Fan In Van

Why I’d Never Trade Kesler

Ever since Ryan Kesler’s value catapulted last season, I’ve often been confronted with hypothetical situations from Canuck fans on what it would take to pull the trigger on a deal which would send the two-way centre away. And perhaps in all that water cooler talk I’ve underrated how much Kesler means to the Canucks.

I know all about what Ryan Kesler brings to this table. He’s a playmaking centre with good speed, good skill, good size, good everything. On top of him wearing a letter on his chest, the guy plays in all situations: On the powerplay, the penalty kill, when you’re defending a one-goal lead and when you need a goal with one minute to go. Those kind of intangibles are few and far between in the NHL.

Ryan Kesler may never step out of the shadows of the 2003 NHL entry draft, arguably one of the deepest drafts in NHL history. Drafted 23rd, the bottom half of the first-round produced an abundance of superstar forwards like Zach Parise (17th) and Ryan Getzlaf (19th). After the Canucks came and left the podium with a scrawny Ohio State Buckeye in Kesler, future studs like Mike Richards (24th) and Corey Perry (28th) didn’t wait much longer.

With that kind of company, it’s easy to talk about how much better the Canucks would’ve looked like if they decided to trade up for Jeff Carter (11th), who scored 46 goals last season. Maybe the Canucks would’ve scored a few extra goals, won a couple extra games … maybe they would’ve won another round or two in the postseason. Up to this point, I have severely underrated Ryan Kesler.

But no longer.

At first look, it appears as though the Michigan native is headed for a minor step back on his career path, after scoring a mere six goals 30 games through the season (he’s currently on pace for 16). But while his goal totals are discomforting, he’s on pace for 54 assists and could surpass last year’s career-high in points of 59.

Perhaps more pointedly, more evidence which points to his improvement is that at this time last season, Kesler only had five goals to his name as well. When he and the rest of the Canucks caught fire in the New Year, he set the league ablaze with 17 goals down the stretch.

But numbers aren’t everything. Even though Kesler won’t be mistaken for his 2003 draft mates like snipers Parise and Carter, or power forwards Getzlaf and Perry, or heart-and-soul player Richards, all five players except Parise are making north of 5M per season. And Kesler, who has stated previously that he may consider taking a paycut to keep the Canucks’ group together.

Just how much that discount is remains to be seen, but if Kesler is true to his word and takes around 4M per season, the debate of who in the 2003 draft class is the better player would become much more muddled.

Oh, and it wouldn’t be a 2003 draft discussion without mentioning the few duds of the first round: Brian Boyle (26th) and Shawn Belle (30th) have combined to play 45 games in the NHL and I do believe the New York Rangers are still waiting on Hugh Jessiman (12th) to show up to training camp (since traded to Nashville).