Ex-Leaf Phil Kessel Brought The Stanley Cup To Toronto & Revenge Has Never Looked So Cute
He still loves the city!
Vegas Golden Knights forward Phil Kessel with partner Sandra Pereira, daughter Kapri and the Stanley Cup. Right: The Stanley Cup at Hotel X in Toronto.
NHL star Phil Kessel threw a party with the Stanley Cup in Toronto this week, in a move that’s sure to sting for Maple Leaf fans who once hoped he’d do exactly that for their team.
The former Leaf used his one day with the Stanley Cup to bring Las Vegas to Toronto in a move that was generous, adorable and just a little bit salty all at the same time.
Photos and videos posted online show that the Vegas Golden Knights forward held two big events at Hotel X, starting with a party for his daughter Kapri, followed by a rooftop party to raise money for charity.
The kids' party, dubbed "Kapri's Cupchella," honestly looks like it was awesome, with an indoor ball pit and a bouncy castle included in the setup.
Later that night, Kessel threw a Vegas-themed fundraiser for Toronto's Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH). Video from the event shows giant cards and dice, gambling tables and a "Welcome to Las Vegas" sign in front of the CN Tower, which is definitely a flex.
Kessel is an American from Wisconsin and he just won the Stanley Cup with the Vegas Golden Knights, but he still has ties to Toronto where he was the Leafs' best player about a decade ago. He actually started dating his partner, Sandra Pereira, while he was still with the Leafs.
And while Kessel seems to love the city itself, there's clearly still some hard feelings over the way he left back in 2015, particularly after he was accused of eating way too many hot dogs. (Yeah, that actually happened.)
Kessel went on to win two Stanley Cups with the Pittsburgh Penguins and another with the Golden Knights, and he hasn't been shy about sticking it to the Leafs when he gets the chance.
For example, he celebrated his second Cup with the Penguins by taking the trophy to the golf course and eating hot dogs out of it. "Hotdogs taste better out of The Cup!" he wrote on Instagram.
Phil Pritchard, the NHL's keeper of the Stanley Cup, wrote on Twitter this week that Kessel didn't have any hot dogs at his celebration in Toronto this time.
This actually marks the second time that Kessel has brought the Cup to Toronto as a member of another team. He also took the Trophy to Toronto's Hospital For Sick Children in 2016 to share his big win with SickKids patients.
So yeah, there's a bit of a revenge feel to each of Kessel's Cup celebrations, but he's also used them to do some good things for charity and it's hard to fault him for that.
What more can you say about Kessel? He's a nice guy. Tries hard. Loves the game.