With Ryan Callahan missing the World Cup because of a hip injury Team USA needed to find his replacement on the roster. They did so yesterday by naming Kyle Palmieri to the squad. No, Phil Kessel did not change the spelling of his name and he still will not be a member of Team USA.
The latest decision to keep Kessel off of the team is less surprising than the initial one. Kessel recently had hand surgery and while he should be ready to go by training camp I'm not sure he would be wild on the idea of testing that hand out on a team that has shown him complete disrespect. It is only speculation on my part but I doubt Kessel's center would be tweeting out congratulations to Palmieri unless he knew Kessel had no interest in joining the team at this point
Really happy for my buddy @kylepalmieri, well deserved selection to Team USA!
— Nick Bonino (@NickBonino) July 20, 2016
The fact still remains that it is hard to believe Team USA is trying their best when they voluntarily left players like Phil Kessel, Paul Stastny, Tyler Johnson, Kyle Okposo , Kevin Shattenkirk, Justin Faulk, and Keith Yandle at home for guys who are good on the penalty kill or have grit (Abdelkader, Dubinsky, Backes, Kesler).
Team USA is poorly run at its highest level and it is likely the results will bear that out in September. For now Phil Kessel can continue to enjoy being a Stanley Cup champion spreading good will to sick children and helping Grandma have a good time.
Hi, here's a video of Phil Kessel's grandma chugging champagne out of the Stanley Cup last weekend. #CupTracker pic.twitter.com/m4oyvVSoVc
— Alex Iniguez (@alexiniguez) July 21, 2016
****
The Stanley Cup made a few more visits the past few days and you can catch up with those visits through these links
Summer with Stanley: @mattmurray_30 brings the Cup to Thunder Bay, Ontario. https://t.co/0k9eMYDrKt pic.twitter.com/HKP3qbtTa1
— NHL (@NHL) July 20, 2016
SUMMER WITH STANLEY: @EricFehr brought the #StanleyCup to Winkler, Manitoba. https://t.co/Xi8VKAgwJM #Pens
— NHL Public Relations (@PR_NHL) July 21, 2016
Thanks for reading!