | 12 | 1 | 6 | 21 | 11 | 0 | 325 | 9.8 | 561 | 1611 | 19:39 | 24 | 35 | 40.7 | 22 | 11 | 45 | 45 | Byng-39 |
| 2011-12 | 24 | TOR | NHL | 82 | 37 | 45 | 82 | -10 | 20 | 27 | 10 | 0 | 6 | 32 | 13 | 0 | 295 | 12.5 | 518 | 1645 | 20:03 | 9 | 19 | 32.1 | 21 | 12 | 39 | 82 | AS-18,AS-5,Byng-16 |
| 2012-13 | 25 | TOR | NHL | 48 | 20 | 32 | 52 | -3 | 18 | 14 | 6 | 0 | 4 | 17 | 15 | 0 | 161 | 12.4 | 313 | 951 | 19:49 | 5 | 3 | 62.5 | 23 | 16 | 25 | 45 | AS-4,Byng-18 |
| 2013-14 | 26 | TOR | NHL | 82 | 37 | 43 | 80 | -5 | 27 | 29 | 8 | 0 | 6 | 31 | 12 | 0 | 305 | 12.1 | 532 | 1695 | 20:40 | 2 | 12 | 14.3 | 30 | 25 | 37 | 88 | AS-3 |
| 2014-15 | 27 | TOR | NHL | 82 | 25 | 36 | 61 | -34 | 30 | 17 | 8 | 0 | 4 | 19 | 17 | 0 | 280 | 8.9 | 496 | 1541 | 18:48 | 2 | 3 | 40.0 | 13 | 18 | 34 | 64 | |
| 2015-16 | 28 | PIT | NHL | 82 | 26 | 33 | 59 | 9 | 18 | 22 | 4 | 0 | 5 | 20 | 13 | 0 | 274 | 9.5 | 479 | 1507 | 18:23 | 2 | 3 | 40.0 | 13 | 9 | 26 | 55 | |
| 2016-17 | 29 | PIT | NHL | 82 | 23 | 47 | 70 | 3 | 20 | 15 | 8 | 0 | 4 | 25 | 22 | 0 | 229 | 10.0 | 407 | 1471 | 17:56 | 5 | 10 | 33.3 | 15 | 12 | 15 | 51 | Byng-44 |
| 2017-18 | 30 | PIT | NHL | 82 | 34 | 58 | 92 | -4 | 36 | 22 | 12 | 0 | 6 | 28 | 30 | 0 | 261 | 13.0 | 449 | 1532 | 18:41 | 6 | 13 | 31.6 | 17 | 10 | 26 | 60 | AS-3 |
| 2018-19 | 31 | PIT | NHL | 82 | 27 | 55 | 82 | -19 | 28 | 15 | 12 | 0 | 10 | 31 | 24 | 0 | 215 | 12.6 | 370 | 1474 | 17:59 | 4 | 5 | 44.4 | 18 | 12 | 33 | 78 | Byng-49 |
| 2019-20 | 32 | ARI | NHL | 12 | 2 | 5 | 7 | -2 | 8 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 33 | 6.1 | 49 | 214 | 17:49 | 1 | 1 | 50.0 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 9 | |
| 6 yrs | TOR | NHL | 446 | 181 | 213 | 394 | -80 | 140 | 128 | 52 | 1 | 31 | 137 | 76 | 0 | 1663 | 10.9 | 2946 | 8810 | 19:45 | 101 | 135 | 42.8 | 122 | 95 | 210 | 370 | ||
| 4 yrs | PIT | NHL | 328 | 110 | 193 | 303 | -11 | 102 | 74 | 36 | 0 | 25 | 104 | 89 | 0 | 979 | 11.2 | 1705 | 5985 | 18:15 | 17 | 31 | 35.4 | 63 | 43 | 100 | 244 | ||
| 3 yrs | BOS | NHL | 222 | 66 | 60 | 126 | 5 | 56 | 52 | 14 | 0 | 9 | 47 | 13 | 0 | 615 | 10.7 | 942 | 3392 | 15:17 | 179 | 232 | 43.6 | 33 | 17 | 79 | 63 | ||
| 1 yr | ARI | NHL | 12 | 2 | 5 | 7 | -2 | 8 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 33 | 6.1 | 49 | 214 | 17:49 | 1 | 1 | 50.0 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 9 | ||
| Career | 14 yrs | NHL | 1008 | 359 | 471 | 830 | -88 | 306 | 254 | 104 | 1 | 65 | 292 | 179 | 0 | 3290 | 10.9 | 5642 | 18401 | 18:15 | 298 | 399 | 42.8 | 221 | 157 | 391 | 686 |
Provided by Hockey-Reference.com: View Original Table
Generated 10/31/2019.
After returning from the injury that sidelined him at the start of the 2009-10 season Kessel has played in every game since. He is now on an iron man streak of 777 games, over the course of 10 seasons so far. I am looking forward to seeing what Kessel can do with the Coyotes.
After playing with Toronto for 6 seasons, and only having one playoff appearance the team was frustrated with their play. Kessel became the scapegoat for the Maple Leafs problems through the years. He was seen as someone that could never take the next step with the team and win a cup.
He was traded to the Pittsburgh Penguins in a blockbuster trade back in 2015-16. Kessel would go on to win two Stanley Cups back to back with the Pens. He deserves all the praise he gets around the league.
Kessel started to get a bad rep of laziness and other issues with the Pens, and he eventually got traded to the Coyotes for Alex Galchenyuk. Kessel joined the team to help score goals, something he has had a bit of a struggle doing so far this season.
Kessel has put the puck in the net only twice this season, but he will score more.
I am looking forward to watching Kessel in Arizona for the time being. He is a member of the Coyotes core and is a leader in the locker room with a lot of experience. Kessel and the Coyotes are back in action tomorrow!
Journey to the desert Antti Raanta. dark. Next