Ryan Kesler

[BTueyCanucksFan]

So, I haven't seen this posted here yet so I am posting it for people's perusal. Even though the interview was with Kesler, I would take this with a grain of salt. Canucks Army is not the most credible of shoes most of the time but the interview was certainly interesting. Personally, if true, I would love to see it happen. Enough time has passed and he has made attempts to mess the bridges that were burned on his departure. Of course there is another former Canuck who has not officially retired, who would be with of the same gesture. Two actually: Matthias Ohlund and Alexandre Burrows. All three have so much to this team and should never have left, in my opinion. The article along with the line interview are included below. 

 

https://canucksarmy.com/news/love-retire-canuck-ryan-kesler-talks-possibility-ring-honour

[Coconuts]

Next ROH guy will likely be Edler once he retires 

 

Hughes will catch him but he still leads the Canucks in a lot of categories for D 

 

For example, only three players have played more games in a Canucks uniform than Edler and they're all in the rafters 

[Hammertime]

Guzzler!

[King Heffy]

I'd accept it but there's others I'd prioritize, such as Edler and Gino. Kesler gave everything he had for this franchise, absolutely no hard feelings towards him.

[-AJ-]

Eh, I think the bar has to be set somewhere. I'm okay with Kesler remaining out. Edler will get in once he retires.

[Drive-By Body Pierce]

Kesler put everything into his time in Vancouver. By the time he went to Anaheim, he was damaged goods.

 

I think he deserves to be in the ROH.

[Rounoush]

Yes to Kes

[rmok]

NO!

 

People have very short and revisionist memories. 

 

Kesler never loved vancouver and it was never his "home"

 

He was a good player that played well for a few years. He absolutely did not 'give his all' for vancouver.. completely the opposite. 

 

Do we forget that early in his career he signed an offer sheet to leave for money and go play in Philly? 

 

Do we forget that later in his career when things weren't going well he didn't play harder or take the lead.. he BAILED on the team while others like Bieksa and Burrows would "go down with the ship"... And then handcuffed the team on return by breaking his contractual commitments and demanding a trade... and then demanded to only be traded 2 teams including the teams arch rivals chicago? So he could go coattail Toews and Kane... or Perry and Getzlaf after coat tailing the Sedins. 

Do we forget what a terrible teammate he was off the ice .. Those old enough know what I am talking about. 

 

He never ended up accomplishing or winning anything after he left so now wants to crawl back for some accolades from the team that he bailed on that allowed him to have some success. 

 

Just NO! 

 

Plenty of other players are more deserving and more to come. 

[IBatch]

7 hours ago, Drive-By Body Pierce said:

Kesler put everything into his time in Vancouver. By the time he went to Anaheim, he was damaged goods.

 

I think he deserves to be in the ROH.

Even in ANA he kept up his run of Selke finalists going for a bit. 

[IBatch]

3 hours ago, rmok said:

NO!

 

People have very short and revisionist memories. 

 

Kesler never loved vancouver and it was never his "home"

 

He was a good player that played well for a few years. He absolutely did not 'give his all' for vancouver.. completely the opposite. 

 

Do we forget that early in his career he signed an offer sheet to leave for money and go play in Philly? 

 

Do we forget that later in his career when things weren't going well he didn't play harder or take the lead.. he BAILED on the team while others like Bieksa and Burrows would "go down with the ship"... And then handcuffed the team on return by breaking his contractual commitments and demanding a trade... and then demanded to only be traded 2 teams including the teams arch rivals chicago? So he could go coattail Toews and Kane... or Perry and Getzlaf after coat tailing the Sedins. 

Do we forget what a terrible teammate he was off the ice .. Those old enough know what I am talking about. 

 

He never ended up accomplishing or winning anything after he left so now wants to crawl back for some accolades from the team that he bailed on that allowed him to have some success. 

 

Just NO! 

 

Plenty of other players are more deserving and more to come. 

Say what?   Kesler gave his "all" from the moment he stepped onto the ice, worked his way up the lineup, until he'd had enough and wanted out.   His hamstring was hanging on like a thread.   Have you ever had a "charley horse" on a hamstring before?   It's not pleasant.    To continue, took pain killers and continued to injure his body, in the quest to bring a cup to Vancouver.   Love and worked with people who have the same mentality to complete things regardless of future consequences.     Was one of the best hockey players on the planet in 2010.      USA wasn't loaded like we were,  Miller and Kesler almost created an epic upset.  

 

Bure left and crushed us as fans.   Now his name is in the rafters and nobody else is allowed to wear it.   Like other great Canuck players,  17 is likely going to remind people of Kesler for a very, very long time.    And  44 reminds me of Babych not Bertuzzi.    It would take an awfully good player to wear 17 better. 

