The Labor Day Weekend wrapped up in Canada and the United States which means hockey is right around the corner. Elliotte Friedman dropped a 32 Thoughts Podcast with mostly interviews, but he did give a few nuggets in regards to a Phil Kessel’s plans for next season and how he wants to keep his career going.
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The following has been transcribed by NHL Rumors.com from the 32 Thoughts Podcast.
Friedman kicks off the podcast by saying he wants to go through a little bit of news to keep an eye on.
Friedman on Kessel: “One thing to watch Phil Kessel. Kessel has indicated to teams he wants to keep his NHL career going. He just won his 3rd Stanley Cup last year as a member of the Vegas Golden Knights. And the thing about Kessel is. Kessel has the longest consecutive game streak in NHL history going. He is the first player in NHL history to play 1,000 consecutive games and he is still going. Now in the past.
A couple of years ago when Kessel played in Arizona, the belief was that one of the reasons why the Coyotes did not trade him at the deadline was because teams were concerned about potentially ending his consecutive games streak at that time and it’s not an easy process. We have situations where those conversations have gone really poorly and really sideways. Keith Yandle in Florida was one of them. And teams did not want to be involved in ending a streak if the player was not on board.
Well, Kessel has indicated to teams he would be willing to end the streak. He understands that his playing days as an everyday 82-game player are coming to an end. And so he is prepared to make that concession to keep his career going. He had 14 goals last year and played in four playoff games for the Golden Knights. We’ll see where this goes.”