Nucks fans- fill me in on Ryan Kesler

[duballstar014]

I drafted this guy in our league and have gotten quite a bit of trade proposals for him. The league counts shifts and hits among just about every other offensive stat.

Here is what CBS fantasy sports has to say about him:

Ryan Kesler, C VAN

News: The Sports Xchange reports Canucks C Ryan Kesler is looking forward to another promised shot to move into the top six despite playing so effectively while scoring 21 goals as a checking center last season. But unless he puts up points quickly, he will likely be back on a third line.

What is his upside? Is he capable of putting points on the board or is he a role playing, hard working, character guy? I\'d love to get the inside track as I know a little bit, but not the whole scoop.

[PulltheTrigger]

3rd liner - checking (potential 2nd if inuries happen) , penalty killer, does get a decent amount of ice time and if the preseason is any indication, extremely hard worker and should see his numbers increase again this year. Currently skating on the fastest line on the Canucks.

I\'m sure Bieksa can add more to this....

[WildHendy]

I think he is more of a 3rd liner myself but will be close to the best 3rd liner in the league.......25 goals-30 assists in a good year but invaluable to his team.My hometown take.

[duballstar014]

From what I understand, most people peg him as a 3rd line center, but he apparently is getting a crack at the 2nd line (for now). I am just curious what the likelihood is that he sticks at line 2 or if he drops back down to line 3? I\'m more interested in what people have seen than what people have read...if that information is out there?

[PulltheTrigger]

Projected Vancouver lines
Sedin-Sedin-Bernier
Pyatt-Demitra-Raymond*
Burrows-Kesler-Hansen
Johnson-Hordichuk-Wellwood*

To farm or not to farm: Pettinger, Krog, Rypien, Brown,Cowan

*Means there are a few players still fighting for spots on the team. So the 2 and 4 line could change slightly. But Demitra is for sure playing alongside Pyatt which means no room for Kesler there.

[PulltheTrigger]

Oh btw, I have watched all the Canucks pre-season games except yesterday against San Jose. Take my feedback for what its worth, just tryin to help.

[Reprimand]

Someone can correct me if i\'m wrong here;

Kesler has been playing on the third line with Yannik Hansen and lighting it up in the preseason.

Vignault wants to roll three lines so he may get some decent ice time.

Check the bottom of this article
http://canadianpress.google.com/arti...5zNNdaFA<br />

[ridinryan44]

duballstar014 wrote:

I drafted this guy in our league and have gotten quite a bit of trade proposals for him. The league counts shifts and hits among just about every other offensive stat.

Here is what CBS fantasy sports has to say about him:

Ryan Kesler, C VAN

News: The Sports Xchange reports Canucks C Ryan Kesler is looking forward to another promised shot to move into the top six despite playing so effectively while scoring 21 goals as a checking center last season. But unless he puts up points quickly, he will likely be back on a third line.

What is his upside? Is he capable of putting points on the board or is he a role playing, hard working, character guy? I\'d love to get the inside track as I know a little bit, but not the whole scoop.

Duballstar...
Kesler is a fantastic hockey player.... he is not a fantastic fantasy player, and never will be. His value is not in his points, his goals or his +/-... his value is in his penalty killing and his shut-down style of hockey that can put any top line in check.

His upside????? 60 points MAX... he has shown offensive flair, but it\'s cus he is smart, well positioned, and a hard working player. He\'s not a skilled goal scorer with a playmakers mind.

I see Kesler putting up 25 goals in his career MAYBE 30 if he is in the right place at the right time, but scoring isn\'t his thing. Good shut-down hockey is what makes him valuable, and that\'s what he\'ll do for his career.

I wouldn\'t keep Kesler on my fantasy roster unless I was in a deep 30 team dynasty league with 8400 players on each roster. I love Kesler and he is one of the better role players in the league... but he has no place on a fantasy roster IMO!

[duballstar014]

PulltheTrigger wrote:

Oh btw, I have watched all the Canucks pre-season games except yesterday against San Jose. Take my feedback for what its worth, just tryin to help.

Thanks! +1 to you!

[duballstar014]

ridinryan44 wrote:

duballstar014 wrote:

I drafted this guy in our league and have gotten quite a bit of trade proposals for him. The league counts shifts and hits among just about every other offensive stat.

