Phil Kessel is a great player and an even better person. Earlier this week, he set a new NHL record, becoming the All-Time Iron Man with 990 consecutive games. In the record-breaking game, Kessel scored his 400th career goal, which is not an easy achievement, as Kessel has been doing for the past 13 years.
Kessel hasn’t missed a game since October 31, 2009, and to make it even more impressive, you just have to look at the players behind him on the consecutive-games list. Brent Burns is 38 years old and has the NHL’s second-longest active streak. Johnny Gaudreau is third, and they barely have over 300 consecutive games played.
Many believe Phil Kessel’s new record will last forever, especially with how the NHL is played these days, with players being rested more commonly than before.
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Phil Kessel is such a well-liked figure, and since he passed Yandle, stories about him and how great of a character he is has been all over the place. Kessel is a simple man off the ice. He’s a humble guy who does so much for the community. And he always makes his teammates and those around him smile and laugh. But you don’t play 990 consecutive games or score 400 goals if you’re not trained enough or don’t have the talent. And Kessel has it all.
On 32 Thoughts, Elliotte Friedman shared a great story of Kessel getting great revenge on a teammate during a BioSteel camp years ago.
”One player came out of the gym swearing and annoyed. Kessel was reading a magazine while everyone else sweated away, and this player (who prefers to remain anonymous) asked if Kessel was going to bother joining everyone,” Friedman wrote.
Friedman continued:
”Kessel replied, “Want to see what I can do?” He proceeded to destroy everyone else in the leg press, and went back to the magazine.”
What a great story on a great player. Phil Kessel; A true role model.
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