More revealed about Phil Kessel’s casino troubles by former Pens GM Rutheford

A lot was said about Phil Kessel back in 2019 around the time when the Pittsburgh Penguins traded him to the Arizona Coyotes. 

It was mentioned that the relationship was strained between the veteran player and head coach Mike Sullivan, and that Evgeni Malkin didn’t want to be stuck in the middle and dealing with Kessel anymore. 

What else what said is that Kessel was rumoured to be a bad influence on younger players like Jake Guentzel as a source had revealed that Kessel was a fanatic of the Pittsburgh’s Rivers Casino, where he was known as a regular and had been seen playing on days before a game along with younger players, including Guentzel. 

On Tuesday, former Penguins Jim Rutherford opened up to Josh Yohe of The Athletic and talked about Kessel and what led to a trade. 

“Phil was always professional,” Rutherford said. “Did he like his casinos? Yeah, he sure did. But casinos aren’t illegal, you know? There’s nothing wrong with casinos. He’s a single guy. Single guys have to do something with their time. It was never an issue.”

He tried to explained the issues that arose in the relationship between Kessel, who is notoriously difficult to coach, and Sullivan. 

“The thing about Phil is that he wasn’t the greatest practice player,” Rutherford said. “You know what it was? He just didn’t like to practice. That was it. And that’s hard when you’ve got a team like the Penguins because those guys like to practice. Sid is the leader and he likes to practice. However, when the puck dropped on game night, Phil always showed up. He was always ready to play and he made us better. It wasn’t easy to trade him, but I just believe it was time. The cap was becoming a problem.”

Rutherford mentioned that he never regretted trading for Kessel with the Toronto Maple Leafs and still like Phil today despite the veteran forward denying he wanted out of Pittsburgh. 

“I still like him,” Rutherford said. “I actually like Phil a lot. And I respect him. I think Phil Kessel is a very misunderstood man. Now, understand, part of that is his own doing. But at the same time, he is a really good person. And probably understands the game, the league and the players better than anyone else you’ll ever meet. It’s incredible. You can sit with Phil for hours and talk hockey, talk about the league, and he’ll give you a scouting report on every player. He’s so smart. I like him. Just a unique guy.”