Here is what CBS fantasy sports has to say about him:

Ryan Kesler, C VAN

News: The Sports Xchange reports Canucks C Ryan Kesler is looking forward to another promised shot to move into the top six despite playing so effectively while scoring 21 goals as a checking center last season. But unless he puts up points quickly, he will likely be back on a third line.

What is his upside? Is he capable of putting points on the board or is he a role playing, hard working, character guy? I\'d love to get the inside track as I know a little bit, but not the whole scoop.

Duballstar...
Kesler is a fantastic hockey player.... he is not a fantastic fantasy player, and never will be. His value is not in his points, his goals or his +/-... his value is in his penalty killing and his shut-down style of hockey that can put any top line in check.

His upside????? 60 points MAX... he has shown offensive flair, but it\'s cus he is smart, well positioned, and a hard working player. He\'s not a skilled goal scorer with a playmakers mind.

I see Kesler putting up 25 goals in his career MAYBE 30 if he is in the right place at the right time, but scoring isn\'t his thing. Good shut-down hockey is what makes him valuable, and that\'s what he\'ll do for his career.

I wouldn\'t keep Kesler on my fantasy roster unless I was in a deep 30 team dynasty league with 8400 players on each roster. I love Kesler and he is one of the better role players in the league... but he has no place on a fantasy roster IMO!

This is the other half of what I as looking for. Thanks ridinryan! +1 to you when I reload.

The league is a very deep league. There are 16 managers and some scoring that I\'ve never used before. Salary cap as well and while drafting, Kesler was one of the only NHLers worth picking up. The others were almost all prospects.

I realize Kesler will help me rack up shifts, hits, and blocked shots too I am guessing? But while doing all that, I was mostly curious if he starts lighting the lamp even though the expectations are low. i.e. Mike Richards last year............

[ridinryan44]

Deep rosters, well worth keeping him. He will play a lot!!! I don\'t see him ever scoring like richards does, but then again, i never saw it in Richards either!!!

[Fighting_Emu]

ub- i just picked him up in our league for a few reasons:

- He is a faceoff monster. I figure if a guy like Avery warrantas a spot with his pim contribution and a 40-50 point range why shouldnt a faceoff expert in our league. (Note: he has 200 more wins then my next best guy- Crosby).

- He is goal heav. Of his 37 points 21 were goals. This helps in many other stats. Higher shoton goal, and he bagged tw game winners. It also suggests that if he can improve on his chemistery with Burrows that a few more assists could be padding his stats this year.

- 80 pims is a decent contribution if you\'re making a push for that category.

- He is suited to a 3rd line role because he is very good at it. To me that means a) the coach trusts him and increased responsibiliy = more ice time and occasional pp time. Thus a slight upside is apparent, and b) he will never really hold down a spot on the top line as he is far to value playing other minutes- hence a lower overall ceiling.

In the end I see some solid 60 point seasons that may flirt with 70. Factor in his other contributions and he may warrant a regular spot as a 3/4 center on many cat leagues. Just my take.

[angus]

he will play the most TOI after the Sedin twins up front. I dropped him for Berglund in the expert\'s league, I figured I want to take a home run risk with my bench spot.

I think Kesler will hit 50 points this year. 22-25 goals, same for assists.

[duballstar014]

Thanks Karl and Jeff. I guess my reasoning for this post is my curiosity of how likely he is to hit 70 pts this year and/or years after. After looking at him more closely and receiving multiple offers for him, I have noticed a striking resemblance to Richards a year ago. No one expected anything out of him, but look what happened...

The league that I own Kesler in uses shifts as a scoring cat, which is likely another reason Kesler is worth keeping. I was close to trading Kesler in order to make room for another player, but I think after reading this thread that I will keep Kesler. Good luck with him, Karl. Hopefully he does you well.

[angus]

doesn\'t have Richards vision or creativity offensively. I think 60 points or 65 in his best season. He is always going to be goal heavy and has shown flashes of development with regards to his hands last year (and in the pre-season), but he will never get enough assists to hit 70 points.

Think of a slightly less talented Keith Primeau. He is big and incredibly fast.