No one's making excuses for the guy but leaf fans put unreleastic expectations of Phil Kessel. You make it sound like you wanted him to be leader, the captain, be vocal, be everything and he was never that person. Phil is not that kind of player, not everyone is. He was paid for his offence. For the record, I am disappointed with Phil this year and it's probably best to trade him to get assets for the rebuild but I'm not going to undervalue him because he apparently hurt your feelings and didn't meet your expectations.
He actually exceeded my expectations. I never really thought he would be as productive that he has been. Everything else that he brought or rather did not bring was as expected, hence why I was against the trade from day 1.
What I wanted to have happened was that as the most talented guy on the team he would be the first on the ice at training and last one off the ice. That he would be some one who spent his summers doing what Tavares, Stamkos, Crosby or our own Nylander and Rielly does, training and taking care of them self by watching what they stuff in their mouths and not just rely on their birth given talents. Still plenty of time to enjoy your time off while doing so.
That would make him a leader in that he leads by example, do not care if he stayed quiet and never did an interview if that was the case. Then he would be doing his very best to improve him self and thus the team. And that is even more valuable then being a vocal leader. If he is not comfortable in being one he should not be one. But being paid what he is he better damn do his utmost to be a role model for the younger players.
And yeah, after so many years as a pro one would expect a bit more improvement in his defensive game. Not that he is showing very clear that he has no interest in chasing the puck, he is rather poor at doing so when forced to.