News Article: Kessel May Take Gary Roberts' Fitness Program

[mikeo1]

when someone calls Phil a stupid giant lazy child eater, please let me know

slime ball, piece of ****, terrible human being...close enough. its all been bandied out by some of the histrionics on this board.

 

[Daisy Jane]

at any rate. I still stand by my feeling that I think that Phil was not as properly conditioned as he was last year. And I think, if you compare Phil to how he looked/was last year, as he was this year, there does seem to be some physical changes. Did it impact his play - I think it did.

And - again - as I will point out - that isn't coming from just the Toronto Media. I barely watched hockey on Sportsnet. out of town coverage commented about it as well, and it wasn 't like "Oh the Toronto media think Kessel is out of shape AND I TOTALLY AGREE, har har har!" but they did comment on it.

[and again. since this is the Phil thread, I will keep this on Phil.however, I will argue that there were a lot of "not as properly conditioned Leafs as there should be]. Which - I would gather why the strength and conditioning coach was fired, and Babcock is stressing that everyone in the room will be "fit, fit.]. If it was not a concern - it would not have been addressed (by the firing) nor would it have been stated by the coach. and this pertains to everyone..

And it also did not help that everyone else on Phil's line sucked too. but in my view - Phil is not the innocent here. I don't think Phil performed his best this season, and it started before Horachek was hired before anyone uses him as a reason. If Phil does come back - I - again will be fair, as I always give everyone a fresh slate every year. It won't change my feelings that Phil needs to be gone as soon as there is a trade.

I will also point out - while people want to hold on to the "he's an Olympian slash NHL star, therefore, he is fit, and fine." I do know a lot of athletes who can 'fake it, really well. Gary Roberts himself said he knows a lot of athletes who can fake it, because you are young. it just works out. But the older you get - the less you're able to fake it and you need to treat your body better from now. I am not saying Phil does, or does not - but please let's not just have this overarching brush that every Olympian (Sports Star) is in the very best shape of their lives either].

 

[hotpaws]

Because Spott was making an off the cuff comment that he didn`t expect to be reported or be taken seriously. He was actually praising Kessel in that quote that people keep referring to. Spott had no idea how much Kessel weighed.

he said he was amazed Kessel was as quick as he was being over weight and i'm pretty sure the ass't coach would know if a player was overweight or not

for some reason you and few others believe you know more than the ass't coach on our team

game after game you see him coast for half his shift and then do a death stroll to the bench where he's seen huffing and puffing trying to catch his breath yet for some reason you believe he's in optimum shape

 

[yubbers]

But Daisy,

If he came into camp out of shape, how does it explain his hot start? He didn't falter out of the gates which is really the timeframe in question. Wouldn't he just get more in shape as the season rolled on?

 

[Bomber0104]

One of the top point producers in the league ... one of the fastest skaters ... but Spott made a comment ... watch the guy play sometime FFS, then you might realize how dumb this out of shape talk is.

Good night.

Love it.

Discard a Leafs assistant coach's own words...

Then run away when pressed upon it.

Why don't you just admit you just really like Phil Kessel, and will stop at nothing to defend his public image? Not even concrete facts, information, and logic.

It would make these types of discussions a lot easier.

 

[Daisy Jane]

But Daisy,

If he came into camp out of shape, how does it explain his hot start? He didn't falter out of the gates which is really the timeframe in question. Wouldn't he just get more in shape as the season rolled on?

do you get "more in shape" as the season rolled on?
I am seriously asking here, do you? Because I really don't know.

I am trying to be as..logical and diplomatic here as possible
Phil had a really good October, and a really good November point wise, right? And generally, everyone goes, well, everyone is still putting through their paces, right, figuring things out system wise, and what not + add Phil factor (ie: elite scorer, sees things people don't see, yadayada)

In December, he started to trail off a lot. (I am going by recall here, it's almost 1:00am, and I'm not going stats digging right now). Teams start to tighten up - the Leafs are not doing so well either, and Phil isn't putting things in the net. This is why in every Phil thread - I always want to stress this out. People blame Horachek for everyone not scoring, and not looking good offensively. The non-scoring thing started in December for a lot of people, including Phil. (so Horachek didn't help matters, but it wasn't like annnd. Poof! Horachek's fault!).

