CB007 Posted March 7, 2014 Share Posted March 7, 2014 Article is 10 days old so maybe you guys have read it. http://vansunsportsblogs.com/2014/02/27/can-the-canucks-win-without-kesler/ With their win over the St. Louis Blues Wednesday night, the Vancouver Canucks leapt back into the playoff picture, leapfrogging multiple teams to snag the second wild card spot in the Western Conference. Sure, there’s not just one, but two teams one point back with three games in hand, but for this brief moment, things are looking mildly rosy in Vancouver. That’s what complicates the current situation with Ryan Kesler. Sure, Mike Gillis, Kesler’s agent, and now Kesler himself have all denied Louis Jean’s report that Kesler wants out, but it’s hard to know who to believe. For the time being, however here’s what we know: the Canucks are still in the hunt and Kesler is still an integral part of the team. Teams this close to making the playoffs don’t normally part with guys like that. With that said, there is an awful lot of smoke out there for the Kesler rumours to involve no fire whatsoever. So, if the Canucks do trade Kesler, what does that mean for this season? Can the Canucks win without Kesler? The easy answer would be no. We’ve seen how important depth at centre has been for past Cup winners and Kesler does more than most centres, playing a shutdown role, a scoring role and, occasionally, both at the same time. He’s also the emotional core of the team, giving the type of night-in-night-out effort that has endeared him to Canucks fans and vilified him for everyone else. Removing Kesler from the lineup would seem to rip the heart right out of the team. But the Canucks are certainly capable of winning games without Kesler — they did just that against the Blues. It wasn’t pretty, but the Canucks managed a 1-0 win over one of the best teams in the Western Conference, while dominating possession, out-shooting the Blues 35-20. That’s just one game that required a shutout from Eddie Lack, though, so it doesn’t exactly inspire confidence. We do, however, have a recent example of a Canucks team that spent a lot of time without Kesler. In 2012-13, Kesler missed all but 17 games of the 48 game season, suffering a shoulder injury to start the year, then breaking his foot blocking a shot a few games into his return. While I generally don’t like looking solely at a team’s record to judge an individual player, the result was just unusual enough for me to find it intriguing. In his 17 games with the Canucks last season, the team went 7-7-3, which is technically .500. Without Kesler, the Canucks went 19-8-4. They had Kesler in the playoffs and got swept by the San Jose Sharks. But there’s another way to frame this discussion, however: can the Canucks win by trading Kesler? In all honesty, this actually seems like a pretty good time to trade Kesler. He immediately becomes the best centre on the market at the trade deadline, with his only competition being David Legwand, Steve Ott, and, perhaps, Sam Gagner, meaning he should net a decent return from a contending team looking to upgrade down the middle heading into the playoffs. Even with the rest of the Canucks struggling, Kesler’s having a solid season. He’s leading the Canucks in goalscoring, reaching his 6th straight season (ignoring the lockout) with 20+ goals, and he’s relatively healthy. I mean, he only has a broken hand, maybe, which is basically as healthy as he gets. We’re lucky that he hasn’t chopped his hand off by now. For the Canucks, a trade now makes sense: it’s long been thought that he would transition to first line centre as the Sedins aged and became second-line players, but that was always ignoring that Kesler is just 4 years younger than the Sedins. He’ll be turning 30 this summer, exiting the years that are generally considered to be a hockey player’s prime. His peak years of production came at 25 and 26, which is about average for the peak of an NHL player’s career. While Kesler clearly has many years of great hockey left in him, if he is already past his prime, moving him before the rest of the NHL figures that out does make sense. And even if they know, what contender wouldn’t want a Selke-winning, 41-goal scoring centre who is versatile enough to play wing on a scoring line, anchor your penalty kill, and be a go-to shooter on your first unit power play? Kesler isn’t a rental in the traditional sense, but as immediate injections of skill go, you could do worse, and in fact, if you acquire pretty much any other forward on the block, you have. Dealing Kesler now, while he still has high-end trade value, may be the best route. Trading him at the deadline instead of waiting until the draft also makes sense, as teams near the top of the standings eager to cement their status as a cup contender might be willing to overpay. In that case, trading Kesler for a big return could be a big win long-term for the Canucks, even if it hurts their ability to win this season. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
-DLC- Posted March 7, 2014 Share Posted March 7, 2014 I think we're reaching for answers and there are none except the obvious...drought snowballs into lack of confidence and now the guys don't look like they even know how to play anymore at times. Every single thing is tentative, thought about and lacks timing and accuracy as a result. It's glaring to me at times....even just getting out of their own end, unsure, slow and rather than just flying out of there, they're looking for what to do. Sad to see it deteriorate like this. What also happens is that guys will look to individually fix things rather than collectively. But I can see where even the most basic of passes is "off". Where there are open nets and there is a moment of pause in "pass or shoot?". Nothing is on instinct and reactionary anymore so it's lacking any sense of flow or momentum. Near misses, with every single thing. My two cents. Kes is one of the only ones offering any sense of a spark out there on the ice at times. At least I think so. I think the record is coincidental...I don't think you can attribute Kes being on/off the ice to our problems. I think the ship is sinking and rather than grab the lifeboats and fight for survival the guys are standing on deck, wondering what to do. Just dig in and fight. Crash, bang, get angry (not puzzled) and play like you'll drown if you don't. Again, people think you plug in or remove player A and problem solved. I think it's much more complex than that and involves all players, not just one. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gunshygillis Posted March 7, 2014 Share Posted March 7, 2014 It blows my mind that Kesler has basically played centre his whole career. He should be playing wing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CB007 Posted March 7, 2014 Author Share Posted March 7, 2014 I wonder what's going on inside the locker room when the cameras aren't rolling. You don't see Kes and Burr and Juice ripping each other up for fun any more like they have in previous years. No more photo bombing. Kes continues to be a good player on the ice, and say all the right things on camera. But I wonder what's REALLY going on in the locker room, and the front office as well. And the 19-8-4 vs 7-7-3 stats is too strong to be coincidental, especially for someone of Kesler's caliber, super especially in this parity era. You would clearly think that it would be the other way around. What did we happen to play all the Cali teams while Kesler is in the lineup? I sure would like to dig deep if the information is available. