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I think Kessel is finding himself playing under pressure, and not performing well. The kid can't buy a goal...so many open net chances and the puck has bounced the wrong way. Kessel works hard out there, and it's only a matter of time before he gets his confidence back with a few lucky bounces and then he'll go on another goal scoring streak.
Leave Kessel alone, let him do his thing, the more and more pressure that gets put on him, the worse he seems to perform. Some will say at the cost of 3 draft picks and at 5.4 million a year Kessel should be able to perform well under any circumstance but we did not receive a player as dominate as the price tag may suggest.
Phil Kessel is not a dominant forward who can carry a team, he is a star player, who on his own is effective, but plays much better when he is paired with elite talent. Kessel has no one to play with right now, sure we could bring back the Kulemin Bozak Kessel line, but then you screw up our only consistently productive line, so we need to stop expecting a 40 goal scorer out of him.
Kessel is still young, and so is our team as a group, unfortunately Bozak isn't playing nearly as well as he did at the end of last season, hopefully he can return to that form, and Kessel and Bozak can play along side each other again and maybe replicate the magic from last year.
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