Phil Kessel is sport’s angriest superstar

HE’S a young, single guy living the life he always dreamed about — and he never looks like it. He often looks grumpy, and that’s because he is.

PHIL Kessel is a young, single guy living the life he always dreamed about — and he never looks like it.

His scruffy blond beard doesn’t cover up his perpetual scowl, but only accentuates it.

His constant looks of disdain give the internet a bottomless supply of GIFs and memes.

The point is that Kessel often looks grumpy, and that’s because he is.

We bring this up because Kessel has a contentious relationship with the media.

This didn’t start when he got to the National Hockey League’s Toronto Maple Leafs, where even the steeliest of men can bend under the hot lights of their ever-present cameras.

But under that pressure, Kessel has become a focal point of criticism, especially when he does something like he did this past Saturday, blowing off a TSN interview after his team horrifically lost to the league-worst Sabres, 6-2.

“Get away from me,” Kessel apparently told reporter Jonas Siegel as he walked past, already making him wait and then just storming by.

“If he wants to do things like this, that’s totally OK,” Siegel told TSN 1050 in Toronto. “But from this point, I’m not going to hide the way that he acts anymore. He’s perpetually unavailable. He’s perpetually borderline rude.”

PHIL Kessel if a reporter asks him for a comment pic.twitter.com/aV9MhpZXFZ

— WhyAmIALeafsFan (@G0LeafsGo) November 19, 2014

Kessel has an obligation to talk to reporters, and he knows that.

“I think you have the responsibility to talk,” he said, “but I don’t think you guys need me every single day. I don’t know what you need out of me ... I don’t have too much to say after losses like that, right?”

Losses like that are when players like Kessel are needed most by the media. After the Rangers’ awful 5-1 loss to the Lightning on Monday, the locker room was filled with guys, sitting at their stalls, ready to answer all the tough questions.

It can be assumed that someone — most likely coach Alain Vigneault — told them to stay right there and wait, because they deserved to have the media come in and make them think about this one.

Phil Kessel having fun at the Raptors game pic.twitter.com/I94ow1Scse

— Melissa Couto (@ThrowinSmoke) November 14, 2014

Miserable Phil Kessel penalty box selfie is the best selfie. http://t.co/lZG84efCSO pic.twitter.com/6BnZHdYBMp

— Sporting News (@sportingnews) November 10, 2014

It showed ownership of what had happened. What the players said sent a message to the fans, and to each other, about how that kind of performance was unacceptable. It’s looking adversity in the face and dealing with it. It’s leadership.

So maybe Phil Kessel isn’t a leader.

Instead, he earns his eight-year, $64 million deal that started this season just by being a prolific goal scorer.

Since being traded to the Leafs from the Bruins before the 2010-11 season, Kessel is fourth in the league with 137 goals.

He’s behind only Steven Stamkos, Alex Ovechkin and Corey Perry.

That’s elite stuff.

I remember when he came to Long Island early in the season, and scored two goals from inconspicuous places on the ice like it was nothing.

He is indisputably one of the most talented players in the league, and yet he wallows under this cloud of his gloomy personality.

That’s something he brings on himself, just as the criticism has been brought on the Leafs this season.

Phil Kessel is a tough nut to crack. So are the Leafs. It’s only appropriate that they’re in this together.

Originally published as Phil Kessel is sport’s angriest superstar