Kack Zassian Posted April 24, 2012 Share Posted April 24, 2012 Ben Kuzma @benkuzma #Canucks centre Kesler may need surgery for suspected shoulder injury. We are aware that Ryan Kesler was sitting in his stall after the horror of it all. Whether it was for one minute, five or as many as 10 before he shuffled to the players' lounge in obvious disgust didn't matter on solemn Sunday. And when he was hard to find after the captain had been questioned, it was symbolic. Like his teammates, Kesler was just as hard to find on the ice during a stunning five-game exit by the Presidents' Trophy winners and you have to wonder if it was more than ongoing hip pain that made it hard for the centre to shoulder responsibility. And it's not so much that the reigning Selke Trophy winner — who isn't a finalist this season — managed but three assists against the Los Angeles Kings in the one-sided series and went without a goal in his final 17 games. It's the manner is which the Vancouver Canucks approached a season that would tax the collective resolve to clear the mental hurdle of a short summer and then make sure the head was as fit as the body for a long trek back to the final. The results were mixed because in the end they weren't the swagger-filled Canucks of last spring. In Kesler's case, you can argue through stubbornness that he never got the proper start after returning weeks early from a July 25 hip procedure and would simply suck up any additional pain. And there's reason to believe through body language and ineffectiveness that he may have been hiding a shoulder ailment. He never adjusted a game that had deteriorated from that memorable second-round Nashville series in which he figured in 11 of the team's 14 goals. There was no Beast-Mode this season. There was Beaten-Down-Mode. Kesler's stride would come and go through soreness in his hip flexor. He couldn't out-skate or out-battle defenders and that wrist shot that packed velocity and accuracy went away when he planted his skate and there was a tug at the hip. A career 41 goals last season turned into 22 goals and turned the attention on how one of the game's best two-way players had been reduced to a shutdown solution rather than an offensive option. The acquisition of Samme Pahlsson at the trade deadline was supposed to free up that offence. Kesler had 17 points in a 15-game span in December, scored in five-consecutive games from Jan. 31 to Feb. 9 and then went eight without a goal. That would suggest something went wonky physically at that point beyond the hip. "It's still an ongoing thing — it still tightens up," Kesler said before the playoffs. "They [surgeons] tightened up the front of the hip capsule so much that you get some pain. The hip flexor almost pulls the femoral head forward and gives you a problem. It's all rotating and that's usually my plant leg and it took me a while to get my shot back and feel comfortable and I'm still working on it. It's going to be a never-ending process." You also wonder if there was something else bugging Kesler because if his shot went away and he was getting less effective in the face-off circle, it would point to the shoulder because his game became more about positioning than battling. Dial back his goal funk and he hasn't scored since March 14, so it's only natural to wonder if by the very nature of his game that he banged up a shoulder in February or March and just tried to play through pain. And if it was that bad that he became a shadow of his former self, then surgery might be on the horizon. It even got to the point where Alain Vigneault publicly challenged Kesler from the coach's podium to use his wingers more, as if to send a subtle message that putting the blinders on and trying to bolt through a number of defenders was a waste of energy and effectiveness. And because Kesler is wired to lead rather than follow, it only hampered his game. Rather than attracting defenders and dishing pucks off to his wingers, he still had that bull-in-a-china-shop mentality. You admire it but then understand why the Canucks went into defence mode and must wonder when their gung-ho centre, who has four more years at $5 million US annually, will finally escape the injury bug and surgeon's scalpel. Without Daniel Sedin for the final nine games of the regular season and first three of the playoffs and with Kesler ineffective and too many bagels across the board — David Booth no playoff goals and one in his last 16 games, Mason Raymond no playoff goals and one in his last dozen games and nothing for Chris Higgins in the postseason — there really was no offence. When Daniel Sedin offered up a post-series assessment Sunday about not trading chances with the 29th-ranked offence, it either spoke of the reality of the situation or a suggestion that the Canucks are longing for an attacking style. "We didn't give up much and you can't run and gun with them [Kings] or they're going to kill you," said the winger. "We got our fair share of chances to win the game. It's shocking. The way we felt lately, we thought we had a good shot to get to Game 7." Not with a pop-gun attack and not without their best players able to compete at an optimum level. For Kesler the final summation was simple: The mind was willing. The body wasn't. Read more: http://www.theprovince.com/sports/Canucks+Kesler+have+finished+Playoffs+with+shoulder+injury/6506648/story.html#ixzz1syKiUMtd Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kumquats Posted April 24, 2012 Share Posted April 24, 2012 Wouldn't surprise me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ron Swansons Moustache Posted April 24, 2012 Share Posted April 24, 2012 It seems like after every playoff his getting surgery done he has no luck. