Towards the end of last season, when Roberto Luongo was disrespected by then-head coach John Tortorella – Luongo was traded soon after, and Tortorella was fired – there were rumours of great unrest inside the Canucks’ locker room.
The coach had lost the team, and big-name players were incredibly unhappy, or so said scuttlebutt at the time.
One of the names mentioned was Vancouver’s star centre, American-born Ryan Kesler, who apparently wanted to be traded from Western Canada (where he’s played his entire career) back to an American team.
At the time, myself (along with many others) speculated on Kesler’s true motives: did he just want to get the hell out of Vancouver before the franchise really imploded?
It seemed likely, particularly if you believed the rumours (which I tend to do) – these whispers don’t leak out by accident. There’s always at least a modicum of truth to them.
At any rate, Kesler stayed put throughout the season, likely because the right deal wasn’t forthcoming.
But now the Canucks, with a new head coach and general manager taking over from the Mike Gillis and Tortorella respectively, have pulled the trigger.
Kesler, one of the most identifiable Canuck names of the last few years – along with the Sedin twins, Alex Burrows and Luongo – is out the door.
That represents very good news for the Anaheim Ducks, whose deal to acquire the polarising twenty-nine-year-old American saw them sending young centre Nick Bonino, promising defenceman Luca Sbisa and the 24th overall pick in Friday’s NHL Draft to Vancouver in a deal finalised before the commencement of the Draft.
A solid two-way centre, Kesler figures to be a good fit at Anaheim, under the lightning-fast offensive scheme that saw Bruce Boudreau’s men remain at the top of the Western Conference heap for the majority of the season.
In a decade in Vancouver, Kesler helped himself to six 20-goal seasons and amassed 392 points while perfecting an agitating physical style.
He’s also a two-time U.S. Olympian who, in 2011, won the Selke Trophy, awarded to the player adjudged the NHL’s best defensive forward.
For the Ducks, they finally have their legitimate superstar centre to play on the second line behind the established Ryan Getzlaf.
Certainly, Kesler will bump up their face-off abilities and his talent as a flat-out goal scorer should never be underestimated. As far as players go, he’s almost the complete package, though he’s missed some time with injuries, which is probably the only downside to a deal that means Kesler has two years – and a cool $10 million – left on his current term.
Anaheim is the clear winner here, although you get the feeling that the Canucks, who have gone through a pretty thorough clean-out over the spring and into North America’s summer, are probably glad that Kesler has moved on.
If indeed he was unhappy in the locker room, as a senior player he’s the sort of person who can mould the thinking of younger and less-experienced teammates. One thing is for sure: the Canucks roster in 2014-15 is going to be markedly different from those of previous years.
As far as the Ducks go, this is just a retool of a roster that took them deep into the playoffs, eventually succumbing to eventual Stanley Cup champions, the Los Angeles Kings, in Game 7 of the all-Southern California Western Conference Semi-Final series.
There’s plenty of youth coming through the Ducks franchise after a rash of retirements and other departures since the end of the season.
However, it’s the veteran Kesler’s steadying presence paired with his niggle-centric approach that makes him Public Enemy No. 1 in whichever Away venue he’s visiting, that will make the biggest difference to the Ducks in 2014-15.
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