The Canucks managed to keep their streak alive against the Islanders last night, even if it did take a shootout to get the job done. Thanks to goals from Burrows (right in front of the night), Kesler (a strong wrister), and Bieksa (the impossible angle shot), and shootout tallies from Mason (the highlight reel spin-o-rama that was Sports Center's #6 play of the day) and Kesler (a move that made the girls swoon), the Canucks are now 14-0-3 over their last 17 games. Unstoppable. With a 28-8-6 overall record and a NHL leading 62 points (+3 on Detroit/Philly), the Canucks are the kings of the castle right now, and a lot of that love is deservedly going to Livonia, Michigan native Ryan Kesler.
It started on NHL On The Fly last night, when Kevin Weekes said, "Ryan Kesler is the best two way player in the World right now." Now, obviously, I can't comment on the veracity of that statement because I don't have full knowledge of all the professional leagues in the World, but he felt confident putting it out there. The Kes love continued from there. This morning, the "Puck Daddy" from Yahoo! Sports wrote a story with the headline, "The dark horse Hart Trophy candidacy of Ryan Kesler," where he makes his case for Kes being on pace to be selected as the NHL's MVP (a trophy currently held by fellow Canuck Hank Sedin). He notes Kes' NHL ranks of being 5th in goals, 6th in PPG, 2nd in GWG, and 8th in faceoff percentage, and suggests that he has been the most valuable player to his specific team. He's turned Mason Raymond, Jannik Hansen, and Tambers to gold as a center, and is on pace to completely destroy all his previous career highs.
Yahoo's Nick Cotsonika didn't go as far as the Hart, but considers Kes to be a shoe in for the Selke if he keeps it up, which would echo what Weekes said last night on the NHL Network. Kes was the runner up last season to the three time "best two-way player" Pavel Datsyuk, but with the Wings player missing time to injury, Kesler has stepped to the forefront. Looking at his stats, as mentioned, it's easy to see that Kes has put up the offense this year. It's obviously harder to quantify his defensive numbers, and thus see if he truly is the best defensive forward. However, we can see that he's a +17 this year, he has 64 hits, 43 blocked shots, and he's down to scrap with anyone at any time. Just ask the blueliners who get paired up with him if they think he's a true defensive forward. They're, no doubt, stoked everytime they're on the ice with #17.
Since the Hart is hugely based on the number of points a player finishes with, I highly doubt Kes will sniff it. However, I don't see very many players who could challenge him for the Selke this year. I may not know every hockey player in the World, but I am going to have to agree with Kevin Weekes here, and say that Ryan Kesler is better than all of them.
Next I take up the cause of trying to get Alex Burrows the Lady Byng.
-- Sent from my Palm Prē
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