Phil Kessel

[Kin]

Who are these big free agents that the Leafs have been able to attract to the City in the last few years?

Who said the Leafs have signed big free agents in the last few years? If you read closely, I said that the Leafs haven't had trouble retaining players. Which they haven't. Grabo signed, Lupul signed, Liles signed. The Muskoka 5 were a bunch of players who took criticism for re-signing in Toronto and not wanting to leave. 

They haven't signed big UFA's but Brian Burke's policy was to not make financially competitive offers to the big UFA's so it's not all that relevant.

 

[PG]

I really don't think Kessel will re-sign here.

 

[Brystine]

If I was a player picking based on city.. I'd probably pick San Jose or Anaheim. Detroit, Toronto, Dallas, St. Louis, LA would be at the bottom of my list.

Yeah, me too.  I bet Joffrey Lupul, Mikail Grabovski, and John-Michael Liles feel the same. 

Edit: Bye-bye Bozak!  See you later MacArthur!

Well.. I'd be willing to play in that hellhole known as Detroit for 5.5 Million a year, too.

I'd live outside Detroit of course, and wouldn't have my family with me, but still.. 5.5 Mil would be worth the 20 minutes I have to be outside in the city.

Uh, believe it or not, not all of southeast Michigan is a war zone.  No millionaires would choose to live in Detroit proper anyway but hundreds of thousands live perfectly well in the general area.

I know which parts to avoid, I'd be fine. Still wouldn't have my family with me.

 

[ZBBM]

The Cox and diManno stories were two of the dumbest articles I've read in a long time.  League "rules" or not, Kessel has no obligation to talk to anybody like a trained parrot.  You simply cannot force anyone in a free society to talk if they don't want to.  The NHL doesn't get to suspend legislated freedom of speech (which includes the right to remain silent), still less does the media have any "right" to demand someone give them an interview.  It's patently ridiculous.

Then, to cap it off, there's this Coxian gem:

Look, I?m not trying to bury Kessel here. I have no particular interest in hearing what he has to say. I know he has nothing to say.

This after spending about 10 paragraphs doing his best to bury Phil Kessel.

And in fact, Cox is right: Kessel has nothing of interest whatsoever to say.  And he never will.  Yet Cox and his media comrades STILL want to extract useless quotes from him so that they can produce ... well, just another useless column.

Cox and diManno can dismount from their high horses any time now.

 

[ZBBM]

If I was a player picking based on city.. I'd probably pick San Jose or Anaheim. Detroit, Toronto, Dallas, St. Louis, LA would be at the bottom of my list.

Yeah, me too.  I bet Joffrey Lupul, Mikail Grabovski, and John-Michael Liles feel the same. 

Edit: Bye-bye Bozak!  See you later MacArthur!

Well.. I'd be willing to play in that hellhole known as Detroit for 5.5 Million a year, too.

I'd live outside Detroit of course, and wouldn't have my family with me, but still.. 5.5 Mil would be worth the 20 minutes I have to be outside in the city.

Uh, believe it or not, not all of southeast Michigan is a war zone.  No millionaires would choose to live in Detroit proper anyway but hundreds of thousands live perfectly well in the general area.

I know which parts to avoid, I'd be fine. Still wouldn't have my family with me.

Tell that to the folks in Grosse Pointe Shores.

 

[Kin]

The Cox and diManno stories were two of the dumbest articles I've read in a long time.  League "rules" or not, Kessel has no obligation to talk to anybody like a trained parrot.  You simply cannot force anyone in a free society to talk if they don't want to.  The NHL doesn't get to suspend legislated freedom of speech (which includes the right to remain silent), still less does the media have any "right" to demand someone give them an interview.  It's patently ridiculous.

This just isn't true. I understand the point you're trying to make but pro sports leagues have fined dozens of players and coaches for not making themselves available to the media. If they weren't allowed to do that based on the contracts that all of these players/coaches have signed then they would have probably heard about it before.

Media availability is collectively bargained. We see a skewed concept of it in Toronto because the idea of "selling the game" has such little meaning but the NHL absolutely has a vested interest in their players speaking to the media and that's why it's written into their contracts that they have to do so.

 

[Bates]

What would be wrong with the media actually respecting the kind of person that Kessel is and just writing about his play?  Why the need to force a microphone in front of his face just because you can?  They know he doesn't like it and really has nothing to say.

