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Ryan Kesler Shifts the Western Conference Balance of Power In the Anaheim Ducks’ Favor

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Kelvin Kuo-USA TODAY Sports

When the rest of the Western Conference teams were beefing up their forwards, it looked like the Anaheim Ducks were poised to be left behind until the team acquired the piece that could prove to push them over the top.

This past offseason appeared to see an unofficial agreement between the elite Western teams where they all mutually agreed to acquire a second-line center. The Dallas Stars picked up Jason Spezza to complement Tyler Seguin even if Seguin is currently playing the wing. The St. Louis Blues chased Paul Stastny to help David Backes carry the offensive load. The Chicago Blackhawks took a chance on Brad Richards after he was bought out. The San Jose Sharks were already loaded with Joe Thornton and Logan Couture and didn’t necessarily need another top-two center.

All of these moves were no doubt a result of trying to compete with the Stanley Cup winning one-two punch the Los Angeles Kings possess in Anze Kopitar and Jeff Carter. Unfortunately for the Ducks, they didn’t have a second-line center to make life easier for Ryan Getzlaf and appeared destined to be left behind after the retirements of Saku Koivu and Teemu Selanne.

Although Koivu and Selanne were well past their prime, losing that veteran leadership could have been devastating for the Ducks entering the 2014-15 season. That is, until Anaheim’s general manager acquired, perhaps the best center of all, Ryan Kesler.

Kesler spent 10 seasons with the Vancouver Canucks where he developed into one of the league’s best two-way forwards. He was a key piece to the Canucks’ run to the Stanley Cup finals where he had 19 points in 25 games and was Team USA’s top-line center at the 2014 Olympics. He’s proven he can put up big numbers after back-to-back 70-point seasons in the 2009-10 and 2010-11 seasons. However, injuries and John Tortorella began to plague Kesler in Vancouver, and it became obvious it was time for a change.

The move to Anaheim provides the Ducks with a one-two punch at center that can compete against any team in the league as both Kesler and Getzlaf can take over a game at any given moment. Kesler’s strong defensive game is what puts him ahead of any other center acquired by a Western team, because when he is on his game, few players are better defensively than Kesler. Statsny, Spezza and Richards are good players, but none of them will ever be confused for being a defensive stud like Kesler.

This now allows the Ducks to play their top-two centers head-to-head against the Western’s best and no longer have to worry about matchups or trying to protect Getzlaf. Kesler can play a shutdown role against Kopitar and Jonathan Toews while allowing Getzlaf to be free to play against the secondary lines of those opponents.

If early indications are anything, the Ducks ’6-5 overtime win over the Kings on Nov. 12, where Kesler finished with two goals and an assist along with a plus-three rating, proves just how effective Kesler’s arrival is going to be. Now that he is out of the spotlight of Vancouver’s media and free to play his game without much criticism, Kesler has quickly recorded 14 points in 17 games and appears destined to swap the balance of power in the West to another California-based franchise.

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