On Wednesday’s Greg Hill Show, Jermaine Wiggins said he has heard that “the streets are kind of talking” about the possibility of the Bruins bringing back Phil Kessel as a trade deadline rental, 13 years after they traded him away.
On Thursday’s show, Wiggy asked weekly guest Mike Milbury about that possibility, and let’s just say that Milbury is not a fan of the idea.
“The guys has always had talent, but he’s always had a tail too. He barks like a dog, he walks like a dog, he acts like a dog,” Milbury said of Kessel. “Do you really want a dog on your team in the playoffs? I don’t know. I wouldn’t. But apparently the price is cheap. Why wouldn’t it be? He’s got this Iron Man streak going, 950 games or whatever it is, because he doesn’t go to the corners. He doesn’t get physical. He doesn’t try that hard. When anybody comes to hit him and he’s got the puck, he just dumps it off and runs away. Oh yeah, that’s a guy I want to get right away.”
Milbury is far from the only person to hold that view of Kessel, as labels like that have followed him throughout his career. It should be noted, though, that the Pittsburgh Penguins were probably pretty happy to have Kessel on their team in the 2016 and 2017 playoffs, when he had 45 points in 49 games during back-to-back Stanley Cup runs.
There’s another former Bruin -- one who spent a lot more time in Boston -- that Milbury isn’t keen on bringing back either: Zdeno Chara. Pierre LeBrun reported on TSN this week that teams have checked in with the Islanders, who are out of the playoff race, about the possibility of Chara being available. While LeBrun made no mention of the Bruins, that report has naturally got some Boston fans wondering.
Milbury, however, sees Chara’s tank as being pretty much on empty at this point.
“I think he should’ve retired a couple years ago,” he said. “I love Chara. He’s a friend of mine. We drafted him. I have nothing but good memories of Zdeno Chara, and when I see him we always have a chance to catch up. But I think there comes a time in everybody’s life as a professional athlete when it’s time to retire, and I think he should retire.
“Can he finish the year and maybe find some juice and help somebody out in the playoffs? Maybe, but he’s been struggling on the Island, and so have they. Maybe a change of teams would be a good thing for him and good way to end his career, and I have no trouble with that, but it’s time for Zee to take a look in the mirror and say, ‘My feet don’t work as well as they did. My hands don’t work as well as they used to. I’ve got plenty of money in the bank. I’ve got kids at home.’ Go home and see them.”
Listen to the full interview with Milbury below. The discussion about Chara and then Kessel begins at the 7:40 mark:
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