Rick Kessell

Richard John Kessell was born in Toronto, Ontario, on 27 July 1949, to Vernon William Kessell and Doris Evelina Kessell, nee Black. He had a younger sister, Kim. As a youngster he played minor hockey in the Scarborough area and represented the Scarboro Lions at the 1961 Quebec International Pee-Wee Hockey Tournament, a showcase that produced many future professionals.

He developed in Ontario junior hockey. In 1966 to 1967 he scored 56 points in 35 games for the Markham Waxers of the Metro Junior A league, and he also appeared for the Toronto Marlboros and the London Nationals. His breakout came with the Oshawa Generals in 1968 to 1969, when he scored 26 goals and 92 points, the seventh highest total in the Ontario Hockey Association.

The Pittsburgh Penguins chose Kessell in the 1969 NHL Amateur Draft. Broken ribs sidelined him during his first training camp, and he began the 1969 to 1970 season with the Baltimore Clippers of the AHL, scoring 36 points in 52 games. Called up in March 1970, he scored on his first NHL shift, 2 minutes and 19 seconds into his debut on 21 March 1970, and added an assist in his second game against the Montreal Canadiens. Penguins coach Red Kelly told the Pittsburgh Press it might be a fight to keep him out of the lineup.

In the summer of 1970 he suffered a double fracture of his right ankle while water skiing, which Kelly said may have cost him a regular role in Pittsburgh. He played for the Amarillo Wranglers and the Hershey Bears, then spent most of 1972 to 1973 with the Penguins, playing 67 games. In 1973 he was claimed by the Salt Lake Golden Eagles, farm club of the California Golden Seals, in the reverse draft, and he made the Seals out of camp, playing 51 games in 1973 to 1974.

He returned to the minors with the New Haven Nighthawks, scoring 67 points in 60 games in 1974 to 1975 and 13 points in 16 playoff games, then played for Salt Lake in 1975 to 1976 and finished with the senior Whitby Warriors in 1976 to 1977. His NHL record was 134 regular season games, 4 goals and 24 assists for 28 points.

Kessell shared his life with his partner, Linda McDonnell. His family described Margaret, Caroline and Kathleen DeBarra and Leah McDonnell Brouwer as all his beautiful girls, and he was poppa to John, James and Charlie. He was known among friends as a larger than life presence, and his family wrote that when you were in his orbit you knew it. He was always Rick, never Richard.

Rick Kessell died on 6 November 2026 at the age of 77. His death notice was published in the Toronto Star on 12 November 2026. A celebration of life was to be announced at a later date, and the family asked that donations be made to the Glaucoma Research Society of Canada. No cause of death was given.

Kessell's NHL career was brief, but his goal on his first shift with Pittsburgh in 1970 remains a memorable footnote in Penguins history, and he is remembered among the players of the short lived California Golden Seals. In the minor leagues he was a consistent scorer, and to his family and friends he was the boy from Toronto who lived out his childhood dream of playing in the NHL.