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Phil Kessel wants to be a Maple Leaf for life

by on February 13, 2013 in Leafs News - 602 Comments

Phil Kessel wants to be a Maple Leaf for life
Phil Kessel with an awkward thigh grasp on Phaneuf.
(Photo: Getty Images)
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The agent for Phil Kessel joined Greg Brady and Jim Lang to discuss the evolution of Kessel’s game, his mindset during the scoring drought and how the forward feels about playing in Toronto.

Said Wade Arnott:

“Phil (Kessel) is still a really young man,” Arnott told the SportsNet Fan590. “He really enjoys living in Toronto and playing for the Toronto Maple Leafs.”

“This young man lives and breathes hockey. He was very excited to come here four years ago. I think if you asked Phil today, he’d love to finish his career here in Toronto. But it’s still young in his career right now.”

“Phil would like nothing more than to help the Maple Leafs make the playoffs. He wants to experience playoff hockey here in Toronto,” said Arnott. “That’s the first step to winning a potential Stanley Cup here in Toronto.

“He was very disappointed last year. They had a very good start to the season. They were in a playoff position at the turn of the calendar year and unfortunately the last third of the season didn’t go well.”

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  • JMAC17

    Sign’em, got nothing but love for Phil.

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  • rustynail

    Gotta wait til July :)

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  • Dangle_My_Berries

    Soo…that should end the talk of Kessel wanting to walk and test free agency

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  • Burtonboy

    I would say given the timing of this interview Phil and the Leafs wanted to throw cold water on all these bullshit rumors.  

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  • Mind Bomb

      To be honest Rusty the deal should already be done, sure they cant anounce or sign it until then, but the deal should already be discussed, hush hush like

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  • JMAC17

    Lets hope so, he has given no reason to want to leave…playing well, lots of ice time….team full of potential.

    We need to remember he forced a trade to TOR initially too.  He will sign

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  • rustynail

    definitely

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  • JVR

    Nice to see a young superstar actually wanting to stay in Toronto!!
    This should send a positive messages to future Free Agents (Getzlaf and Perry) that if a shy guy like Kessel doesn’t mind the spotlight in Toronto, maybe it isn’t as bad as people make it out to be.

    BTW, that picture looks wrong on so many levels, haha!

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  • JMAC17

    Side note…

    With Fratting out I am thinking its time that RC put Kadri on that top line.

    Kessel and JVR are rolling Bozie is doing well, but we need offense with our goalie issues for the next couple weeks.

    Slip Bozak down to three to play with JMcC and Komorov.  See what happens

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  • JVR

    I think it was pretty clear that Kessel wanted to spend his career in Toronto, when he basically told Boston that he wanted nothing to do with them and basically demanded a trade here!!

    (I’m sure he knew Boston had a good chance of being future Stanely Cup Champions too)

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  • Dangle_My_Berries

    I believe he will as well, and I feel it will be a fair price too…..Just like Anthopolis’ promise to Joey Batts to surround him with a winning team….Nonis has probably said the same to Phil

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  • JMAC17

    Helps too when your new Owners are proving they will spend to win.  Jays and Raps are sending a pretty solid message to the Leafs right now.

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  • WendelGilmour

    I like that plan.

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  • Burtonboy

    I like Dregers comments on ROR . Said Kadri has a higher upside offensively then ROR. I would like to have ROR but I fully agree with this statement 

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  • wiski

    For a hometown discount I hope ;) Great news

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  • Burtonboy

    Why? Give the guy what he’s worth I say

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  • doc_yqx

    any negative spotlight on Phil is mostly MSM Driven…
    bet that anybody that meets Phil anywhere in toronto, treats him special,
    he’s in a town that IS hockey mad…and that’s a bonus as a hockey player.

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  • Dangle_My_Berries

    ya for sure, ownership has been pretty vocal that they want these teams to succeed 

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  • WendelGilmour

    I would.like ROR too, but not as the designated 1C over Naz down the road.

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  • JMAC17

    6M per over the max term would be a great deal for both.  Would take him til he was 34ish.

    But 6M imight be cheap for a consistant 35 goal guy

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  • wiski

    He is getting what hes worth not a penny more ;)

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  • Burtonboy

    cheap fucker lol

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  • Declan Kerin

    I think I shared this story a while ago:

    A good friend of mine’s boss is good friends with Monster’s wife from when they were in Sweden and brought my buddy out with the players to a bunch of clubs, golfing, etc. One night at a club near BMO field (can’t remember the name of it) he said he spent the whole night signing autographs and talking to everyone that wanted to have a word with him and didn’t say no once. The others were hiding for the most part, but he spent hours talking with people. Said he could hardly believe it given what the current perception of him was.

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  • wiski

    Ya that’s probably fair 40 million

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  • Mind Bomb

      We are not Pittsburg, we cant run a 2 scoring line team though my friend, a balanced sustained attack is our best friend. While teams worry about Kes, and Grabo plays against the opp’s best, it free’s up Kadri’s line.

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