January through March he looked really meh. (I know people want to cite the ASG race and all - but I don't take that as a litmus test of someone's conditioning. it's like you and I racing to the bus-stop or something) He did start looking better-ish near the end of March-April, and there were a few games in between where he was Phil-esque. [I will also admit - by this time i personally did not give a crap because I was mad at everyone ].

And honestly, I would have rather him have come out and said "you know what, I was injured." because I would rather be mad for him being stupid and playing while injured (a pet peeve of mine) - but I could understand it. vs. being all "I dunno. it's just not going in" and looking like he fell off the turnip truck [maybe not the fairest of statements but you get my point].

I know Apologist and I were talking and maybe it's because he's working harder because everyone else sucks. Which very well could be true. I've never played ice hockey so I don't know. (and goodness knows that line did suck bananas). So to be fair. If Kessel isn't gone and he comes ... not looking like he did last year and he has a good season (including playing better defense aka: not being a liability which he + his line was this year) then I'll give him his full due and credit. (which I try to do for everyone every year anyway).

It still doesn't change the fact that I personally feel that Kessel needs to be traded.

 

[yubbers]

I know where you stand with Phil. And that's fine.
Minus that ugly giant and children eater incident that is.

When the seasons rolling, your on the ice 5 days a week. Of course you'd get more in shape if you came into camp out of said shape.

 

[Daisy Jane]

I know where you stand with Phil. And that's fine.
Minus that ugly giant and children eater incident that is.

When the seasons rolling, your on the ice 5 days a week. Of course you'd get more in shape if you came into camp out of said shape.

if you say so, okay.

then it means his conditioning was not up to par.

it's either one or the other. because Phil this year - was not Phil last year or the year before that. so either he was in better shape the last few years and this year was a step behind (but still "in shape" but there was a difference). or his conditioning was off (which doesn't get better as the season goes on , ie: people wearing down, etc). which means he has to get better

or. he was injured. but I am not giving him that mulligan because he didn't say that he was.

 

[Stephen]

So you are saying he was fit at 24, but his fitness declined through his mid twenties?

His shooting percentage halved in the second half of the season. If it had been career average, he'd have hit 30 goals. Shooting percentage fluctuations are bad luck or injuries, not fitness.

No, what I'm saying his fitness level is at an unacceptable level, to the point where working out this summer is seen as news. As players age, particularly those who don't take care of themselves, they get worse. Ask Mike Richards.

 

[Leaf Rocket]

All the Christie's and Cookie Companies in Toronto are crying at the moment.

 

[therealkoho]

Thank you.

Darren Dreger simply speculated and quite frankly he could not have been further off base. This city is ridiculous. All anyone had to do was check Phils twitter account, it was his first post.

Dreger has really slipped, he is almost becoming non-credible to me.

Dreger never was right too very often, he just sold his stuff with a degree of gravity that made him seem like he was in the know, every once in a while he'd make a pretty good guess on something and be almost right

couple that with the "ooooo he's the Gm's cousin" nonsense and you have a perfect storm.......where were all the canuck rumours, they were still cousins then, no?

he may know more NHL guys then does Ecklund or Pagniotta, but that doesn't mean he gets insider info. These guys hide their teams secrets and inside dealing like Coke hides their plans from Pepsi

 

[hotpaws]

but but but fat Phil might have gone to Roberts for training

now we'll never get to see how this maybe training would have gone

 

[Brewsky]

Roberts works for the Pens.

He was buttering Kessel up....some pancakes but I'm sure he was also buttering him up about Pittsburgh.

 

[Pi]

Kessel has four good years left before he is a 50 point guy. You can't just turn on a switch in your late 20s and get into shape. The damage done over the years just disappear over the span of a year.

Elite skater and player but he could easily have been a much better player if he gave a damn.