 

As for the ROH, probably not no.   Because of his exit, nothing at all to do with his play on ice.    Kesler dropping them with Iginla, how many of our guys coming in would even consider something like that these days?  People do indeed have short memories 

Edited April 22 by IBatch

[IBatch]

12 hours ago, BTueyCanucksFan said:

So, I haven't seen this posted here yet so I am posting it for people's perusal. Even though the interview was with Kesler, I would take this with a grain of salt. Canucks Army is not the most credible of shoes most of the time but the interview was certainly interesting. Personally, if true, I would love to see it happen. Enough time has passed and he has made attempts to mess the bridges that were burned on his departure. Of course there is another former Canuck who has not officially retired, who would be with of the same gesture. Two actually: Matthias Ohlund and Alexandre Burrows. All three have so much to this team and should never have left, in my opinion. The article along with the line interview are included below. 

 

https://canucksarmy.com/news/love-retire-canuck-ryan-kesler-talks-possibility-ring-honour

Burrows did us a solid.   So did Bieksa (now there's a guy who deserves recognition too).   So did Hansen.   So did Kesler.    Sometimes, it's better for the TEAM, if a player moves on and we can get something for them.   The only one that did before their value was completely tanked, was Kesler and Luongo (waived).  

 

Ohlund, wasn't he a UFA?    

Edited April 22 by IBatch

[IBatch]

10 hours ago, -AJ- said:

Eh, I think the bar has to be set somewhere. I'm okay with Kesler remaining out. Edler will get in once he retires.

Edler will get in.    Lumme would have got in too if he played his entire career here minus a bit.    Snepsts and Gino, as far as "leaving a lasting impression" goes, hard to see guys more deserving than that who aren't in already.  

 

As far as setting the bar, really Gino set the bar as high as it could be, Tiger did too despite only half a decade.    Jovocop too.   For sure it it doesn't need to be a longevity award, in the framework of "lasting impressions" .   Edlers longevrity  bar will be really tough to beat these days, and well "the Eagle"  played a big part on our second line in 2011 (Hamhuis Bieksa was our first line...Bieksa tied the league lead in ESP one year to defenseman..no power play time does matter).   Bieksa is someone else who scored a big goal on that team who'd i'd wouldn't consider lowering the bar for.    Continues to advocate for us right now...food for thought. 

 

 We've had quite a few guys who've been around for close to a decade worthy of consideration.    We've for sure had better defenseman as well, both all around defenders, and pure producers.   Era adjusted or not,  22nd all time in PPG isn't exactly setting the  bar high.   QHs is going to pass him next season.   Jovo and Lumme were parts of good era's, Edler on his own with Tanev unfortunately, not so much.    

 

[Alflives]

Kesler won the Selke. He was the best at what he did in the league. He was great for us. He’s absolutely an ROH guy. Edler not so much. He was a good player but never one of the top guys, at his position, in the league. Kesler was. 

[Sell.the.team]

No to Kesler. He sandbagged this team hard with how he handled his trade. I will forever boo him.

[Provost]

Nah, not every good player goes into the ring of honour.

 

If they want to honour great rosters or great moments, do up a mural for the whole team in the concourse/stairwells.

 

That entire 2011 roster probably needs some level of recognition.

Edited April 23 by Provost

[MeanSeanBean]

Not a ring of honor candidate.

[Thundernuts]

1 hour ago, Sell.the.team said:

No to Kesler. He sandbagged this team hard with how he handled his trade. I will forever boo him.

He also signed a contract here for well under market value that allowed the Canucks to sign other players and be more competitive.  Once he saw the Canucks were on the way down, he used his negotiated right to veto any teams he didn't want to be traded to.  He wanted to win, regardless of which team he played for, and for a period, it benefitted us.  Gotta take the good with the bad.

[IBatch]

38 minutes ago, Thundernuts said:

He also signed a contract here for well under market value that allowed the Canucks to sign other players and be more competitive.  Once he saw the Canucks were on the way down, he used his negotiated right to veto any teams he didn't want to be traded to.  He wanted to win, regardless of which team he played for, and for a period, it benefitted us.  Gotta take the good with the bad.

You have to look at cap percentage and what that player did UP UNTIL then.   The Sedins and Kesler were all paid handsomely for that.   The one player who took a discount,  and was paid later, was Burrows. 

[Sell.the.team]

50 minutes ago, Thundernuts said:

He also signed a contract here for well under market value that allowed the Canucks to sign other players and be more competitive.  Once he saw the Canucks were on the way down, he used his negotiated right to veto any teams he didn't want to be traded to.  He wanted to win, regardless of which team he played for, and for a period, it benefitted us.  Gotta take the good with the bad.

 

I have always maintained that I had no problem with Kesler wanting out.

 

He served this team faithfully.  He put the team on his back during the finals run.  He earned the right to ask out.

