Phil Kessel Is No All Star. My Column:

You probably didn’t know, but the All Star Weekend happened over the last few days. For Toronto’s lone representative, it was more of a No Star Weekend.

Going into the break, Phil Kessel had 3 points in the year 2015. Maybe if he scored more the Leafs would win more. Really makes you think.

Sure, he’s still top 15 in scoring, but if you pro-rate his 2015 production, he’d get 24.6 points over 82 games. I don’t know how he lost .4 of a point but my guess is that he ate it. 

Friday night started the festivities with the All Star Draft. It was then that Kessel had his best moment that turned into his worst moment. First, Toews selected Phil with the first overall pick. But then he called him “coachable” in a joking manor. See, even the players get it. In no way was Toews making fun of the media in Toronto. He was making Phun of Phil.

On Saturday, they had the skills competition. Phil only partook in the Fastest Skater portion. Amazingly he did better in that than he would have in the Fattest Skater competition (he would have lost to Byfuglien and maybe Doughty). He won the fastest skater and just for narrative’s sake beat Seguin. But don’t be fooled, he only won because his weight carried his momentum, and his lack of hair makes him aerodynamic.

After losing to Phil, Seguin praised Kessel on and off the ice. But who are you going to trust to talk about Phil as a person – the media or another noted bad character guy? I think you know the answer.

On Sunday, the actual All-Star game happened, and it is where True Phil showed up. His team lost, despite scoring 12 goals. Despite the 12 goals, Kessel somehow had no points and was a -4. That’s really impressive, something only Phil could do.

Only three players were held pointless – Phil, Kopitar, and Girgensons. And are any of those players you would build around? No. But It is ironic that a team with Kessel, Doughty, and Byfuglien had trouble feasting on the other team. 

Speaking of feasting:

This past weekend was the Phil-est weekend of Phil’s life and it made one thing abundantly clear: Phil Kessel is no All Star.