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Raiun Posted April 24, 2012 Share Posted April 24, 2012 Why is it that Kesler never admits to being injured before we get ousted? Let's hope that this either isn't true, or it doesn't keep him out for long so he can get his full training camp done over the summer. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CodyHodgson's #1fan Posted April 24, 2012 Share Posted April 24, 2012 If he does need surgery then I hope get gets it right away, unlike last year when they waited and waited so he couldnt atten the training camp or teh beginning of the year which set him back. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted April 24, 2012 Share Posted April 24, 2012 There has been some speculation that he hadn't fully recovered when he first returned to the lineup this season. The team did not need to rush him back. If he injured his shoulder recently, it still does not explain why he has been supbar this entire year. Hopefully he spends the summer recovering and refining his game. Fans want to see an inspired Kesler, and the team needs him to return to form. If he needs the time to recover, they should give him however much time as he requires. If his game does not change next year, then we'll know that this year's disappointment has been more than a mere anomoly. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
*vInTaGe* Posted April 24, 2012 Share Posted April 24, 2012 Dang, another surgery. I hope he can still have a summer and come back next year all healed up. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lappykass Posted April 24, 2012 Share Posted April 24, 2012 It would make me not so upset with our secondary scoring, but I hope he dosent need surgery for it Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TOMapleLaughs Posted April 24, 2012 Share Posted April 24, 2012 'May' have a shoulder injury. 'May' require surgery. 'May' be totally false. If this wasn't an article from a local paper, this thread would be locked up quickly. Cheers. TOML Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kack Zassian Posted April 24, 2012 Author Share Posted April 24, 2012 Hopefully he heals and this puts an end to the trade Kesler talk we have seen these past few weeks... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kack Zassian Posted April 24, 2012 Author Share Posted April 24, 2012 'May' have a shoulder injury. 'May' require surgery. 'May' be totally false. If this wasn't an article from a local paper, this thread would be locked up quickly. Cheers. TOML Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted April 24, 2012 Share Posted April 24, 2012 I still feel his disappointing season should not be attributed solely to this injury. He has been dreadful for much of the year. I don't think recovering from this injury will miraculously make him a different player unless he has had this injury all season. He needs to work harder and realize what is necessary for him to be effective again. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Burnsey Posted April 24, 2012 Share Posted April 24, 2012 if this is true, then lets hope he gets surgery sooner rather than later and for crying out dont rush back. It was great to see him come back early at the beginning of the season but maybe we should have made him sit out for another few weeks. He obviously wasn't 100% and maybe that extra couple of weeks would have helped wonders in the long run. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Luongo Posted April 24, 2012 Share Posted April 24, 2012 This is nothing but speculation. The only insightful detail in the article is Kesler's ongoing hip issues, which we all kind of figured he came back too early from. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
canucks_dynasty Posted April 24, 2012 Share Posted April 24, 2012 I'd be pissed at Kesler if he had shoulder problems prior to trade deadline and didn't tell the team. It might have made MG make some different moves for veteran depth in case Kesler couldn't play. Kesler has to change his game otherwise he'll retire early with a broken body. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bingo Chili Posted April 24, 2012 Share Posted April 24, 2012 kesler will go downhill.. package him for staal, getzlaf or weber Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
canucks_dynasty Posted April 24, 2012 Share Posted April 24, 2012 Apparantly he injured his shoulder in February. If true...we should have kept Hodgson as insurance. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HorseGem2007 Posted April 24, 2012 Share Posted April 24, 2012 Sure .... rub it in OP ... 2 days after we got eliminated from first round playoffs ... now to hear that ONE of my favorite player has to undergo surgery ... again !!! Damn ! Not sure if we'll ever see the same Kesler we once had from his Trophy winning year. Adds to the interesting off season ahead : - AV is gone or not, will Gillis fire him ? - who will we keep in net ? LU or Scheids ? - Draft day ... who will we pick and any blockbuster trade on that day from the Canucks ? Again repeating myself from another post .... can't wait now for training camp and see who will make up the 2012-13 line up. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vannuxforlife Posted April 24, 2012 Share Posted April 24, 2012 IF Kesler has to get surgery I hope he gets it quickly and starts the recovery process so he can have all summer to train. It was obvious this year he needed it and I hope he doesn't miss it next summer. We need him firing on all cylinders next season. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
D-Money Posted April 24, 2012 Share Posted April 24, 2012 I expect Kesler to be much-improved next season. He needs the full training program. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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