Great move by the Canucks! Ryan Kesler is a great player and has potential to be a 40+ goal scorer eventually. This is the type of player the fans love to watch. He’s got the whole package; scores, sets up plays, adds plenty of grit to the game. Again, great signing.

Posted by Andrew Green from New York on 03/19/10 at 12:06 PM ET

My favorite Canuck for the last 3 years. My favorite Canuck for the next 6.

Let’s hope this particular Canuck team can do something because the CORE is all signed for many years to come.

Now if Gilles can trade for Shea Weber I will be a happy man.

Posted by Jeffe on 03/19/10 at 12:22 PM ET

Reports are contract is $30M.

Posted by Paul from Motown Area on 03/19/10 at 12:41 PM ET

The amount is a bit more than I expected, but should be a fair deal.

Would have liked to have him in Detroit.

Posted by Nate A from Detroit-ish on 03/19/10 at 01:01 PM ET

5 million is about 1 mil over market value. Kesler is a fantastic hockey player, but he’s not a perennial 40 goal scorer.

When you consider that Franzen signed for 3.9, Hossa signed for 5.2, and the Hawks trio for a touch over 5 if I’m not mistaken, does this deal look as good? Kesler isn’t on the same level as any of these guys that are signed for less or the same.

Posted by cainer4wingsglory on 03/19/10 at 01:25 PM ET

Have to keep in mind that Kesler is still just 25 (almost 26), but Franzen is 30 and Hossa is 31.  The Canucks couldn’t shrink Kesler’s cap hit by adding garbage years to the end of his contract.  And Kesler will probably be full value for the entire length of his deal, whereas Franzen and Hossa are going to fall off at some point and underperform, even with the bargain basement cap hits.

Posted by Ryan from Toronto on 03/19/10 at 02:14 PM ET

When you consider that Franzen signed for 3.9, Hossa signed for 5.2, and the Hawks trio for a touch over 5 if I’m not mistaken, does this deal look as good? Kesler isn’t on the same level as any of these guys that are signed for less or the same.

Yes, but all those contracts have bogus cap numbers. Hossa doesn’t make $5 mil. He makes $8 mil, with a bunch of bogus years in his 40s at league min, when he’ll be on the golf course collecting a pension. Ditto all the other guys.

Kesler’s best comparables are Mike Richards and the Shawn Horcoff who played for Edmonton three years ago (and has subsequently been replaced by an alien). His annual salary vs. production is favorable compared to both of them, even if the cap hit isn’t that much lower. Besides, Vancouver did that “garbage years” cap voodoo with both of the Sedins already, which gave them enough space that they don’t need to sign Kesler for twenty years knowing he’ll play only another fifteen or so.

I think this is a good signing, considering the quality player Kesler has developed into.

Posted by steve on 03/19/10 at 03:04 PM ET

Steve:  The “Garbage years” voodoo was done on the Luongo contract (12 years), but the Sedins are just 29, and were signed to 5 year contracts for $6.1 mill per season. 

Agree with the rest of what you said.  Seems like Gillis has been decent so far at getting his star players to sign to decent length and slightly below fair value contracts.  The Luongo contract length is the only one where he’s used the cap loophole to sign a player to more years than anyone expects them to play.

Posted by Shabbadoo on 03/19/10 at 03:51 PM ET

The “Garbage years” voodoo was done on the Luongo contract (12 years), but the Sedins are just 29, and were signed to 5 year contracts for $6.1 mill per season. 

I stand corrected. Thought they were the ones that got 12 year deals.

Posted by steve on 03/19/10 at 04:14 PM ET

Yes, but all those contracts have bogus cap numbers.

That’s their official cap hit, so your opinion that they are ‘bogus’ means nothing to this argument.

My point is that Kesler is making money on par with superstars, which he is not. I don’t know why Gillis didn’t sign Kesler to a 8-10 year contract and get his yearly salary down to about 4 mil. He’s still going to be worth 4 mil a season when he’s 35-36.

Plus, now the Canucks are going to have to worry about signing him again when he’s 31. I’m not too big on signing guys that play into their 40s, but a contract that takes them to around 35 is perfect, especially if it drives their yearly salary down.

I think Gillis has done good things in Vancouver, and I really like the Sedin signings, but he still has a long way to go in order to be mentioned up there with the best like Kenny Holland and Lou Lamoriello. To me, this Kesler signing leads me to believe that this team isn’t really drinking the ‘hometown discount’ kool-aid that much. I know there was a story last year about player on the ‘nucks trying to pressure their teammates into taking less to stay. I don’t know about the details, but all I know is that you’d never hear that type of stuff coming out of the Red Wings organization.

Posted by cainer4wingsglory on 03/19/10 at 08:02 PM ET

My point is that Kesler is making money on par with superstars, which he is not. I don’t know why Gillis didn’t sign Kesler to a 8-10 year contract and get his yearly salary down to about 4 mil. He’s still going to be worth 4 mil a season when he’s 35-36.

And my point is that he isn’t making money on par with superstars, because, well, he isn’t. Kesler walks home at the end of next year with less money than the guys you just named and Vancouver’s budget will show that they’ve paid him less. Nobody said Kesler took a “hometown discount”, he’s simply being paid about what he’s worth, looking at his comparables.

Vancouver has the whole core signed at reasonable rates, so they don’t have to game the system with a fraud contract ending in 2025.

Posted by steve on 03/20/10 at 03:03 PM ET