Penguins reportedly looking to trade Phil Kessel

The Penguins are reportedly trying to trade Phil Kessel, according to 105.9 FM's Mark Madden.

Madden made the statement on his 105.9 FM radio show yesterday.

According to Madden, the Penguins are going to try to move Kessel to another team this offseason, and "Kessel is OK with that."

As Madden phrased it, "the key word is try." He couched the chances of a potential deal happening because of Kessel's $6.8 million price tag and his reputation of being a hard player to coach.

Madden cited "sources close to the Penguins and to Phil Kessel." His explanation for Kessel's endorsement of a potential trade stems from two points.

The first of which is Kessel's alleged displeasure over the fact that he hasn't been able to play on a line with Evgeni Malkin full-time, instead being used as the balancing point for head coach Mike Sullivan to spread his top talent over three scoring lines.

The second is "underlying dissatisfaction" between Kessel and Sullivan.

Madden didn't mention any specific trade targets in terms of others teams or reported players coming back in return.

The Penguins winger has played in Pittsburgh the last three years and has won two Stanley Cups. He hasn't missed a game since 2010 when he played in Toronto. Kessel apparently played through injury last year, some believe to the detriment of his game in the name of that "Ironman" streak.

Kessel posted 34 goals and a career high 92 points. But he was a shadow of himself in the postseason, scoring just once in 12 games.