Major development surfaces regarding Phil Kessel's return to the National Hockey League

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Hunter Bowman
September 25, 2024 (10:56 PM)

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Surprising development has surfaced regarding former NHL forward Phil Kessel returning to the NHL.

Trusted NHL insider, Pierre LeBrun has reported that Phil Kessel is still looking to play in the National Hockey League this upcoming season.

Kessel is famously known for holding the longest Ironman streak of all-time, as he's the only player in the league to player at least 1,000 consecutive games. His current streak is 1,064, which is 75 more than Keith Yandle, whose record Kessel broke in the 2022-23 season.

However, Phil Kessel has not gained any attention from NHL teams, despite his passion to play this year.

It was also been reported, that he and his agent are approaching teams looking for a contract, here is what LeBrun from The Athletic had to say:

Phil Kessel is not contemplating retirement yet. He's eager to catch on with an NHL team on a PTO to prove himself.

A couple of teams have stayed in touch with his agent, Wade Arnott, on it. They wanted to see how things played out in their camps and preseason early on before circling back.

Kessel skated with NHL players in Arizona before camps opened and is training and keeping in shape. I'm told he doesn't care about his regular season ironman streak if teams were worried about dealing with that. He would be open to missing games and playing whatever role was asked of him.

- Pierre LeBrun

Definitely would be unfortunate to see a situation where Phil Kessel would sign a deal and get scratched and lose his Ironman streak.

Phil Kessel was originally drafted by the Boston Bruins 5th overall during the 2006 NHL Entry Draft.

The three time Stanley Cup Champion has not seen the NHL action since winning the Stanley Cup with the Vegas Golden Knights in 2022-23.