Kesler Flies South to Disneyland

Is all the player-related drama now done in Vancouver?  On Draft Day Friday, the Vancouver Canucks dealt veteran centre Ryan Kesler and their 2015 3rd round draft pick to the Anaheim Ducks for forward Nick Bonino, defenseman Luca Sbisa, the 24th overall pick tonight and the Ducks' 3rd round pick as well.

The stories of Kesler's discontent in Vancouver around the Sochi Olympics was a pot that was watched intently, occasionally coming to a boil and then simmering back down.  All of that has now come to a head with this deal being completed.

In Kesler, the Ducks will get some more key depth down the middle with a player who has a 40-goal season under his belt.  In the 2014 season, Kesler played in 77 games for the Canucks, scoring 25 goals and 43 points on a team that suffered mightily in the offensive zone all year long.  Kesler finished 148th overall in pool scoring, 107th overall, which is down from his career-best, which was 30th overall in 2011, the year the Canucks went to the Cup Finals.

The Ducks exit from the playoffs to the Kings was a harsh finish to a great year and they obviously identified that depth down the middle was one of their weaknesses.  Hence the acquisition of Kesler.

In return, the Canucks receive a decent package in return, but also has potential to be a lot more.  The package starts with winger Bonino, who had a good year with the Ducks, scoring 22 goals and 49 points in 77 games, playing alongside Ryan Getzlaf for the better part of the year.  Defender Sbisa is 24 years old and has already bounced around a little in the NHL and has yet to realize much potential.  In 2014, he only scored 1 goal in 30 games for the Ducks, playing more in the AHL.

In my mock draft, I had the Ducks taking forward Ryan MacInnis with the 24th overall pick, which suggests that there is still some value to the pick.  With that being said, the Canucks now own the 6th and 24th overall picks, which they may send in a package to Florida to get the 1st overall pick, which has been rumoured around.

The Ducks had some space to burn this off-season, especially after some veterans left to free agency and retirement, so space was not truly at a premium in Anaheim. In everyday cap space, the Ducks may have only taken on an extra $2 million or so, which doesn't hurt their books at all. Heading into the Draft, their projected roster now sits at 17 players at a cap hit of $45.9 million.

For the Canucks, it's $2 million in space that they were able to open up and they acquired another possible roster player.  In adding Sbisa to the projected roster, I have the Canucks now coming in at $53.6 million for 17 players and there sounds like more is going to happen before the end of the weekend, let alone before training camp.

This deal has a lot more to do with the Ducks trying to take advantage of the Stanley Cup window that they are in, more than it is the Canucks re-tooling. This deal won't solve the Canucks' issues, but it could very well make the Ducks into a force that could really give the Kings and Blackhawks a run in the playoffs.  The Canucks have a lot of work to do to get back into the playoff race, let alone be a contender again, but getting their dressing room sorted out was obviously a huge priority and now, hopefully, it has been accomplished with the move.