When the Penguins don’t win the Stanley Cup, summers in Pittsburgh become the staging point for reports and rumors, drama and suspense.



The weary Penguins saw their championship reign expire on May 7 and, in the three weeks that have followed, one story has been simmering more than the rest.



Will Phil Kessel stay or go?



Kessel is many things. He’s a two-time Stanley Cup champion, an offensive genius, uniquely gifted, an antihero, a malcontent, a god among Penguins fans, a mystery and a pain in the ass to every coach who ever worked with him.



That final point is the big one.



All is not well in the relationship between Kessel and Mike Sullivan. Long before this off-season, the coach knew his relationship with Kessel could be a problem.



On August 1 last summer, Sullivan took a flight from Boston to Toronto. A few days earlier, he called Kessel and invited him to lunch. Kessel spends his summers in Toronto and, so, Sullivan...