Phil the Thrill is headed to Sin City. The NHL's favourite Iron Man is Vegas bound on a one-year, $1.5M deal. The 8-year, $64 Million contract he signed with Dave Nonis and the Leafs finally expired after the 2021-22 season. During those 8 years, Kessel played for the Maple Leafs, Penguins and Coyotes. He won 2 Stanley Cups with Pittsburgh and arguably should have won a Conn Smythe Trophy along the way.
Kessel holds the league's longest active Iron Man streak at 982 consecutive games played. His streak was nearly broken on March 9th of this year by the birth of his daughter, Kapri. Kessel and the Coyotes had a game in Detroit that night, so Phil the Thrill skated one 30 second shift in the first period before sprinting off the ice and hopping on a plane back to Arizona to be there for her birth.
Kessel's Iron Man streak is probably one of the things that made him attractive to the Golden Knights, who have been plagued so badly by injury the past couple of seasons that they haven't been able to ice a very competitive team. The other thing that makes it a good fit is the extremely low cap hit. Vegas hasn't exactly handled their cap well and having a player of Kessel's caliber coming in on a team friendly deal is exactly what they need. At this point, Kessel is only 7 games shy of Keith Yandle's all time Iron Man streak. Both he and the Knights are hoping the cards turn their way this season and see Kessel break the record and help the Knights find their way back into the playoffs.
