By

By now you have already seen the Tweet from Pittsburgh Penguins forward Phil Kessel.

Almost as soon as the clock hit zero in Team USA’s latest disappointing showing at an International tournament, one where they again had a problem scoring goals at a crucial time, Kessel took his shot.

Just sitting around the house tonight w my dog. Felt like I should be doing something important, but couldn't put my finger on it. — Phil Kessel (@PKessel81) September 21, 2016

It’s easy to conclude that is a sharp, sarcastic dig at the team management that foolishly left him off their roster.

While the reaction from a fan perspective was mostly positive (because let’s face it, Team USA lost the tournament before it even started with the roster it assembled and the philosophy behind it) there was still some anger and disappointment in what he did and the way he handled it.

Players on the Team USA roster, specifically forward David Backes, took it as an insult and called the Tweet “a little distasteful and aggravating.”

Don Cherry responded the way you would expect Don Cherry to respond.

Former NHL general manager Doug MacLean didn’t like it, and neither did Team USA coach John Tortorella because he thinks it makes Kessel look bad.

There was even pushback from a morning show sports guy in Pittsburgh (of all places!) that seems to be waiting for Backes to respond to Kessel during the regular season.

Here is the great thing about the way Kessel handled this (and he handled it perfectly): He. Punched. Back.

For his entire career, Phil Kessel has been a punching bag for everybody in hockey to take their shots. A lot of it has been deeply personal, and has revolved around his commitment, his fitness, and pretty much everything about him as a hockey player, whether it is justified or not.

For the most part, his response has been to remain silent, not say anything, and just take it (except for that one time he called Dave Feschuk an idiot — he kind of responded there).

This time, though, he didn’t remain silent. He punched back. And given the crap he has had to deal with in his career, it was probably long overdue.

Team USA took a punch at him this year when they didn’t even ask him to play in the World Cup after he has not only been one of the most productive American-born players in the NHL, but has also been a dynamic player for Team USA in the past. Whether or not he would have been able to play in the tournament after recovering from offseason surgery is irrelevant. He didn’t have the surgery until after it was clear he was not going to make the team, and it’s the process behind USA’s decision that is worthy of the criticism.

In 26 games in the World Championships and Olympics, he has scored 14 goals for Team USA (that would be a 44-goal pace over an 82-game NHL season), including five in the 2014 Sochi games. Nobody else scored more on that team, or even came close to it. In fact, it you combine the 2014 Olympics and the 2016 World Cup (a tournament he, again, did not play in), nobody on Team USA has scored more.

Dean Lombardi, the architect of Team USA’s latest hockey failure, punched again on Thursday morning when he defended his decision to take grinders like Backes, Justin Abdelkader and Brandon Dubinsky (who didn’t even dress in the one game — Canada — that he seemed to be specifically picked to play in).

On Kessel, Lombardi says he'll take Abdelkader, Backes, Dubinsky on his team any day. Defends choice not to pick him over one of them. — Stephen Whyno (@SWhyno) September 22, 2016

Players, executives and coaches have punched at him because he is an outlier in the North American hockey factory where everybody is trained and expected to play the same grind-it-out style, where leaving the game with blood all over your jersey seems to be the only thing that makes you a real hockey player.

The media punches at him because he doesn’t like to talk, and when he does, gives boring quotes and can be a little standoffish.

Just look at some of the things that have been said and written about Kessel during his 10-year career in the NHL from different people at all levels. It is scathing, personal, and at times even completely fabricated nonsense.

This is only a small portion of stuff that shows up when you google things like “lazy Phil Kessel.”

Former teammate Maple Leafs’ Colby Armstrong:

“We all see what he does: He skates fast to the puck, he shoots the puck, he can make things happen. But when the game’s on the line, if he can get a goal for you, that’s about all he’s gonna do. As far as winning battles and the extra mile, it did become, for me as a teammate, a little bit frustrating at times. “As a teammate, exactly what you see is what you get,” Armstrong added. “And sometimes it was frustrating, wondering whether he was gonna be there for you or not.”

Former coach Ron Wilson:

“You can’t rely on Phil,” said Wilson. “Phil’s problem, and I think it’s pretty much how Phil’s been his whole career, is that he is two weeks on and two weeks off.” “When he’s not playing well, he’s a hard guy to get on board and get on your side. It’s just the way it is,” said Wilson. “He comes and goes and he gets emotional. He lets that affect his game and his relationship with other players. That’s what you have to coach.”

Will Phil Kessel change his stripes? Good luck Penguins (The Hockey News):

With the Maple Leafs, Kessel often demonstrated more passion and desire playing ping-pong after practice than he did on the ice. Speaking of practice, he was generally the last player on the ice for the start and the first to leave when it was over. Great example for his younger teammates. That’s the bad news. The good news is Kessel is motivated. For now, at least. Often times when a player is publicly scorned, they make alterations in the way they conduct themselves, and Kessel appears to have done that. The question is, are the changes permanent or just temporary?

Leafs were sick and tired of Phil Kessel (Toronto Sun):

The hot dog vendor who parks daily at Front and John Sts. just lost his most reliable customer. Almost every afternoon at 2:30 p.m., often wearing a toque, Phil Kessel would wander from his neighbourhood condominium to consume his daily snack. And now he’s gone. Just like that. The Maple Leafs could no longer stomach having Kessel around, the first player to be both punished and rewarded for the saddest Leafs season in history. The Leafs held their breath, plugged their noses, and ostensibly gave Kessel to the Pittsburgh Penguins because they couldn’t stand having him around anymore.

(Note: that hot dog story was probably made up.)

Early in his career in Boston he found himself as a healthy scratch in the playoffs because “the grind of the playoffs doesn’t suit Kessel’s style,” and because Claude Julien wanted to add “some grit” to his lineup.

If you didn’t know anything about Kessel’s career and what he has accomplished you would probably read things like that and think these people are talking about a player that has been a complete failure in the NHL, doesn’t care about whether or not he succeeds, and wilts under the pressure of tight-checking, intense playoff games.

The reality of Kessel’s career is the exact opposite.

This is a person that has beaten cancer during his playing career.

He has played in more than 95 percent of the games he has been eligible to play in and has never played in fewer than 70 games in an NHL season.

He has not missed a game of any kind over the past six years, something only four other players in the NHL (Patrick Marleau, Karl Alzner, Keith Yandle, and Andrew Cogliano) can currently claim.

When the lights shine the brightest, so does he. When things get physical and intense in the playoffs, he is nearly a point-per-game player (better than his regular season production) and this past spring was the best player in the postseason for the Stanley Cup champions while playing through an injury that required offseason surgery.

If anything, this is the type of player hockey people should love.

He has overcome adversity. He is “clutch” and elevates his game at the biggest times. He is the type of player you can count on because he is always there when the puck drops and you know at the end of the season he is going to score 25-30 goals. And based on his reaction to not being there for Team USA — again, a program he has been wildly productive for in the past — he clearly gives a damn.

But because he doesn’t play the way some people want him to play, or look the way some people want him to look, or cooperate the way some people want him to cooperate, he gets punched. Repeatedly.

Well, he punched back. And he punched back in the best possible way, at some of the people that deserved it the most.

And it was perfect.

Column: Good on Phil Kessel for finally punching back