Phil Kessel's salary this season is $10 million. That's $121,951.22 per game in an 82-game regular season. He's in the second year of an eight-year, $64 million contract originally signed with his former team, the Toronto Maple Leafs. Toronto, according to General Fanager, retained $1.2 million of his $8 million cap hit when it traded him to the Pittsburgh Penguins last year, which means his actual cap hit to the Pens is $6.8 million.
Whether it's $10 million, $8 million or $6.8 million, there is no arguing this point: The Penguins haven't gotten enough value in return from Kessel for what they're paying him. He can still change that, however.
Now would be the perfect time for Kessel to better justify the faith that Pittsburgh put in him, in light of the news Saturday that 2012 Hart Trophy winner Evgeni Malkin will be out six to eight weeks with an upper-body injury following a collision Friday night with Columbus' Dalton Prout.
Although Kessel has 20 goals this season, marking the eighth year in a row he's accomplished that (including the lockout-shortened 2012-13 season), his play has not earned him muc ...
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Article written by Adrian Dater
Evgeni Malkin Injury Puts Pressure on Phil Kessel to Prove His Worth
March 12th, 2016 by Adrian Dater Leave a reply »
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