Phil Kessel was once one of the elite players in the National Hockey League, surpassing 80 points on multiple occasions and even having a 92 point season. The two-time Stanley Cup champion has spent the last few seasons with Arizona, where the league somewhat forgot about him. Even though he was not putting up 92 points seasons out in the desert, he still had some good years putting up 43 and 52 points these last 2 years.
Kessel wanted to prove he still has the skill to be an elite player in this league and signed late in the offseason with the Vegas Golden Knights for 1 year at $1,500,000.
Last night was the Golden Knights season opener and Kessel played on a line with Jack Eichel and Reilly Smith, but only skated 13:56 of ice time. He didn't register any points but had 3 shots on goal and had a vicious high stick on Adrian Kempe which resulted in only a 2 minute minor.
While this looks like Kessel wasn't intentionally trying to slash him in the head, players need to be in control of their sticks, and the league could try to make an example of this early in the season with Kessel.