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nino Posted March 7, 2014 Share Posted March 7, 2014 What I see with kess is a great player that plays a game that hurts the team a lot. He turns the puck over a lot because he would rather try and beat his man then make the pass, sure he looks great when he makes the play and people scream beast but most of the time he doesn't. He also is prone to shooting from anyplace he has a clear shot on net, even on the pp. If you look at a lot of his shots they are from areas that he's not going to score from and often with no one in position for rebounds or screen, even on the pp. Simple fact is he's a selfish player and any selfish player may make them selfs look good but in fact are hurting the teams chance of winning. He wasn't always this selfish but looks to be getting more and more so as he gets older. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nuxin07 Posted March 7, 2014 Share Posted March 7, 2014 I wonder what's going on inside the locker room when the cameras aren't rolling. You don't see Kes and Burr and Juice ripping each other up for fun any more like they have in previous years. No more photo bombing. Kes continues to be a good player on the ice, and say all the right things on camera. But I wonder what's REALLY going on in the locker room, and the front office as well. And the 19-8-4 vs 7-7-3 stats is too strong to be coincidental, especially for someone of Kesler's caliber, super especially in this parity era. You would clearly think that it would be the other way around. What did we happen to play all the Cali teams while Kesler is in the lineup? I sure would like to dig deep if the information is available. ^This nails it. The dilemma is that he is also our only decent forward right now. To make matters worse, there is literally no direction or plan in place for where this team is heading, unless you count the basement of the Western Conference Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Caboose Posted March 7, 2014 Share Posted March 7, 2014 Don't try and use common sense on CDC KESLER IS THE SPARKPLUG Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
D-Money Posted March 7, 2014 Share Posted March 7, 2014 Kesler was recovering from injury last year, and never anything close to 100%. But the team kept playing him to hopefully have him going by the playoffs. But this year he is BY FAR our best forward. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Autistic1 Posted March 7, 2014 Share Posted March 7, 2014 So it's kesler's fault that the sedins are complete garbage and won't score another goal for the rest of the year. ok. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RyanKeslord17 Posted March 7, 2014 Share Posted March 7, 2014 Just a coincidence. What's not a coincidence is that Kesler is the only one playing most nights. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Gumballthechewy Posted March 7, 2014 Share Posted March 7, 2014 He wasn't always this selfish but looks to be getting more and more so as he gets older. He's been like that ever since the 10/11 season. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ronalds.Kenins41 Posted March 7, 2014 Share Posted March 7, 2014 Don't try and use common sense on CDC KESLER IS THE SPARKPLUG Umm no he isn't Henrik and Santo were our sparkplugs before they got injured. Kesler is still a important player to us but not important enough for us to win games. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jetliner Posted March 7, 2014 Share Posted March 7, 2014 I agree with some of the previous post that kesler isnt the sole problem of the team. Team chemistry a mess right now. The lines have no identity. Honestly cant tell if sedin is playing as a 1st line or 4th line. Personally I think the problem is coaching Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NotaSmartMan Posted March 7, 2014 Share Posted March 7, 2014 Umm no he isn't Henrik and Santo were our sparkplugs before they got injured. Kesler is still a important player to us but not important enough for us to win games. Agreed Honestly I think Santo was the biggest component of the team in the first half of the season. He solidified the second line while no one else could, played like every game was his last, and was rewarded for it. Plus it is huge motivation for the rest of the team to play harder when one guy starts breaking out as he did. We would not have crashed as hard as we have if he was not injured. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EdgarM Posted March 7, 2014 Share Posted March 7, 2014 CONFIDENCE is lost. Who should we look to? The Captain? What would have happened if Kesler was the Captain during the SC Finals? Since Santo left, confidence has been dropping to where it is now. This team needs Leadership. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chalky Posted March 7, 2014 Share Posted March 7, 2014 This is a hypothetical conversation based on absolutely no facts whatsoever. Ryan Kesler: I thought you were going to trade me first. Mike Gillis: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PowerAids Posted March 7, 2014 Share Posted March 7, 2014 This slump has to be laid first and foremost on the twins and burr. They are the 1st line and their job is to score... And they just haven't. You can't blame this on MG or Torts... They can't get out on the ice and score the goals. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted March 7, 2014 Share Posted March 7, 2014 This slump has to be laid first and foremost on the twins and burr. They are the 1st line and their job is to score... And they just haven't. You can't blame this on MG or Torts... They can't get out on the ice and score the goals. I'm pretty sure all three of them are in at least 20 game goalless droughts at this point. I don't think they are the only problem, but they are the biggest problem right now IMO. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CanucksSayEh Posted March 7, 2014 Share Posted March 7, 2014 I might think there was something to it if he didn't have as many goals as our entire top line combined. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Herberts Vasiljevs Posted March 7, 2014 Share Posted March 7, 2014 It's such 13 year old logic to think "Oh, this player: losing record when in lineup. Oh, this player: winning record when out of lineup. Therefore, cancerous." This only applies to Sean Avery when he played for the Dallas Stars (that kind of drama). Deb is right. It's completely coincidental. You can't just pull numbers out of your *** and create a story out of it, and jump to immediate conclusions. The sky's the limit with numbers, as there are endless stats that you can make that apply to anything. I expect better from a "journalist". Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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