Evgeni Malkin's father sheds light on conflicts between Geno and Phil Kessel
In a recent interview, Vladimir Malkin, father of Penguins star forward Evgeni Malkin confirmed that there were tensions between his son and Phil Kessel which many have attributed to Kessel being traded to the Arizona Coyotes before the start of the season. The elder Malkin, speaking to Alena Grebenkova of Sport Express, said that his son and Kessel did have 'small conflicts.'
"Kessel had some extra weight on, "said Vladimir, "and Zhenya (Evgeni) tried to motivate him. He demanded that Phil give his all to the game. He wanted to rack up points, but [Kessel] didn't always oblige."
Vladimir qualified his statement by saying that all the conflicts were only rooted in hockey issues. "Nothing personal. Just matters between teammates."
Asked about an article in The Athletic which mentioned Evgeni changing his diet and cutting out alcohol, Vladimir responded: "I've never seen Zhenya drink during the season before. I'm not sure about a specific diet, but he did stop pitting potatoes in his soup, based on advice he received."
Source: Sport Express
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