MCDAVID’S SHADOW
Kesler will be tough to shake
ANAHEIM Ryan Kesler makes no apologies for how he plays, nor should he.
His job is to limit Connor McDavid’s time and space and that space is not only the 200-by85-foot sheet of ice, but the six inches between the NHL scoring champion’s ears. That is the No. 1 head-to-head storyline of the Anaheim Ducks and Edmonton Oilers playoff series with Ryan Nugent-Hopkins battling the red-hot Ryan Getzlaf as the No. 2 challenge.
Bothering people is what Kesler does best as the former Selke Trophy winner is up for it again this year against Patrice Bergeron and Mikko Koivu. Kesler is the antithesis of Bergeron, though. Bergeron is silky in his checking ability and there’s no snarl to his game. Silky is not an adjective Kesler has ever heard. He would give Woody Woodpecker a headache.
There was no animosity in the Oilers’ win over San Jose Sharks. Lots of heroes, no villains. But that won’t be the case against Anaheim thanks to Kesler, who had 22 goals and 58 points as the Ducks’ No. 2 centre behind Getzlaf and relishes wearing the black hat.
“People think I go out there to frustrate my opponent,” said Kesler. “I just go out and play my game and if that frustrates them, then that’s their problem.
“I play hard and I’m going to try and outcompete the guy across from me. Again, if they get frustrated, that’s their problem.”
His linemate and former Oilers player Andrew Cogliano seconds that. Kesler is the NHL’s resident irritant. In a lot of ways, he’s like Esa Tikkanen was, without the sloppy grin.
“I don’t think guys enjoy playing against him. He’s always got under guys’ skin in terms of being hard on them and giving them very little room. He does some sticking that kind of wears on guys in the playoffs and positionally, he’s always been sound. When he’s in the offensive zone, he’s tough to handle and he often makes star players play D,” said Cogliano.
Cogliano absolutely thinks Kesler can get into a player’s head space.
“Players know it’ll be a long night against Kes. He can have a mental edge on guys and he uses it to his advantage. It’s good for us and he’s effective and he’s done it a long time,” said Cogliano.
Kesler said he doesn’t watch individual film of guys like McDavid, but he has always developed a book on stars.
“I’ve played against McDavid half a dozen times. You learn tendencies, it’s probably the mental aspect. It’s leaning on things you’ve done well before against guys,” said Kesler.
“Kes is so competitive. Maybe he’s a more in-your-face guy than Bergeron, which hopefully will do the job against a young kid (like McDavid). If you’re a mild, quiet kid and you have their brash guy in your face cross-checking you, slashing you, telling him he’ll kick your butt, that’s Kes’s game in a nutshell,” said Kesler’s longtime buddy Kevin Bieksa, teammates in both Vancouver and Anaheim.
McDavid, who has way more fire than people give him credit for, likely won’t be pushed into retaliating against any of Kesler’s shenanigans. But you never know.
“Our game certainly isn’t to go out and trash-talk him (McDavid). The trash talk is the icing on the cake for Kes. It’s the playing in your face, the constant checking. Trashtalking isn’t going to stop Connor McDavid,” said Bieksa
Cogliano, who also plays with Jakob Silfverberg on the No. 2 line, says there’s nobody quite like McDavid.
“He creates his offence from the defensive zone. When there’s rebounds or pucks that bounce free in the slot, he takes off so fast. That’s very unique.”
Kesler started his pro career with the American Hockey League’s Manitoba Moose as a checker with Alex Burrows on the Canucks’ farm team. Kesler, Bieksa, who also got his pro start with the Moose, and Burrows were all cut from the same rub-the-opponent-with-sandpaper game.
Kesler and Bieksa were roommates on the road for a half-dozen years. Bieksa said Kesler is like a second brother to him and, yes, they’ve wanted to kill each other.
“Yeah, a couple of times,” Kesler said with a grin. “We’ve played 11 or 12 years together and we are like brothers. He’s my much older brother and I’m the more handsome younger brother.
“We’ve spent a lot of time together, but if too much time, we do battle.”
“He’s a guy you want to go to war with, for sure.”
Kesler’s got plenty of offensive chops — he’s on the Ducks’ No. 1 power play — but that’s who he is: a guy who will be out shift after shift against McDavid playing the game within a game.
“Kes didn’t come into the league as an offensive guy. He was on a line with Burrows and it was their job to get under (Jarome) Iginla’s skin every single game. They penalty-killed together, chipped in with some goals and I don’t think Kes saw any power-play time until four or five years into the league. Then he added another dimension to his game, good in front of the net, tipped everything,” said Bieksa.