 

However, as I said, its how he handled the trade negotations.

 

His first order of business was telling everyone who would listen during the 2014 Olympic break that he was done with the team and wanted a trade.  This obviously became public knowledge very quickly.  He quickly denied it publically but the damage was done.  A much more classy thing to have done would be to have privately asked for a trade and allowed the team to shop him around.  Yes, it may have leaked that we were exploring a trade, but it would have been much less chaotic and embarassing for the team in general.

 

His next order of business was putting only 2 teams on his NMC list.  One was Chicago who 1) had enough superstars already that they were having trouble retaining and 2) a bitter rival who was unlikely to give up any serious assets to acquire him (even if they had the cap space and desire to add him).  One was Anaheim.  This was effectively a 1 team list.  It is impossible to get any sort of leverage in negotiations when you are only dealing with one party.  We needed some semblance of a bidding war and this was made impossible by Kesler.... likely by design.  

 

Benning should have known this and demanded he expand the list to 7-8 contenders.  I believe Kesler had 2 years left on his deal and I am sure he would have caved.

 

Kesler's agent applied pressure and I suppose Benning just wanted to cut his losses, be done with it, and get a fresh start without causing too much of a distraction.  While Benning's incompetence is not Kesler's fault, Kesler sullied his legacy here by the way he and his agent acted and I (personally) will never honor him.  I will happily boo him at his inducton ceremony if it ever comes to it.  

 

[Diamonds]

1 hour ago, IBatch said:

You have to look at cap percentage and what that player did UP UNTIL then.   The Sedins and Kesler were all paid handsomely for that.   The one player who took a discount,  and was paid later, was Burrows. 

Kesler also took a discount. Following two Selke finalist seasons (with 59 and 75 points respectively) he signed a contract for 8.42% of the cap. That would have been $7M last season. In 2009-10 he was 22nd in league scoring and 11th among centers. He was effectively playing at a 1st line level so yes, signing for what would be the equivalent of $7M today was a discount.

[rmok]

6 hours ago, Thundernuts said:

He also signed a contract here for well under market value that allowed the Canucks to sign other players and be more competitive.  Once he saw the Canucks were on the way down, he used his negotiated right to veto any teams he didn't want to be traded to.  He wanted to win, regardless of which team he played for, and for a period, it benefitted us.  Gotta take the good with the bad.

He absolutely did not sign a contract under market value. He did demand/suggest other players do that.. like Burrows. He also signed an offer sheet forcing the canucks to pay him way more than his value at the time. 
Oh look you are one of those people that doesn't understand what a no trade clause is. A no trade clause is negotiated so that a team can't just choose to trade a player.. or trade them to certain teams.. It is not negotiated so you can demand a trade when the team doesn't actually want to trade you and then use it to hamstring the team to only trade you to the team you want to go to. 
Ya he wanted to win.. for him, not the team and when things got tough he didn't play better he demanded to go leach off Kane and Toews or Perry and Getzlaf... in other words he didn't give a damn about vancouver and he doesn't deserve to be in the ROH because he had one really good year. 

[JeremyCuddles]

If he didn't ask out like he did, I'd be on board. But he left. I agree with AJ that a bar needs to be set somewhere. I am fine with Kes not making the ROH. Again, if he stuck it out longer, I'd have him there in a heartbeat. His prime wasn't long, injuries robbed him of a longer prime, but boy did he shine bright. Just not long enough and not long enough with us to warrant ROH. IMO anyway.

[The Arrogant Worms]

 

[NewbieCanuckFan]

5 hours ago, Diamonds said:

Kesler also took a discount. Following two Selke finalist seasons (with 59 and 75 points respectively) he signed a contract for 8.42% of the cap. That would have been $7M last season. In 2009-10 he was 22nd in league scoring and 11th among centers. He was effectively playing at a 1st line level so yes, signing for what would be the equivalent of $7M today was a discount.

He wasn't effectively offensively producing at a 1st line level beyond the 1st year of that contract renewal he signed (still defensively rock solid to be sure).  12/13 season is a bit if of a incomplete in that he didn't play that many games that season.  

[Diamonds]

34 minutes ago, NewbieCanuckFan said:

He wasn't effectively offensively producing at a 1st line level beyond the 1st year of that contract renewal he signed (still defensively rock solid to be sure).  12/13 season is a bit if of a incomplete in that he didn't play that many games that season.  

I was just pointing out that his offense alone, even disregarding his defense, was worth more than $5M in 2010. But he was also among the elite defensively in the NHL. You can also look at his closest comparables when he signed his contract and he took less. Mikko Koivu signed the same summer for $6.75M (11.36% of cap) and Mike Richards was making $5.75M which was signed a couple years earlier. Bergeron also signed for the same $5M as Kesler that summer and at the time Kesler was the better of the two.