NHL: Vegas Golden Knights at Dallas Stars (image credit: IMAGN)
NHL veteran Phil Kessel has not yet been signed by a team for the current season. He also hasn’t officially retired yet as he doesn’t want to leave the sport he has played for so long. In the meantime, he’s making a career shift and doing something rather unexpected.
Kessel has announced a partnership with the World Poker Tour. Instead of playing professional hockey this year, Kessel is going to be part of the professional circuit for poker players.
He said on Instagram:
“Excited to join WPT GLOBAL! Poker & hockey have always been a passion of mine. I look forward to playing poker with everyone on [WPT Global] and at WPT events. Good luck trying to stack me. Follow @wptglobal to see where you can play with me.”
He also offered his fans and followers a promo code should they wish to join him on this new journey. Kessel has won the Stanley Cup Final three times in his career, but he has yet to find a new team following the 2022-23 season with the Vegas Golden Knights.
NHL insider discusses Phil Kessel’s career goals
Phil Kessel has had a long and illustrious career, playing a starring role in three championship teams including the Pittsburgh Penguins. The veteran right wing has not played in almost two full years, but he remains interested in returning to the NHL.
Phil Kessel wants to play again (Imagn)
NHL insider Elliotte Friedman gave an update about Kessel:
“He wants to play, I’ve heard this,” Friedman said via Sportsnet. “So, Paul Bissonnette had a tweet this week about ‘How come Kessel can’t get a job?’ and I was looking at it because I had heard, and I was gonna check, that Kessel was calling teams and really wanted to play. That seems to confirm it, and then I heard from a couple of people that he’s legit about it.”
Friedman also said that there were rumors of a hockey three-on-three league that was supposed to start. Kessel was rumored to be heavily involved but it has not yet come to fruition.
The analyst added that he’s not sure any team is going to take the three-time All-Star, but he undoubtedly wants to play. The Vancouver Canucks came close to signing Kessel last year but ultimately opted not to. That was the last time he was linked to an NHL return.
