Kessel was absolutely raked over the coals for his entire career as an “empty calories” one-way shooter on awkwardly-constructed Boston and Toronto teams. Then he went to Pittsburgh and Vegas, and suddenly his skills were valuable to winning Stanley Cups.
It’s a narrative that gets attached to certain wingers. Hell, at one point it was common on here to see people suggest that Ovechkin was a net negative for trying to win hockey games. A Cup ring ends that debate every time, which is just a dumb dynamic in hockey analysis.
Kessel played 4 games with Vegas that run logging 4th line minutes, so if people bring
that up as some kind of feather in his cap, that would be weird.
People say a lot of dumb things on this board, which a lot of times makes it an insufferable place. Still doesn't make Kessel and Skinner comparable players ability wise. Kessel (while in Toronto) could really bury down on the wing and force the play north–south in a way Skinner never did.
People now talk about how great Skinner will look with McDavid. Kessel during Pittsburgh's back-to-back championships drove a line of his own with Bonino and Hagelin.
