Everything You Need to Know About Phil Kessel

The real name is Philip Joseph Kessel Jr., who is a professional ice hockey player from America. His playing position is right-wing. He is also the backup captain of Arizona Coyotes which is one of the best teams of National Hockey League (NHL).

Before playing for the Arizona Coyotes, he played for several teams like Boston Bruins, the Maple Leafs and the Pittsburgh Penguins. Phil was born in Madison, Wisconsin, the USA, on October 2, 1987, in a family who inherit sports, especially hockey.

Phil’s father Philip Joseph Kessel Sr. was also a hockey player who played in the Washington Redskins National League. His brother Blake is an ice hockey player who was also picked for the 2007 draft NHL six rounds by the New York Islanders. Currently, he is playing for ECHL’s Orlando Solar Bears.

Glorious NHL Career

United States National Hockey development program produces some of the best players who are playing NHL and Kessel is one of them. He has been performing as an established skilled talent under 18.

During college life, he played for the University of Minnesota under Western Collegiate Hockey Association (WCHA). In 2006 he was selected for Boston Bruins via NHL Entry Draft and was the fifth in the overall ranking of the NHL entry draft.

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Phil is a cancer survivor. He had testicular cancer while continuing his professional hockey career. He also won the Bill Masterton Memorial award during his rookie season 2006–07 for winning the battle with testicular cancer.

From 2009 Kessel started playing for Toronto Maple Leaf’s because as he was traded from Boston Bruins to Maple leaves. He played for Toronto Maple Leaf’s six years after being traded off.

Later in 2015, he was again traded off to Pittsburgh Penguins, and the beginning with Penguins was historical. He won Stanley Cup one after another while playing against the San Jose Sharks and Nashville Predators. Most people know Kessel as a prolific goal scorer.

Kessel has a big passion for playing internationally. He has already played at three World Championships including the 2010 and 2014 Winter Olympics. He won a silver medal in 2010, and people named him top forward in 2014.

Kessel was very passionate about playing hockey since his childhood. He also played youth hockey in his hometown in Madison with AAA Madison. While playing youth hockey back in 2001 -2002, Kessel’s performance was amazing. He scored 176 goals and 110 assists in overall 86 matches at a very young age.

Next year he was selected to play for under-18 teams and scored 113 goals with 45 assists which breaks the record of his previous year matches. Kessel is very thankful to his coach Bob Suter, the Olympian who makes him the player he is today.

Achievement and awards

Phil began his hockey career from being a college student in 2006. He was named the WCHA rookie of the year in 2006 and received the All WCHA rookie team award and the MacNaughton Cup the same year.

He was subsequently drafted in the NHL and won several awards during his NHL career. Two of them are NHL Young Stars Game Award and Bill Masterton Memorial Trophy in 2007. He also won all 2011, 2012, and 2015 star-game awards.

He earned a Stanley Cup award in 2016 and 2017. He is an award holder for the Prince of Trophy, who has won many foreign awards too. He won the Bob Johnson award in 2005 and won the Molson Cup in 2010, 2011, 2012. Moreover, he won the 2014 Olympic Best Award and Team Award for Olympic Star.