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Kessel keeping pace with Penguins' franchise forwards

Charles LeClaire / USA TODAY Sports

When Phil Kessel was acquired by the Pittsburgh Penguins, the thought of adding him to a forward corps built around Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin was downright frightening.

His first regular season with the club had its ups and downs, both from a personal production standpoint and for the Penguins as a group, and Kessel's 26 goals and 59 points came in below expectations.

Kessel found his game under replacement head coach Mike Sullivan, and he broke out on the way to a Stanley Cup win with 10 goals and 12 assists in 24 playoff games - and should have won the Conn Smythe Trophy.

And through 26 games in 2016-17, Kessel has shown no signs of slowing down. In fact, a quick look at the points per game leaderboard and we see all three Penguins snipers ranked within the top five among players with at least 20 appearances this season.

Player Games Goals Assists Points/GP
Sidney Crosby 20 17 10 1.35
Connor McDavid 28 11 25 1.29
Nikita Kucherov 26 13 16 1.12
Evgeni Malkin 26 10 18 1.08
Phil Kessel 26 9 18 1.04

In terms of total points, Malkin leads the way with 28 - good for third overall -while Crosby and Kessel are tied with several others for fourth with 27.

If and when the Penguins decide to settle on a single goalie, this team will be well-positioned to repeat as champions.

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