The speedster from Madison, Wisconsin was nothing short of electrifying at the 2005 World Junior Championship in Grand Forks and he followed that up with a sublime display of speed and skill at last April's Under-18 World Championship.
But since then, other prospects have been chipping away at Kessel's frontrunner tag.
In early December, some NHL scouts suggested Winnipegger Jonathan Toews of the University of North Dakota could go ahead of Kessel, and by the time 2006 World Junior tourney in Vancouver was over, big American defenceman Erik Johnson had emerged as the consensus No. 1 choice, ahead of both Kessel and Toews.
But in the latest rankings of the International Scouting Service, an independent organization that evaluates draft-eligible talent on a monthly basis, Kessel finds himself at No. 4 overall, behind No. 1 Johnson, Toews at second and Peterborough Petes forward Jordan Staal at No. 3.
A year ago, Kessel at No. 4 would have been unthinkable.
Now?
Well, it's a possibility.
In a small survey of five NHL scouts by TSN, only one of the five had Kessel rated as low as No. 4.
One scout maintained Kessel remains, for him, as the top prospect available in this year's draft class. Another scout said Kessel is no worse than No. 2 behind Johnson.
Two others said he's No. 3, behind both Johnson and Toews and the fifth had it the same as ISS, with Johnson, Toews and Staal ahead of Kessel.
All the scouts surveyed by TSN agreed the top four players, order of selection aside, are quite likely to be the top four players taken, but even that's not carved in stone.
Young American Kyle Okposo and Quebec junior Derrick Brassard are getting long, hard looks from teams likely to be picking in the top five.
NHL central scouting is having its evaluation meetings this week, so it will be interesting to see where it slots Kessel.
It would be fair to say Kessel still has a shot at being the first pick overall, but even if that were to happen, it would not be fair to label this as the Phil Kessel draft.
