There's a thread for this.
In the illustrious words of Ron Rolston "Everyone has a story. It just depends which one you want to roll with" Ok good point. I'll start by ignoring this one.
who would buy that
Everyone knows Kessel is afraid of his own shadow and plays on the perimeter because he avoids contact like the plague. His reputation precedes him in that regard, as its no secret.
No one is going to believe Scott that Kessel agreed to fight him.
The source is Devane vs Tropp.
This was the trigger.
When Tropp fell and got KO off, then the rest followed.
At that point, having Kessel in frot of him a showed that Carlyle was ready to offer him as a target.
He could have bring anyone on the ice he had last pick.
So basically, after hurting a Sabre's player, you bring Kessel to taunt Scott.
I actually heard a couple of funny quotes from him yesterday.
The first was him saying that he didn't think that the league should suspend Kess because it was a fair fight. (Him with his hands and Phil with his stick)
The second was him acting upset because all of the attention was taken away from his "sick assist"
The guy's a ******* but I thought that it was pretty funny
Yep, if this guy was a Leaf he'd be a fan favorite.
This whole incident is a great example of how the NHL hasn't a clue how to stop this type of nonsense. This "enforcer" goes after a player who is no threat to do anything other than score and help others score and yet Scott will get off free of consequences other than shame. The coach of the team who sent him out to cause this mayhem gets no suspension and very little discussion.
I agree with the first sentence (but I would like to hear Buf perspective on this).
I agree with the statement in bold.
We do not know what Kessel said.
I also agree that the coach who sent him in front of Scott was an AO.
He had the choice and sending Kessel was arrogant.
But we don't know the rest: Kessel could have provoked Scott assuming that he would never go after him.
Scott is sent on the ice after an incident (qualify it anyway you want).
He was already pumped up with this.
Kessel is sent in front of him and does engage with him verbally.
Enough to entice a reaction we have never seen from Scott.
Scott is 30 years old. Had only 7 fights last season.
Only engaged with top fighters (I can not use heavyweights at this point).
All of a sudden, he does change his behavior?
What Kessel told him?
Why the best fighter in the league would go after a top-6 player for the first time in his life?
I wished we would have the audio on this.
Can not Blame Kessel for the first high sticking.
But the last one, when he speared Scott while he was held by Clarkson and the referee was worth 5 games.
He recovered his gloves and stick and went back to provoke Scott as he was dealing with Clarkson.
Kessel was in my pool but this incident prompted me to remove him for now. I will wait till he completes his time off the ice.
http://nesn.com/2013/09/john-scott-claims-phil-kessel-agreed-to-fight-says-he-didnt-target-toronto-star/
I found this hilarious that Scott is stirring up shenanigans claiming that Kessel agreed to fight Scott, not to mention the fact that Scott & Kessel each have their own side of the story. Kessel in an interview yesterday stated that Scott told him "I'm gona drop you" while Scott is saying that he asked Kessel to fight.