Phil Kessel

Phil Kessel
Kessel with the Arizona Coyotes in November 2019
Born	(1987-10-02) October 2, 1987 (age 37) Madison, Wisconsin, U.S.
Height	5 ft 11 in (180 cm)
Weight	208 lb (94 kg; 14 st 12 lb)
Position	Right wing
Shoots	Right
NHL team Former teams	Free agent Boston Bruins Toronto Maple Leafs Pittsburgh Penguins Arizona Coyotes Vegas Golden Knights
National team	United States
NHL draft	5th overall, 2006 Boston Bruins
Playing career	2006–present

Philip Joseph Kessel Jr. (born October 2, 1987) is an American professional ice hockey winger who is an unrestricted free agent. He has previously played for the Boston Bruins, Toronto Maple Leafs, Pittsburgh Penguins, Arizona Coyotes, and the Vegas Golden Knights of the National Hockey League (NHL). Kessel is a three-time Stanley Cup champion, winning back-to-back championships with the Penguins in 2016 and 2017 and with the Golden Knights in 2023.

Kessel is a product of the USA Hockey National Team Development Program as an identified elite player under the age of 18. He finished his amateur career playing collegiate hockey in the NCAA for the University of Minnesota in the Western Collegiate Hockey Association (WCHA). He was then selected fifth overall in the 2006 NHL Entry Draft by the Boston Bruins. After his rookie season, 2006–07, he was awarded the Bill Masterton Memorial Trophy for overcoming testicular cancer while continuing his professional career. In 2009, Kessel was traded from Boston to the Toronto Maple Leafs where he spent six seasons before being dealt to the Pittsburgh Penguins in 2015. Kessel won his first and second Stanley Cup championships with the Pittsburgh Penguins in back-to-back seasons with wins over the San Jose Sharks and the Nashville Predators, respectively; he then won a third Stanley Cup championship with the Vegas Golden Knights in 2023, over the Florida Panthers.

Kessel is known as a natural goal scorer, having totaled 400 goals over the course of his career, and for holding the all-time NHL ironman record for the most consecutive games played, with 1,000+; during the 2020–21 season, he became the fifth player ever to record 900 consecutive games played. During the 2022–23 season, Kessel passed Keith Yandle's streak as the longest in NHL history on October 25, 2022, after playing his 990th consecutive game; several weeks later, on November 17, Kessel became the first player in NHL history to play 1,000 consecutive games. Kessel's streak has spanned 1,064 consecutive games since the onset of the 2009–10 season. As of the 2023–24 season,^[update] the streak stands as the NHL record.^[1]

Kessel plays internationally for the United States, and has played at three World Championships and the 2010 and 2014 Winter Olympics, winning a silver medal in 2010 and being named the top forward in 2014.