Kesler already injured?

[Ossi Vaananen]

Farhan... you're cut.

[Strombone1]

i'm this close to turning on kesler if he's injured

[Cobra!]

In all honesty guys, it's probably the wrist he had an issue with before, and it probably isn't an issue now. Chances are he wears that wrap often and this is the first time it's been caught on photo.

I personally broke my hand a while ago, and I use a wrap when I lift weights so I can grip the bar properly because the bones didn't heal quite perfectly. It disperses the weight so that the crooked bones are not an issue. The could be similar to why Kesler is using his wrist wrap.

[ALTtimegreat]

Linden to replace Kesler.

5-0 canucks

[RunningWild]

Remember during the cup final run...... guys kept missing 'optional' practices. Everyone made excuses why those players were missing. After the cup finals, we found out they were all injured. This is the same story. Kesler hasn't been back for 1 month and he's already the only player at an optional practice the day of playoffs start. Of course he's nursing something again IMO, that much is obvious to me. It just seems like the most cruelest luck that this guy is a constant injury machine.

[Dancin'Droid]

he probably scratched his arm while practicing charging through brink walls head first. they should probably tone his training down a bit before playoffs.

[73 Percent]

I though only Kassian was doing that?

[Tornado]

Either playing mind games, or else, I'm gonna be flipping some tables right about now.

[jigsaw99]

Kesler just needs to take a nap

[TimberWolf]

Kesler just needs to take a nap

[apollo]

This team is GOOD ENOUGH to win w.o kes. Especially with the addition of roybabbyyy

Hopefully kesler is good to go... but this is the first round. We'll need him healthy for future rounds... no pooint forcing him to play

[Dildo Faggins]

I knew he was gonna get injured again before the play-offs started, I swear. I called it in a thread about him when he just came back from his foot injury. This guy cannot go for two weeks without something happening to him, its ridiculous.

[Heretic]

[The Brahma Bull]

Not sure if trolling... Or gamesmanship.

[samurai]

He will play...you know he'll play...He'll play with a thingy wrapped around his arm!

[RyanKeslord17]

Keslers just trying to troll the whole of CDC and all Vancouver media

[poetica]

Healthy Kesler poised to flip switch into 'Beast Mode'

Ryan Kesler tormented the Sharks last time they met in the playoffs, and he’s aiming for a repeat performance

Joe Thornton wanted to fight him before the opening faceoff in the first playoff encounter.

Ryane Clowe later said if some guys met him in a back alley, “there would be some stuff happening.”

Ryan Kesler grins of what transpired two years ago. He agitated the San Jose Sharks to such a degree that they wanted to run the Vancouver Canucks centre out of the rink in a failed attempt to punch their ticket to the Stanley Cup final.

So when the Canucks and Sharks clash again in the Western Conference quarterfinal series opener Wednesday at Rogers Arena, you can expect a healthy Kesler to be in full Beast Mode.

No bad foot, shoulder, wrist, hip or finger. At least nothing we’re aware of.

“I’m not going to focus on their players, I’m going to make them focus on me,” Kesler said Tuesday. “My job is to play in your face, play fast and produce. You get the other team talking about you, you’re obviously doing good things. It’s the way I was brought up and the way I play — especially this time of year.”

Back at centre ice between Chris Higgins and Zack Kassian, and back to his aggressive, agitating and dominant two-way game, Kesler doesn’t wonder if he’ll be matched up against Thornton or Logan Couture. He cares about winning and not what anybody says about him or his game.

In that series-clinching double-overtime Game 5 victory over the Sharks in 2011, Kesler hobbled with a torn hip labrum to tip a puck past Antti Niemi with 13.2 seconds remaining in regulation time. He had to take cortisone shots to keep playing before offseason surgery.

Fast-forward and Kesler is fresh with 13 points in 17 games after recovering from offseason shoulder and wrist surgeries, and then a fractured foot Feb. 15.

In the 2011 run to the Stanley Cup final, Kesler shut down Jonathan Toews, David Legwand and Thornton. He figured in 11 of 14 goals in a second-round series win over Nashville and was awarded the Selke Trophy.

It’s hard to imagine the Canucks going away from what has worked so well in the past.

“I’ll relish whatever role they put me in,” said Kesler. “If they want to load up the top six, I’ll definitely play the wing and succeed there. It’s that competitive level in me that you want to be better than the guy across from you. That doesn’t change from position to position. It’s a fun time of year, and I’m really excited about it.”

He should be. The Chicago Blackhawks have to shoulder the Presidents’ Trophy burden, and there’s a big championship buzz around the Pittsburgh Penguins. The Northwest Division champions have their own demons, knowing that five-game exit to the Los Angeles Kings last spring is a scab their detractors pick at because of a narrowing window to win it all.

“We’re healthier, and to be honest, I don’t think we were ready for the grind last year,” Kesler admitted of starting the first-round series without the concussed Daniel Sedin.

“We know what it takes to get to a final and Game 7 of a final. We’re hungry this year, and I can feel the energy in the room. I see how bad guys want it.”

They didn’t want it last week with a two-period no-show against Anaheim and a one-period meltdown in Edmonton. Add the ongoing crowded crease conundrum and whether Cory Schneider will play in the playoff opener, and there’s always some level of drama in Vancouver — especially with the great fade against the Oilers. Although that game saw Daniel Sedin, Alex Burrows, Dan Hamhuis, Jason Garrison and Alex Edler all rested and Henrik Sedin took just a 22-second twirl to extend his ironman streak to 629 games.

Is Kesler concerned?

“Not at all,” he said. “Those are tough games to get up for and we realize that. As professionals, we should have done a better job, but those games aren’t even on my mind anymore. You flip the switch and focus on playoffs. The energy and intensity are going to be there.”

The biggest problem might be playing under control. Kesler is flanked by a wild card in Kassian, who could either score a key goal or take a bad penalty.

“In talking to him, he knows his role and how big a difference he can be in this series,” said Kesler. “He has a pretty good idea of that and we’re going to need him to play his best.”

Kassian was saying all the right things Tuesday about being that big-body presence on the right side and his obvious exuberance was hard to ignore. But Kassian has to guard against going out of his way to make a play or throw a hit and put himself out of position. That’s where Kesler can help.

“He’s got a calm and collective swagger — not a cocky swagger,” said Kassian. “You know when he’s on the ice. He’s taken me under his wing and that gives you confidence.”

[John.Tallhouse]

I'm more concerned about Corey myself..

[CANUCKAHOLIC_9]

whats going on?

[Erik Karlsson]

“He’s got a calm and collective swagger — not a cocky swagger,” said Kassian. “You know when he’s on the ice. He’s taken me under his wing and that gives you confidence.”

I like that quote, stoked to watch this line dominate.