Does Phil Kessel Catch Too Much Criticism From Fans and Media?

Maybe Bruins fans should take it easy on our old pal Phil Kessel.

Eh, maybe not.

The Toronto Star's hockey columnist, Damien Cox, raised some awareness and stuck up for little Phil — while pissing off some Bruins fans in the process — on Thursday when he sent out the following tweet:

Fair point.

As you can clearly see, Cox compared Milan Lucic's stats (46 points) to Kessel's (49 points) and points out that fans and media are praising the B's winger while bashing the Leafs' winger. After all, that's what fans and media members do best, right?

It's obvious that Lucic isn't expected to light the lamp as much as Kessel, but Looch is a hockey player and is expected to pop a few more goals than the majority of his teammates. However, if Cox is going to compare these two in terms of scoring — Kessel's specialty — he might as well compare their fighting styles, hits tally and penalty minutes.

Lucic is paid big bucks ($4 million in 2010-11) to create scoring chances, set up skilled linemates and bag garbage goals while Kessel is paid bigger bucks ($6 million in 2010-11) to put the puck in the net — period.

Do fans and media give Kessel too much criticism?

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