Back in summer 2015, once the Penguins acquired the stylin’ and profilin’ winger Phil Kessel, I started a feature called “Phil Friday’s.” Partly to pass the time of summer, and partly to enjoy getting to know the glory that is Phil.

These are dire times (read: the Pens didn’t win the Stanley Cup this year for the first time in Kessel’s tenure in Pittsburgh, so naturally our sweet prince is under attack by the media). Old ass Ron Cook (who wrote last summer the Penguins should trade Phil) is spewing his usual nonsense. To this day, radio hosts aren’t sayin, but just sayin, that Kessel is totally, sort of problematic. Phil didn’t talk to the media on locker room clear out day. The horror. But hey, they have to fill time before ‘Stillers camp in July. I get it.

Kessel has always marched to a beat of a different drum, and in a buttoned-up hockey world, that’s going to stand out and bring critics out of the woodwork. Luckily, the fanbase is still enamored.

Do you, as a fan, care if Phil Kessel talked to the media at the end of the season or any other point? — 93.7 The Fan (@937theFan) May 23, 2018

Imagine getting 94% of the internet to agree on anything!

Anyway, the best thing is while the yinzer media is yinz’ing it up and wringing their hands over Kessel, he’s been seen on social media doing this.

Twitter is a mess today with the Kessel stuff and Phil is just out there fishing and living life haha pic.twitter.com/yK9OwEGt4L — John Tarbett (@jtarbett) May 23, 2018

Phil doesn’t know about this week’s media-induced uproar. It’s 2018, and he’s blissfully unaware (lucky him). And even if he did know, he doesn’t care. Hopefully, you don’t either. It’s easy to get wound up when people say crazy things to give a reaction, but the best reaction is probably Phil’s face in this picture; just living life and enjoying summer.

That’s what we’re going to do too.

That’s right, let the haters beware — Phil Friday’s are back! We’re going to highlight and re-live all the awesome Kessel stuff we can this summer, because that sure beats crying about him not talking to the media.

Stay tuned.