RALEIGH, N.C.—At the end of an overtime period the Leafs dominated in Montreal , Phil Kessel had gone largely one-on-one with P.K. Subban, desperately trying to score the winning goal.

The horn blew. Before the Saturday night shootout, Subban gave a little stick tap to Kessel as the two skated back to their benches. It was a sign of respect from one pro to another.

“He is an elite player, a world-class scorer,” Subban said of Kessel. “He is among the best in the league for goals over the past four, five, six years. I gave him a tap. He has been working hard and should be appreciated for that.”

The popular narrative in Toronto of late, on the other hand, has been that Kessel is a lazy player, a coach killer, interested in scoring but not much else and should be traded.

According to ESPN.com, though, any deal must overcome the fact that Toronto is one of the five least desirable NHL cities to play in, according to an anonymous poll of player agents. Winnipeg and Edmonton are on the list because of travel distance and bad weather, Toronto for the intense media scrutiny and rabid fan base. Kessel, who has only recently admitted publicly that his future may not be with the Leafs, is now in the eye of that storm.

“I don’t think anyone deserves to be a target like that,” said Carolina defenceman John-Michael Liles, Kessel’s teammate in Toronto for 2 ½ years and occasionally on Team USA. “Sometimes that’s what happens. It’s tough because the media exposure up there is so great, and it weighs down on you a lot.

“There are no breaks. If you’re playing well, it can be amazing; if the team is struggling, it can be really tough. When you’re as talented as Phil and the contract (he has), everybody wants to focus on something. I can’t say anything negative about him.”

To those who know Kessel, there’s a huge difference between perception and reality.

“This is a guy who cares,” the Toronto-born Subban said of Kessel. “He cares about his team. He cares about hockey. I know how much he cares about Toronto. In the summer when we have dinner we have beaking matches about the city.”

That Kessel doesn’t shine through in media interviews, largely because he is so reluctant to open up.

“Everyone thinks he’s shy — and he is, in public — but around the guys he’s not shy,” said Carolina centre Jay McClement, another ex-Leaf. “He’s outgoing. He loves joking around, but he doesn’t like to show that or put that part of himself out there.”

Part of Kessel’s issue, adds McClement, is the pressure he puts on himself.

“He’s one of the best scorers in the league and even the best have tough times and slumps,” says McClement. “Look at his numbers: he scores goals. That’s not an easy thing to find in this league. He’s been doing it for quite a few years.

“He puts a lot of pressure on himself, because a lot is expected of him. When things start going bad, and all that attention start piling on . . . it’s tough enough to get out of a slump for anything, not just goal scoring. You could lose your confidence in faceoffs, or penalty killing, or just making a play with the puck. That confidence is hard to find. It’s even harder to hang on to.”

McClement and Liles are NHL veterans — McClement in his ninth season, Liles his 12th — and issued a kind of “careful what you wish for” warning to those who would discard Kessel because of the team’s failure.

“As far as those guys who can take over a game, I’ve played with a few of them,” says Liles, who started with the Colorado Avalanche. “Phil (Kessel) is right up there. I played with (Joe) Sakic, Peter Forsberg. Different types of players. Even Milan Hejduk, the goal scoring touch he had. Phil is right up there. It’s pretty amazing how talented he is.”

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Kessel has his flaws, but the better parts of his game may well outweigh them.

“I haven’t played with anybody that explosive as a scorer,” said McClement. “I’ve played with guys — Keith Tkachuk, Doug Weight — who have scored a lot of goals in their career, but in a different style. As far as explosive — breakaways, speed, breaking a game wide open — there aren’t many like Phil. You can watch him most of the game. Didn’t matter what he did. He just needs one little, small opportunity. Look around the league, there aren’t a lot of guys like it.”

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