Farhan's $0.02: Can Ryan Kesler ever be an elite #1 center?

[spooner]

...nah.

Dude is a big Italian lad.

????

.
Nothing like his persona he puts on for us either.

He's actually a pretty cool cat.

I don't doubt that at all.

[porp]

Good grief. I've always been put off by Gallager's ugly skinny mug, but the years haven't treated him well at all.



The picture on the right is a lot more flattering than the one on the left. Sneering really doesn't open a lot of doors with your social betters.

[dbr]

He may never make a saucer pass across the ice over the stick of a defender look as easy as Hank does but his hard work and speed and passing have opened up plenty of scoring opportunities for his teammates.

Who the hell does?

Am I right?

Yep, exactly. We already have two centers from a very short list of the league's best.

I would also like to say that Kesler's ability to make his teammates better pretty underrated here as well -

The Kuz (Ben Kuzma) and AV might not agree with you.

I couldn't care less what "the kuz" says, this is the guy that criticized the Canucks for not having as much 'defensive jam' as the Blue Jackets because they blocked fewer shots (because they controlled possession, which not coincidentally allowed them to win the fucking game) in a recent outing.

As for AV.. you'll note I specifically said that Kesler is capable of making his teammates better.. not that he is capable of playing the classic role of setup man. AV rightly pointed out a bad habit Kesler was getting into (and may always get into when he's trying to force things) but even though Kes is not a setup man per se he still has demonstrated the ability to create scoring opportunities for his teammates.

Going back to that 2009-10 season, Kesler - in a checking role, alleged tunnel vision and all - had 34 assists at even strength, with just seven centers (all of them entrenched first liners) ahead of him.