 

[ZBBM]

The Cox and diManno stories were two of the dumbest articles I've read in a long time.  League "rules" or not, Kessel has no obligation to talk to anybody like a trained parrot.  You simply cannot force anyone in a free society to talk if they don't want to.  The NHL doesn't get to suspend legislated freedom of speech (which includes the right to remain silent), still less does the media have any "right" to demand someone give them an interview.  It's patently ridiculous.

This just isn't true. I understand the point you're trying to make but pro sports leagues have fined dozens of players and coaches for not making themselves available to the media. If they weren't allowed to do that based on the contracts that all of these players/coaches have signed then they would have probably heard about it before.

Media availability is collectively bargained. We see a skewed concept of it in Toronto because the idea of "selling the game" has such little meaning but the NHL absolutely has a vested interest in their players speaking to the media and that's why it's written into their contracts that they have to do so.

Truly, I think the reason we haven't heard about it before is because it would take a Curt Flood-type person to challenge it.  I've said this before when they fined Quinn for some remark -- I'd bet good money that if someone challenged this in court it would get invalidated.  It's really an extension of the same argument when they charged Ciccarelli, or McSorley.  You can't suspend (or bargain away) basic rights within an artificial world you've created, contract or no contract.

 

[Bates]

Would love to see Kessel just stand there and nod for however long he is required to be available.

 

[Brystine]

If I was a player picking based on city.. I'd probably pick San Jose or Anaheim. Detroit, Toronto, Dallas, St. Louis, LA would be at the bottom of my list.

Yeah, me too.  I bet Joffrey Lupul, Mikail Grabovski, and John-Michael Liles feel the same. 

Edit: Bye-bye Bozak!  See you later MacArthur!

Well.. I'd be willing to play in that hellhole known as Detroit for 5.5 Million a year, too.

I'd live outside Detroit of course, and wouldn't have my family with me, but still.. 5.5 Mil would be worth the 20 minutes I have to be outside in the city.

Uh, believe it or not, not all of southeast Michigan is a war zone.  No millionaires would choose to live in Detroit proper anyway but hundreds of thousands live perfectly well in the general area.

I know which parts to avoid, I'd be fine. Still wouldn't have my family with me.

Tell that to the folks in Grosse Pointe Shores.

That's not Detroit. It's easy to tell cities to avoid.

 

[oakl0008]

Cornflake:

The only UFA of note in recent memory that has walked away from Toronto despite the team wanting them to stay in a big way was Curtis Joseph.  And even with him, Pat Quinn recently let out of the bag that the board pulled the plug on him keeping Cujo when they had a deal in place... he signed for the same amount with Detroit. So basically the Leafs have not lost a key player to UFA in recent memory.

As for Kessel, he has done a lot in the past two seasons to greatly elevate the general fan opinion of him... he has gone from being the whipping boy and target of fan angst for a trade that looked pretty lopsided a few years ago to being a fan favorite player and mostly respected as a legit top 10 scorer in the league and a far better all round player than previously given credit for.

edit: Kessel is built for this media fishbowl town.. he doesn't seem bothered in the least by anything said about him outside of the locker room.  In fact in his very mild mannered way he seems to be blissfully ignorant of it all.

In short, the city is starting to fall in love with Phil Kessel the way we have with other really good players in the past who ended up as legends in this town.  That kind of adoration goes a long way towards a player wanting to stay.  I think the timing of this team starting to emerge as a winner again is just about perfect for helping Kessel want to be here. 

I really don't see the guy changing his mind and unless for some reason Leiweke hates the kid, they will fill a dump truck full of cash up and drive to his condo with it some time in the summer.

Good quote Cornflake. I hope you're right.

It's sad that there is so much negativity surrounding this team before entering into their first postseason in 9 years. Looks like the Bruins are so much more prepared for this on every front. And I'm not going to expect Kessel to suddenly find the answer to a team he has never had the answers to before. Miracles do happen, but...

Hmmm something about Kessel back on a line with JVR and Bozak?? 

 

[bustaheims]

I really don't think Kessel will re-sign here.

I don't get that impression at all. Outside of talking to the media not being his favourite thing, Kessel seems to be really happy and comfortable here, and he really doesn't strike me as the type of person who would voluntarily leave a situation where he is, for the most part, comfortable.

