20

Ryan Kesler

 

Garth McLennan

sports editor

 

f you’ve been watching

the Vancouver Canucks

for the last several years,
it should be plain to see that
the Sedin twins aren’t the
only ones wearing the Orca
to have developed into bona-
fide stars. Yes, the twins are
great, and much of the ink
spilled about the Canucks this
season has been devoted to
their emergence among the
NHL’s scoring leaders, but one
under-reported story has been
the development of perhaps
Vancouver’s most complete
player, Ryan Kesler.

While it is well known
that Kesler is currently in the

$5.6 million this year. While
Richards does have higher
career numbers than Kesler,
they’re similar players with
leadership qualities whose
respective clubs have been
building around.

After the conclusion of the
recent Winter Olympics, it’s
clear that Kesler can play with
the best in the world. He was a
strong two-way presence for a
powerful American squad that
surprised many by winning
the silver medal. During
round-robin preliminary play,
Kesler was the one to quell any
Canadian comeback hopes by
out-working Corey Perry and

“While Kesler won't be an unrestricted free agent at the end
of the year, he’ll still be a prime target for offer sheets from
opposing GM’s around the league.”

final year of contract with the
club, there has so far been very
little to report on talks of an
extension from either side. It
is clear however, that Kesler
is well on his way to a career
season (he has 54 points in 61
games this year. Last year, in
82 games, he had 56 points
total) and that this year he has
to be considered one of the best
bargains in the NHL. His cap
hit is a steal at $1.75 million.
Unfortunately for
Vancouver GM Mike Gillis,
Kesler’s coming-out party this
year will most likely result
in a big hike in his annual
remuneration numbers. Some
of the figures being bandied
about revolve around the total
earned by Mike Richards of
Philadelphia, the Team Canada
center man who will haul in

scoring a wild empty net goal to
seal a U.S. win against Canada.
While Kesler won’t be an
unrestricted free agent at the
end of the year, he’ll still be
a prime target for offer sheets
from opposing GM’s around
the league. Bobby Clarke
in Philadelphia proved that
several years ago when he
tendered an offer to Kesler,
who is slated to once again
become an RFA (restricted free
agent), for $1.9 million. Then
Canucks GM Dave Nonis was
widely criticized for matching
the Flyers’ offer (including by
yours truly) but in hindsight it
has turned out brilliantly for
the Canucks. We just have to
hope that Gillis has something
similar up his sleeve this
summer.