Great two-way centers are hard to find. That's one reason Kesler is always so valuable to his team.
The Livonia, Mich., native who once strung together five straight 20-plus goal seasons, also brings shutdown defensive skills against the opposition's top forwards. Add to that the 6-foot-2, 202-pound frame Kesler uses to fight for position in the crease at both ends of the ice, his elite faceoff skills and his penchant for getting under the skin of opponents, and it is clear he brings a lot to the rink.
Great two-way centers are hard to find. That's one reason Kesler is always so valuable to his team.
The Livonia, Mich., native who once strung together five straight 20-plus goal seasons, also brings shutdown defensive skills against the opposition's top forwards. Add to that the 6-foot-2, 202-pound frame Kesler uses to fight for position in the crease at both ends of the ice, his elite faceoff skills and his penchant for getting under the skin of opponents, and it is clear he brings a lot to the rink.
A first-round pick (No. 23) of the Vancouver Canucks in the 2003 NHL Draft, Kesler won the Selke Trophy as the League's top defensive forward in 2011 after being nominated as a finalist for the award the previous two seasons.
A 19-year-old Kesler made his NHL debut on Nov. 24, 2003 in a 2-1 loss to the Toronto Maple Leafs, recorded his first NHL assist in a 5-2 win against the Montreal Canadiens the next night and scored his first goal in a 4-4 tie against the Calgary Flames on Nov. 29, 2003.
After playing 28 games as a rookie and waiting out the 2004-05 lockout in the American Hockey League, Kesler led the Canucks with 136 hits and 51 blocked shots in the 2005-06 season. Surgeries cost Kesler 34 games of the 2006-07 campaign before a broken finger suffered in his NHL playoff debut ended his first postseason run.
One of the NHL's perennial leaders in faceoff percentage and among Vancouver's top four scorers in each of the 2007-08, 2008-09 and 2009-10 seasons, Kesler scored two goals and four points as the Canucks reached the second round of the 2009 Stanley Cup Playoffs. He followed that with a goal and 10 points over 12 games in the 2010 playoffs as Vancouver again reached the second round.
The Canucks named Kesler an alternate captain prior to the 2010-11 season and he also served as an alternate captain for the Western Conference in his first All-Star Game appearance that season. His 41 goals in 2010-11 tied teammate Daniel Sedin for fourth in the League. In the 2011 playoffs, Kesler added seven goals and 19 points in 25 games as the Canucks pushed the Boston Bruins to seven games in the Stanley Cup Final. After the season, in addition to winning the Selke Trophy, Kesler finished eighth in voting for the Hart Trophy, given to the League's MVP.
Vancouver traded Kesler to the Anaheim Ducks on June 27, 2014, where he promptly scored 20 goals and 47 points in 81 games. That helped him finish third on the Ducks in scoring and he was tied for ninth in the NHL with a 56.6 percent success rate on faceoffs. Kesler, who helped Anaheim reach the 2015 Western Conference Finals, signed a six-year contract extension on July 15, 2015. A Selke finalist again after the 2015-16 season, Kesler's 58.5 percent success rate on faceoffs that season put him second to Chicago's Jonathan Toews among players who participated in at least 100 draws.
A former member of the U.S. National Team Development Program, Kesler is a two-time Olympian who helped Team USA win a silver medal at the 2010 Winter Olympics and gold at the 2004 World Junior Championship.
