DALLAS—It’s not like Phil Kessel is oblivious to the joke.

“Phil Kessel. Madison, Wisconsin. Toronto Maple Leafs,” said Kessel with a wide, knowing smile when asked if he wouldn’t mind introducing himself after appearing for a rare interaction with the media following the Leafs’ win in Denver Tuesday night.

Prior to that, he had strolled into the club’s dressing room following a noisy discussion on the matter involving Leaf PR staff and GM Dave Nonis, and, while questioners were still concluding a session with the always amiable James van Riemsdyk, Kessel loudly pronounced himself (“OK, let’s go”) willing to answer a few questions about this and that for the first time since New Year’s Day.

“They got him,” chirped defenceman Cody Franson as he walked past the media scrum.

It really is a peculiar game, this cat and mouse thing between Kessel and the media that covers the team.

No longer does anyone believe Kessel’s public utterances are so rare because he is shy, and now that his production has become so consistent and his impact on the fortunes of the Leafs is so significant, few refer any longer to that long-ago trade with the Boston Bruins or see him as a figure of any controversy.

So it’s not like he’s ducking any hard questions or avoiding harsh scrutiny.

He’s just the high-scoring winger who prefers to keep his thoughts to himself — or at least to himself and his friends and teammates, and even to media members who might catch him at an unguarded moment when he’s happy to chat rather than be interviewed.

Don’t know why, really. That’s just Phil being Phil.

For this occasion, his answers were brief and filled with “obviously” and “right?” He wore a tan suit and a black knit cap pulled down as tight as possible, and gave away as little as possible.

“You know, we’re winning, and that’s the most important thing, whatever I can do to help the team win,” he said after scoring twice in a 5-2 Leaf victory over the Avalanche, Toronto’s sixth straight win.

He laughed again when asked about the three breakaways he missed.

“I could’ve had a whole bunch tonight,” he said. “I missed a bunch of chances.”

And then, finally, “”I’ll see you guys in a couple of weeks.”

And that was that. Hardly illuminating, but useful in a way, just the same. He wasn’t uncomfortable, more like a kid forced to cut the lawn when he’d really rather be out playing road hockey with his pals.

No chip on the shoulder. No anger or bitterness. Just, “Aw, Dad, do I have to?”

He’ll collide again on Thursday night with Tyler Seguin, once thought of as the key asset acquired by Boston in that trade and squandered by the Leafs, but now more of an afterthought to any remaining discussion of that deal, given that the B’s dealt him to Texas.

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Seguin’s career continues to progress — some thought he should have been named to the Canadian Olympic team — while Kessel’s is now in full flight and he was an automatic selection to the U.S. squad.

At 26, he is moving into his prime playing years — look back to that 2006 draft and ask, would any player other than Jonathan Toews definitely go before Kessel now? — with the eight-year, $64-million contract extension he signed on the eve of the season having made no appreciable difference in his play or production.

The money, in other words, hasn’t changed a thing with Kessel.

What does seem to be changing, however, is Kessel’s willingness to do more of the things Randy Carlyle demands. In recent weeks, there have been a number of noteworthy backchecking efforts, never Kessel’s strength before.

His unselfishness shows up most games, and again on Tuesday when, with two goals already in his pocket, he passed up an great chance for the hat trick and tried to set up linemate van Riemsdyk.

He, van Riemsdyk and Tyler Bozak have combined for 42 points in the last 12 games, and Kessel is sizzling, with five goals in three games and a seven-game point streak (six goals, eight assists). The longest he’s gone without scoring a goal this season is five games, perhaps a sign there’s more consistency in his game.

For some strange reason he’s listed as a centre on official NHL stat sheets these days, but as a right winger, only Corey Perry and Patrick Kane have produced more this season.

So does it matter that he still has little to say, and less interest in saying it? Probably not, although it’s good to hear from him once in a while, if only to make sure his vocal cords are still intact.

In an age where the Richard Shermans of the world aggressively chase every sound bite and second of face time they can get, Kessel would just rather not, thanks all the same.

And no amount of money, no amount of stardom, is likely to change that.

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