Over their 55-year history, the Vancouver Canucks have had 782 players log at least one game with the franchise. Throughout that time, there have been many memorable seasons, singular moments, and impressive streaks that fans remember to this day. Whether it was a career-high season that was never hit again, a streak that captured headlines for a few weeks, or simply a one-game wonder, they live in history and deserve to be revisited every once in a while. That’s exactly what we’re going to do in this series.
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We begin with a longtime Canuck that had his ups and downs with the fanbase, but is ultimately one of the franchise’s greats: Ryan Kesler. Before getting traded to the Anaheim Ducks in 2014, he played 655 games in Canuck colours and finished with 182 goals and 393 points. Included in those 182 goals was a single 41-goal season that he never came close to again. That season also saw him win his only Selke Trophy and take over a playoff series against the Nashville Predators where he scored five goals in six games. Unfortunately, he couldn’t cap it off with the ultimate prize, the Stanley Cup, but 2010-11 will still be remembered as the best of his NHL career.
Kesler’s Slow Journey to the Summit
Kesler wasn’t projected to become a dominant two-way top-six center when he was drafted in 2003 by the Canucks. He had a slow start to his career in Vancouver, scoring only 18 goals in his first 158 games. It wasn’t until the 2007-08 season that he finally broke out and recorded his first 20-goal season, one season after the Philadelphia Flyers infamously extended a $1.9 million offer sheet that the Canucks matched. After that, he had four straight seasons of 20 or more goals, including the peak performance in 2010-11 when he hit 41. It wasn’t just peak for Kesler, but for his teammates as well, as that team was as close to perfection as you could get. Pick a statistic, the Canucks were number one in it, as they easily won the Presidents’ Trophy led by Kesler and Daniel Sedin’s 41 goals (Daniel also won the Art Ross Trophy with 104 points).
Kesler Hit His Peak in 2010-11
I don’t think anyone predicted Kesler to be a 41-goal scorer in his career, but that’s exactly what he was in 2010-11. Everything seems to go right for the Canucks, well, except for the last five games of the 2011 Stanley Cup Final that every Canucks fan would love to wipe from their memories. That disappointment aside, Kesler had a season for the ages.
Here are a few memorable games that he gave to the Canucks faithful across the 107 times he stepped onto the ice in 2010-11.
Oct. 22, 2010: At the start of a three-game homestand against the Minnesota Wild, Kesler scored his second goal of the season. While that alone wasn’t a massive accomplishment, it was the start of his first bushel of goals, as he went on to pot eight in nine games, ending with back-to-back two-goal outings against the Ottawa Senators and Toronto Maple Leafs on Nov. 11 and 13, respectively.
Dec. 15, 2010: Heading into Game 29 against the Columbus Blue Jackets, Kesler was sitting on 12 goals and had come close three times to recording his first NHL hat trick. But on Dec. 15, 2010, it finally happened. He provided all the offence in a 3-2 victory for the Canucks, including the overtime winner, when he potted his 15th on the power play. Taking a saucer pass from Daniel Sedin on a 2-on-1, he roofed his third past Blue Jackets goaltender Mathieu Garon 3:30 into the extra frame. The hat trick was part of an eight-game point streak that saw Kesler have another two three-point nights: three assists on Dec. 22 vs. the Detroit Red Wings and two goals and an assist on Dec. 28 vs. the Flyers.
Jan. 24, 2011: Before this date, Kesler’s career-high for goals was 26, set in 2008-09. He set a new benchmark against the Dallas Stars, scoring his 27th in a 7-1 rout in front of 18,860 fans at Rogers Arena. The milestone came at 9:05 of the first period, on the power play, assisted by Alex Edler and Daniel Sedin, which made the score 2-1 after Alex Burrows had opened the scoring 1:18 into the game.
Feb. 2, 2011: This was a memorable night for two reasons: the first NHL goal for rookie Cody Hodgson and Kesler’s 30th. Too bad it happened on the road at Jobing.com Arena rather than Rogers Arena. Hodgson was only playing his second game in the league and notched his first in the second period after Burrows and Jannik Hansen had staked the Canucks to a 2-0 lead. Then it was the Kesler show in the third, scoring his 29th to make it 4-0, and his milestone 30th to round out the scoring after Mason Raymond had made it 6-0. It came unassisted at 17:32 to finish a 7-0 rout that saw Roberto Luongo grab a 23-save shutout.
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April 7, 2011: It took almost all 82 games, but Kesler became the Canucks’ ninth 40-goal scorer in their penultimate game of the season against the Minnesota Wild. It also finished off his third hat trick of the campaign. His 40th came 2:18 into the third period, assisted by new acquisition Chris Higgins, and bookended another rout, this time 5-0, with Luongo posting his fourth shutout of the season.