 

[bustaheims]

The Cox and diManno stories were two of the dumbest articles I've read in a long time.  League "rules" or not, Kessel has no obligation to talk to anybody like a trained parrot.  You simply cannot force anyone in a free society to talk if they don't want to.  The NHL doesn't get to suspend legislated freedom of speech (which includes the right to remain silent), still less does the media have any "right" to demand someone give them an interview.  It's patently ridiculous.

He doesn't have to talk. He just has to be available to them. That's part of his job. If he wants to sit there and say nothing, that's his right - he just has to be willing to sit there. There's no issue of fundamental freedoms here. We all have parts of our jobs that we're responsible for that we'd rather not do. We just have to meet the minimum requirements to satisfy the contract we willingly entered into.

 

[Heroic Shrimp]

If there's a league fine for refusing to speak, I wonder what it would be.  Kessel may be happy to just pay it and clam up.  Or make a $1000 donation to charity every time he declines to talk after a game during the playoffs?  That would defray at least some of the criticism.  Let's find out how much Phil is willing to pay to not talk!

Maybe Kessel doesn't want his agent involved, but there's reasonable argument that his agent could or should be out there addressing the story, if he isn't doing so already.

 

[Kin]

You can't suspend (or bargain away) basic rights within an artificial world you've created, contract or no contract.

Sure you can. Courts have held up the idea of confidentiality and non-compete clauses despite those being abrogations of one's "right to free speech".

When the NHL puts the requirements for media availability into the SPC they're saying that making time to answer the media's questions is a part of Phil Kessel's job and the fines are for not doing his job. If Phil Kessel is a capable and competent adult when he enters into the contract, he's agreeing to fulfill the terms of his contract. His "right" to not talk to the media should be exercised by not signing the contract, not deciding to skip out on one of his responsibilities.

I don't think the two situations are even remotely comparable but you have to remember, Curt Flood lost.

 

[Kin]

If there's a league fine for refusing to speak, I wonder what it would be.  Kessel may be happy to just pay it and clam up.  Or make a $1000 donation to charity every time he declines to talk after a game during the playoffs?  That would defray at least some of the criticism.  Let's find out how much Phil is willing to pay to not talk!

The problem of it for me, and this wouldn't really be handled by charitable donations, is something that Cox brings up and is 100% right about. Dealing with the media is a chore. Even a guy like Steve Nash, smart and affable, has described it as such. Phil Kessel saying he isn't going to participate in something everyone is obligated to is a little bit like living with a bunch of roommates and saying "I don't like doing the dishes, you guys do it". That's not the right attitude for a teammate, or roommate, to have. You take your lumps.

 

[oakl0008]

If there's a league fine for refusing to speak, I wonder what it would be.  Kessel may be happy to just pay it and clam up.  Or make a $1000 donation to charity every time he declines to talk after a game during the playoffs?  That would defray at least some of the criticism.  Let's find out how much Phil is willing to pay to not talk!

Maybe Kessel doesn't want his agent involved, but there's reasonable argument that his agent could or should be out there addressing the story, if he isn't doing so already.

I'm surprised by this too. During the trade talk earlier in the season his agent did address the media saying something like "If you asked Phil, he would probably say that he would want to finish his career in Toronto". It might be a good thing think for him to speak up here, although we know that Cox will just run with it like he always does.

 

[Kin]

If I was a player picking based on city.. I'd probably pick San Jose or Anaheim. Detroit, Toronto, Dallas, St. Louis, LA would be at the bottom of my list.

I missed it earlier but the idea of Anaheim at the top and LA at the bottom is hi-larious. I mean, unless you're the world's biggest theme park fan.

 

[bustaheims]

If I was a player picking based on city.. I'd probably pick San Jose or Anaheim. Detroit, Toronto, Dallas, St. Louis, LA would be at the bottom of my list.

I missed it earlier but the idea of Anaheim at the top and LA at the bottom is hi-larious. I mean, unless you're the world's biggest theme park fan.

Seriously. It's basically like saying Mississauga is at the top of your list, but Toronto . . . no thanks.

 

[Brystine]

If I was a player picking based on city.. I'd probably pick San Jose or Anaheim. Detroit, Toronto, Dallas, St. Louis, LA would be at the bottom of my list.

I missed it earlier but the idea of Anaheim at the top and LA at the bottom is hi-larious. I mean, unless you're the world's biggest theme park fan.

I'd feel safer and more at home in Anaheim. Plus, look what growing up in LA did to Gretzky's daughter. Perhaps that's just what American culture turns women into, but still.. It's probably more evident in LA.