Phil Kessel is on the Maple Leafs, because of course he is.

In the ongoing saga that is the Toronto hockey franchise, Kessel is by far their best player, and is an utterly enigmatic personality. He is a cog in the wheel of a spinning hockey soap opera. He’s a young, single guy, living the life he always dreamed about — and he never looks like it. His scruffy blond beard doesn’t cover up his perpetual scowl, but only accentuates it. His constant looks of disdain give the Internet a bottomless supply of GIFs and memes.

The point is that Kessel often looks grumpy, and that’s because he is.

We bring this up because Kessel has a contentious relationship with the media. This didn’t start when he got to Toronto, where even the steeliest of men can bend under the hot lights of their ever-present cameras. But under that pressure, Kessel has become a focal point of criticism, especially when he does something like he did this past Saturday, blowing off a TSN interview after his team horrifically lost to the league-worst Sabres, 6-2.

“Get away from me,” Kessel apparently told reporter Jonas Siegel as he walked past, already making him wait and then just storming by.

“If he wants to do things like this, that’s totally OK,” Siegel told TSN 1050 in Toronto. “But from this point, I’m not going to hide the way that he acts anymore. He’s perpetually unavailable. He’s perpetually borderline rude.”

Kessel has an obligation to talk to reporters, and he knows that.

“I think you have the responsibility to talk,” he said Monday, “but I don’t think you guys need me every single day. I don’t know what you need out of me . . . I don’t have too much to say after losses like that, right?”

Losses like that are when players like Kessel are needed most by the media. After the Rangers’ awful 5-1 loss to the Lightning on Monday, the locker room was filled with guys, sitting at their stalls, ready to answer all the tough questions. It can be assumed that someone — most likely coach Alain Vigneault — told them to stay right there and wait, because they deserved to have the media come in and make them think about this one.

It showed ownership of what had happened. What the players said sent a message to the fans, and to each other, about how that kind of performance was unacceptable. It’s looking adversity in the face and dealing with it. It’s leadership.

So maybe Phil Kessel isn’t a leader. Instead, he earns his eight-year, $64 million deal that started this season just by being a prolific goal scorer. Since being traded to the Leafs from the Bruins before the 2010-11 season, Kessel is fourth in the league with 137 goals. He’s behind only Steven Stamkos, Alex Ovechkin and Corey Perry.

That’s elite stuff. I remember when he came to Long Island early in the season, and scored two goals from inconspicuous places on the ice like it was nothing. He is indisputably one of the most talented players in the league, and yet he wallows under this cloud of his gloomy personality.

That’s something he brings on himself, just as the criticism has been brought on the Leafs this season. They followed that loss to the Sabres with an even worse performance, a 9-2 loss to the Predators that saw a fan throw his jersey onto the ice. Of course, Thursday night they handily beat the terrific Lightning, 5-2. Kessel had an assist and 10 shots attempted.

Phil Kessel is a tough nut to crack. So are the Leafs. It’s only appropriate that they’re in this together.

Still hypocrisy in Voynov case

So the Kings haven’t so much complained about the NHL’s indefinite suspension of their defenseman, Slava Voynov, in light of his domestic violence arrest. Rather, they’ve been complaining about not getting salary-cap relief from his $4.1 million hit.

If a player gets suspended, his salary comes off the books. Kings GM Dean Lombardi pointed that out in reference to the Leafs’ Carter Ashton being suspended 20 games for his use of performance-enhancing drugs. (Although that was stupid in its own right, as the guy said it stemmed from using an asthma inhaler.) But because Voynov’s suspension is “indefinite,” and because he’s still getting paid — another thing Lombardi would like to rectify — his cap-hit remains.

And that has forced the Kings at times to dress 17 skaters, with just five defensemen. And now it comes down on Thursday that the Los Angeles district attorney is charging Voynov with one felony count of corporal injury to a spouse with great bodily injury. The arraignment is set for Dec. 1 — so he obviously won’t be back before then — and if convicted, he could face up to nine years in prison. If convicted, his cap-hit would come off the books. How stupid is that?

And it’s all highly unlikely, as the lawyer for Voynov’s wife already said that they hope Voynov is cleared of any wrongdoing.

That’s not the way it should go, but often it is. If Voynov did this, he should be suspended indefinitely — and the Kings will be better off. Guess that’s the way it works.

UPDATE: Late Friday afternoon, the NHL announced the Kings will no longer have to carry Voynov’s salary-cap hit.

The decision was made with the NHL and the NHLPA to put his salary-cap hit under the rules of bona fide long-term injury exemption.

Josh Harding snubbed?

The Wild put goalie Josh Harding on waivers this week, and he cleared, getting assigned to AHL Iowa. Harding is the goalie with multiple sclerosis who was terrific at the start of last season, but then had an adverse reaction to new medication and didn’t play after Dec. 31.

He then broke his foot in some unidentified “off-ice” incident this summer, was placed on non-roster injury and suspended. That was lifted and now that he is able to play again, GM Chuck Fletcher took the risk of another team claiming him.

But that didn’t happen, and I wonder why. I wonder if it’s because the rest of the league — with many teams in need of goaltending — saw more of a risk than reward in dealing with MS. It’s a disease that’s not going away, but I hope it’s not going to keep Harding away from the NHL ice.

Rene Bourque to Ducks

After being a force for the Canadiens in the playoffs last season — especially against the Rangers — 32-year-old Rene Bourque was traded to the Ducks in exchange for stay-at-home defenseman Bryan Allen. Montreal GM Marc Bergevin had recently sent Bourque to the AHL, and now he’s gone.

Bergevin is seemingly OK with picking up expiring contracts, as well, having traded for 40-year-old defenseman Sergei Gonchar earlier in the season. His team holds the best record in the Eastern Conference and he’s not sitting on his hands. Good for him.

Stay tuned . . .

The Penguins had another player suffer an awful medical condition, as forward Pascal Dupuis has a blood clot in his lung and will miss at least six months. This is after young defenseman Olli Maatta had a cancerous tumor removed, defenseman Kris Letang suffered a stroke, and backup goalie Tomas Vokoun had blood clots in his hip.

The Pens have a home-and-home with the Islanders this weekend, which should be fun viewing for everyone as there is no love lost between the two teams.

Rapid Reaction Rankings

1. Penguins: So their one loss in the past 10 games came in disturbing fashion, a 5-0 drubbing by the Rangers this past Tuesday. Their plus-29 goal differential is not just league-leading by 13 more than anyone else, it’s ridiculous.

2. Ducks: Love the addition of Bourque, as he’ll be put in line by Perry, Getzlaf and Kesler rather quickly.

3. Lightning: The firepower up front is fun to watch, and they also have quite a few responsible two-way forwards.

7-11 range: Islanders: This home-and-home with the Pens is the next leg in the test if they’re for real.

10-15 range: Rangers: The inconsistencies are still pretty prevalent, but for some reason you just think they’re going to figure it out and go on a run.

20-30 range: Devils: Slow team in a fast league with a goalie figuring out how to be a starter — not a good combination.

Parting shot

For my money, Dominik Hasek was the most entertaining goalie of all time. He was inducted into the Hall of Fame this past week, and TSN put together this nice little Top 10 — including him singing “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer.” Enjoy!