Kessel's Comeback Season

At the all-star break last season, Phil Kessel was coming off a stretch of 16 games without a goal, one of the biggest slumps of his career; a rarity for the sniper who, at the age of 24, already has three 30 goal seasons under his belt.  At the 2011 all-star game, Kessel, the lone Leaf, was picked last in the fantasy draft the NHL held for the first time. This embarrassment was capped off by Alex Ovechkin snapping a picture with his phone of Kessel, sitting alone, grinning but probably not feeling all that great.  The car was probably not enough to make him feel much better.

            Coming out of the University of Minnesota Golden Gophers, Kessel was seen as a talented player with very high potential. The Boston Bruins saw that and drafted him with the number 5 pick of the 2006 NHL entry draft.  His career with the Bruins started out rocky, on December 11th, 2006 he was diagnosed with testicular cancer, but just five days later on December 16th Kessel was declared cancer free.  Only missing eleven games he went on to have a solid 29 points in his rookie season with a team that didn't give him alot of ice time. After playing the rest of his rookie contract, the Bruins traded him to the Toronto Maple Leafs in an offer Boston couldn't refuse, 2 first round picks and a second went the other way which turned out to be 2nd overall pick Tyler Seguin, 9th overall pick Dougie Hamilton, and London Knight standout, Jared Knight taken in the 2nd round of the 2010 draft. That was a hefty price to pay for a player who was considered to be unmotivated, disinterested and selfish.  Maple Leafs GM Brian Burke, with his affinity for players that played in the NCAA, saw the potential still to be had in the young sniper.

            This year, Kessel has finally blossomed into an all around player both with his stats and also making his teammates around him better. Right now leading the league in goals (16) and points (33), and with linemate and a comeback story of his own Joffrey Lupul not far behind him, Kessel has become the player Leaf Nation expected him to be. This season has also brought karma to the Great 8 struggling with only 85 points last year and 19 points in 25 games this year.  Some say this season’s success is due to the motivation given to him by Ovechkin embarrassing him in front of the league, others say it's because he trained harder in the offseason. But for now Phil Kessel is no longer the goat in Toronto, but rather the centerpiece to the Leafs offence and NHL’s leading scorer. 

So answer me this, when Phil is captain of Team Kessel at this year’s all star break in Ottawa, think he’ll pick Ovie at all or just last?  I know what I’d do.