Kessel rumors 'blown out of proportion,' Penguins GM says: report

Phil Kessel is not on the trade market, Pittsburgh Penguins general manager Jim Rutherford told The Athletic on Friday, and reports of problems between the forward and coach Mike Sullivan are exaggerated.

"This is something that I believe has been blown out of proportion," Rutherford told the website. "I don't know where this story started. It's unfortunate."
Reports have said the Penguins would be willing to trade Kessel because he reportedly was unhappy with Sullivan taking him off a line with Evgeni Malkin.
"I don't think it's been any secret here for three years that Phil's preference is to play with [Malkin]," Rutherford said. "But when [Mike] looks at our team, he believes balance throughout the lineup is the best way to win, and we won [the Stanley Cup twice] that way with Phil not playing with [Malkin].
"So there's times where they play together, when they're both really going, and there's times when they don't. … But for someone to suggest it's an issue within our team, that can't be taken care of or resolved, I don't believe that's accurate."

Kessel scored one goal in 12 Stanley Cup Playoff games this postseason, when the Penguins were eliminated by the Washington Capitals in the Eastern Conference Second Round and failed to win the Stanley Cup for a third straight season.
"So I don't feel that we have to trade Phil Kessel," Rutherford said. "He was a difference-maker when we won the two Cups, he's coming off a [regular season when] he had 92 points, and we didn't win the Cup, we didn't three-peat, and now people are trying to come up with ideas why we didn't do that. And the reason we didn't do that is because we didn't have the energy to win three championships in a row. I'm not sure anybody has it. To me, that's ultimately what happened to us this year. I don't think pointing the finger at any one guy as the reason we didn't win the Cup is fair at all."

Kessel, who turns 31 Oct. 2, had 34 goals and 58 assists in his NHL career-best season. He has 221 points (93 goals, 148 assists) in 246 games with Pittsburgh and has played every game since 2010-11, when he was with the Toronto Maple Leafs.
After the loss to the Capitals, Rutherford said the Penguins would make roster changes before next season. He repeated that Friday.
"I said it at the end of the season, that we wouldn't come back the same team, that doesn't mean that it's going to be a total overhaul," Rutherford said. "There's a couple of areas where we'd like to strengthen, and I'll try and do that. But it doesn't necessarily mean that it's any certain player that's going to be part of fixing that."