Black Ice Vancouver

“The team was good offensively, they could score goals, but they played by the seat of their pants. And the goaltending was never up to snuff. I called Steve [Yzerman] in and I said, ‘you have a lot of good individual stats, but if you don’t play a lot more defense, then the rest of the guys are going to keep playing the way that they are.’” – Legendary Scotty Bowman on the pre-dynasty Detroit Red Wings of the 90’s

Ryan Kesler, in his six year tenure with Vancouver (four with the Canucks, two with the Moose) has been more of a well guarded treasure than a well kept secret.

Never was this more clear than three years ago when Philadelphia Flyers’ feisty GM Bobby Clark offered Kesler 1.9 million to defect east and play a year on Broad Street.

It would have been a match made in hockey heaven, but the nuptuils never materialized.

Thanks-be-to-god that Dave Nonis had the wherewithal (despite this being the dawn of the penny-pinching Salary Cap era) to counter the offer sheet. A tense standoff between front offices was soon resolved but not without a very important footnote to NHL history being added to the annals of its business dealings (later to be dug up and slugged out by Brian Burke and Kevin Lowe during their now famous feud).

To the Vancouver Canucks, however, Ryan Kesler has risen from fledgling rookie with speed and potential, to defensive specialist extraordinaire (capped with a Selke nomination this spring), to offensive dynamo, carrying the load of a team seriously handicapped by injuries to the top-six corps and impotence from the bottom-six.

Roberto Luongo may be the face of the franchise, but Ryan Kesler has slowly but surely become the heart-and-soul.

And now to that period last night. It is almost like Coach Vee did a Bowman-about-face this summer, took Kesler aside and said, “look Ryan, your defense is spectacular, but your offense is suspect, the team is going to follow your lead, so if you score more goals, so will the team.”

Sunday night, Tanner Glass scored his first of the season.

Tuesday night, Rick Rypien had his first of the season and Mikhail Samuelsson potted two to lead the Canucks past the New York Rangers in a re-match of the ‘94 Cup final. All three of those goals were assisted by Kesler who hit, blocked shots, created space for his team and finished with practically every box on the score-sheet filled out in his name.

That is the type of player that wins championships, the one that captures the heart and minds of both the fans and the players.

Now it just remains to be seen: will the other Canucks keep up.

Next Up – Minnesota