| Not really racist! | 05-30-2014 10:05 PM |
Old article (2 weeks), and a Botch article, so to be taken with a grain of salt http://www.theprovince.com/sports/Bo...348/story.html Quote:
Botchford: Ryan Kesler may not want to be a Penguin now
Pens’ post-season collapse may take them out of the running for Canucks centre’s services
Even before the Pittsburgh Penguins had burned to the ground, scavengers around the NHL were setting out to pick through the debris.
Nothing attracts a crowd quite like an NHL team making a pig’s ear out of their postseason.
Reactions went from the reasoned — Dan Bylsma is about to get canned! — to the insane — Evgeni Malkin is on the trade block! Get him!
Bylsma is, of course, a hot topic in Vancouver, a city that knocks its collective knees in nervous excitement at the mere mention of any name coach who could help it forget the wretched John Tortorella era.
Save us, Trotz. Save us, McLellan. Save us, Bylsma. And it will go on.
If Bylsma does hit the open market, he instantly becomes the best available head coaching candidate. Though, considering the apparent distance between the Canucks and the teams currently wearing the big-boy pants in the Pac Division, the next coach may not be the most meaningful decision the new management group has to make.
The Canucks sit staring at a crossroads right now, and which path they travel down depends entirely on what they plan to do with Ryan Kesler.
There are those of us who believe it isn’t much of a choice.
Kesler is 29 years old, has a couple years left at an affordable ticket price, and is coming off a season where he played monster minutes and scored 25 goals, leading an offensively inept Tortorella team which, well, couldn’t score goals.
His value is never going to get much better. And trading him is one move that could lead to the assets needed to move the needle on a Canucks rebuild.
Kesler has already given the Canucks six teams he’d be willing to waive his no-trade clause for: Anaheim, Colorado, Detroit, Tampa Bay, Chicago and Pittsburgh.
Unfortunately for the Canucks, there were only fits with two of those teams heading toward the March trade deadline — Anaheim and Pittsburgh.
Kesler’s list meant three key teams were out of it — Columbus, the Rangers and Philadelphia — which created a soft market two months ago.
So, the teams who were in it, the Penguins and the Ducks, tried to get a premium player at Sears prices.
To heat up the marketplace, the Canucks needed desperation from one of those two teams, and wouldn’t you know the Penguins fell to pieces because they lacked a shutdown centre who can also add some secondary scoring.
Funny how life works sometimes.
Refusing to put Derek Pouliot in a Kesler package at the deadline starts looking like a critical misstep by Pittsburgh GM Ray Shero right about now.
But before you get carried away with your fantasy trades, be warned ... the Penguins’ collapse may actually have been too excessive. Kesler is not going to be eager to walk into any tire fires.
Is he still going to be willing to waive his no-trade clause for a Pittsburgh team that lacks depth, a decent blueline, an above-average goalie and is coached by, say, Mike Keenan, a name being thrown out there Wednesday?
Yeah, didn’t think so.
Sure, any team with Malkin and Sidney Crosby is going to be appealing, but Kesler will be re-examining his options leading up to the draft, the next likeliest date for a deal of this magnitude.
If Pittsburgh is actually crossed off Kesler’s list, and Anaheim continues to prove it doesn’t need him this postseason, the Kesler trade landscape threatens to shrivel up like a worm on a hot stove.
Then, the Canucks’ path could be chosen for them.
That’s not to say keeping Kesler is necessarily a second choice for the incoming Vancouver general manager.
While many outside the organization believe trading Kesler is the way to go, there are those who work at Rogers Arena who think keeping him and getting him an elite winger to play with is the quickest way to turn around this depleted supertanker.
But, if you’re looking at it from Kesler’s point of view, that’s been the plan for years.
And it’s easier said than done.
jbotchford@theprovince.com
twitter.com/@botchford
© Copyright (c) The Province
| Benning said he would meet with Kes after the combine stuff, so it wouldn't be surprising if he submits a different list again, or says he doesn't want to leave assuming his problem was with management.
Pratt is reporting the same, so it should be true even though he's normally full of crap and a shit starter |
