Vegas Golden Knights sign Phil Kessel to one-year contract

The Vegas Golden Knights have signed forward Phil Kessel to a one-year contract, the club announced Wednesday.

Kessel, 34, scored eight goals and 52 points in 82 games with the Arizona Coyotes during the 2021–22 regular season. His new contract with the Golden Knights carries a $1.5 million cap hit.

In 1,204 career NHL regular-season games with the Boston Bruins, Toronto Maple Leafs, Pittsburgh Penguins, and Coyotes, Kessel has scored 399 goals and 956 points.

Kessel is a two-time Stanley Cup champion (2016, 2017). He led the Penguins with 22 points in 24 games during their 2016 playoff run and amassed 23 points in 25 post-season contests the following year.

The Bruins originally selected Kessel in the first round (No. 5 overall) of the 2006 NHL Draft. The 6′, 223-pound right wing spent the first three seasons of his career in Boston before being traded to Toronto in 2009.

Kessel surpassed the 80-point plateau twice during his tenure in Toronto, but was traded again in 2015 — this time, to Pittsburgh. He scored a career-best 92 points with the Penguins in 2017–18.

Arizona acquired Kessel from Pittsburgh in 2019. The veteran winger helped the Coyotes return to the playoffs in 2020 for the first time since 2012 and scored 20 goals in the shortened 2020–21 season, but his offensive output declined last year as the ‘Yotes tumbled to the bottom of the NHL standings.

Entering the 2022–23 season, Kessel has skated in 982 consecutive games without missing one due to injury or a healthy scratch. He owns the second-longest “iron man” streak in league history, behind only fellow ex-Coyote Keith Yandle (989 games).