Gotta See It: Phil Kessel, raw and uncut

Watch as former Maple Leaf Phil Kessel scores on also former Maple Leaf Jonathan Bernier.

“Just make sure I look good in these photos.” —Phil Kessel

Let’s give it up to the Pittsburgh Penguins‘ social media squad. They get it. They know they have a gem in Phil Kessel and have treated his cult-hero celebrity with the proper measure of respect and good-natured humour.

It began with Kessel’s glorious first promo photo for the club following his trade out of Toronto — shortpants! — and continued with tweeting out images of the Listerine bottle teammates placed in the sniper’s stall following Breathgate. Even President Obama hopped in on the Kessel fun at the White House.

All of this stuff goes viral.

Yes, Phil Kessel, Stanley Cup champion, appears more comfortable just being himself in Pittsburgh. He’s tweeting more often, right?

So the Pens’ smartly recorded the sniper going through his media-day paces this fall, and the resulting two minutes and 18 seconds of pure Kessel, raw and uncut, are not to be missed. I’ll tell you that much.

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