May 3, 2011: Kesler activated what many fans call “beast mode” when the Canucks faced the Predators in the second round of the 2011 Playoffs. Coming off the high of finally slaying the dragon that was the Chicago Blackhawks in the first round, Kesler took the baton from Burrows and became the hero against the Predators. He was arguably the reason they won that series, as he scored five goals in six games, starting with his two-goal performance and overtime winner in Game 3. This came after logging 33:43 in Game 2 when he recorded his first point of the series. The goal was vintage Kesler, creating havoc in the crease and tipping it by Predators goaltender Pekka Rinne.
May 9, 2011: A week later, after failing to close out the series in Game 5, Kesler was at the forefront again in Game 6, but not in the goal column. This time, he was the playmaker, something he’s not usually known for. He had the primary assist on both Raymond and Daniel Sedin’s goals in the first period, as the Canucks held on to win 2-1 on the back of Luongo’s 23 saves. With the win, they moved on to the Western Conference Final (WCF) for the first time since 1994.
May 24, 2011: Kesler wasn’t as dominant in the WCF against the San Jose Sharks, but he flashed his dramatic self in Game 5 with the chance to advance to the Stanley Cup Final. Trailing 2-1, and dangerously close to having to go back to San Jose for Game 6, Kesler started the play with a faceoff win and finished it with a tip-in off a Henrik Sedin shot to tie the game 2-2 with only 14 seconds remaining in regulation. Then, in double-overtime, what is now famously called the “stanchion goal,” Kevin Bieksa fired a floater past an unsuspecting Antti Niemi to send the Canucks to the Stanley Cup Final against the Bruins. But if not for Kesler and his last-minute heroics, that historic moment would have never happened.
Unfortunately, those heroics were the last fans saw of Kesler, as a hip injury limited his effectiveness in the Final. He only posted one assist in the seven-game loss, showing everyone how important he was to the Canucks’ success in 2010-11. If he had been 100 percent, the outcome might have been different, as that series was tailor-made to his style of play. He ended up winning the Selke Trophy after the playoffs had concluded, but I’m sure he would have liked to have a Cup ring as well.
Post-2011 & Trade to the Ducks
Kesler regressed to his 20-goal self in 2011-12, scoring only 22 goals in 77 games. He was still a Selke Trophy-caliber center, but didn’t find the net as much. The Canucks were the NHL’s best team again, winning the Presidents’ Trophy for the second time, but couldn’t make it past the first round of the playoffs. The Los Angeles Kings eliminated them in five games, and Kesler was largely ineffective, posting only three assists. His next season was derailed by wrist and shoulder injuries that limited him to only 17 games, before he bounced back in 2013-14 with his fourth 25-goal season. Unfortunately, that was the short one-season reign of head coach John Tortorella, one that resulted in their first playoff miss since 2008 and the firing of general manager (GM) Mike Gillis.
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During that tumultuous season, when the Canucks finished with a mediocre 36-35-11 record, Kesler reportedly requested a trade after the 2014 Olympics. Despite his agent Kurt Overhardt denying it at the time, it came out later that he had requested a trade before the 2014 Trade Deadline, and gave Gillis seven teams he would like to be dealt to. But nothing happened before the deadline, and the list was shortened to two – the Ducks and Blackhawks. Unfortunately for new GM Jim Benning, he had to deal with the request in the offseason, blindsided by the two-team list. He ultimately figured it out with zero negotiating leverage and traded Kesler to the Ducks on the eve of the 2014 Draft for Nick Bonino, Luca Sbisa, a 2014 first-round pick and a 2014 third-round pick.
Kesler’s exit didn’t go over well with the Canucks fanbase, as they saw the trade request as a slap in the face. He became public enemy number one for a while, booed every time he touched the puck whenever he returned to his former home in Rogers Arena. He scored another 76 goals and 180 points in Anaheim before he was forced to retire (even though he hasn’t officially announced it) after undergoing hip resurfacing surgery in 2019. He ultimately finished his 15-season career with 258 goals and 573 points in 1,001 games, but never got the Stanley Cup he left Vancouver for. The closest he got was two Game 7 losses in the WCF, one in 2015 and another in 2017.
Kesler Gets Back Into Canucks Nation’s Good Books
Kesler may have been the target of boos for a few seasons, but it appears he’s back in the fans’ good books now. The shift occurred when he returned to Vancouver in 2020 for Henrik and Daniel Sedin’s jersey retirement ceremony. He was received well by the fans with two standing ovations, and all seemed to have been forgiven. He was also recently featured on the Jumbotron on Nov. 12, 2024, pumping up the crowd during a 3-1 victory over the Calgary Flames. A “Ryan Kesler” chant reverberated through the arena afterward, confirming that he was indeed back in the Canucks family.
Kesler then appeared on Donnie and Dhali the next morning, and said, “I will never forget that, the way the fans have treated me after everything that happened. I was talking with the wife about that this morning about that, I would love to retire as a Canuck, my heart is in this city.”
Kesler also said that he regretted leaving Vancouver in the first place, which really hit home for a lot of people. In the end, he left to win, and the Canucks were heading in the wrong direction, while the Ducks and Blackhawks weren’t. It’s understandable why he wanted to leave to join those teams.
