Phil Kessel Among Top Unsigned Free Agents Seeking an Early-Season Return
Just over a week into the 2023-24 season, veteran forward Phil Kessel remains a free agent in the months after claiming his third Stanley Cup ring. But he isn’t ready to hang up his skates quite yet.
According to The Athletic’s Chris Johnston, Kessel desires to continue his playing career and hopes to embark on his 18th NHL season in the coming weeks. The three-time champion has been training and skating by himself while awaiting his next opportunity.
Johnston also reported the 36-year-old wasn’t on board with signing a professional tryout during training camp and preferred to wait for an NHL contract to come his way. While there have been a few “close calls” in recent weeks, most teams have little cap space available this early into the year.
What should help, however, is Kessel isn’t solely focused on signing with a Stanley Cup contender. He knows that teams outside the playoff picture typically possess more financial flexibility, which would also likely provide a path to being dealt ahead of the March 8th trade deadline.
The Madison, Wisconsin, native holds the NHL’s longest Ironman streak at 1,064 consecutive regular-season games. At this stage of his career, though, he understands it might not last much longer, especially if he joins a team near the top of the standings.
There is one achievement Kessel will undoubtedly strive to earn upon his return: reaching the 1,000-point mark, which he sits just eight points shy of.
The fifth-overall selection from 2006 is also 14 games away from becoming the seventh American-born skater to log 1,300 career NHL games – where he’d join Jeremy Roenick, Ryan Suter, Phil Housley, Mike Modano, Matt Cullen and Chris Chelios.
Kessel split those contests between five franchises: the Boston Bruins, Toronto Maple Leafs, Arizona Coyotes and Vegas Golden Knights. And he’s likely to add another jersey or two to that mix before this season concludes.
The right-handed winger enjoyed a respectable performance last season, scoring 14 goals and 36 points while averaging a career-low 12:49 per night across 82 games. He added a pair of assists in four playoff contests en route to lifting Lord Stanley last June.
Kessel isn’t the only free-agent skater looking for work, as Johnston also listed Patrick Kane, Zach Parise, Eric Staal, Jesse Puljujarvi, Danton Heinen and Sam Gagner as others hoping to suit up for new clubs in 2023-24.
Kane, of course, is the most prominent player of that group. But he won’t be ready to play until early November after undergoing extensive hip surgery over the summer. Still, that hasn’t stopped multiple teams from expressing interest in his services.
The 34-year-old’s representatives at CAA Hockey distributed a video of their client’s progress across the league last month, which displayed encouraging signs regarding his rehab. That appears to be a taste of what’s to come, as he and his team plan to narrow a list of potential suitors next month.
Until then, Kane will continue recovering from his procedure before pursuing a fourth Stanley Cup – a feat he fell short with the New York Rangers last season. That mid-season trade to The Big Apple ended his 16-season stint with the Chicago Blackhawks.
Hockey fans will likely need to keep an eye out for a few signings that could come down the pipeline between now and the end of 2023.
-Thomas Hall
Twitter: @ThomasHall85
Photo: Tim Alamenciak. This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 Generic license.