Et was July 2015, the North American professional ice hockey league NHL was just on its summer break when a columnist for the Toronto Sun came up with something that Phil Kessel still accompanies to this day: “The hot dog salesman who sells daily at on the corner of Front and John Streets has just lost its most trusted customer,” was the first sentence of a farewell pamphlet for the forward, who had just been traded from the Toronto Maple Leafs to the Pittsburgh Penguins.
At the time, Kessel was seen as someone who could have scored more than 30 goals a season but was unwilling to get himself and his body in the best shape possible. Toronto was “sick and tired” of him, the column said. The traditional location, which had been chronically unsuccessful since 1967, chased him away – and two years and two championship victories from Pittsburgh later saw a photo on social media with a message from Kessel to his old homeland.
