Ryan Kesler good for Anaheim Ducks in spite of villain role

ANAHEIM – There’s a distinct and noticeable difference between regular season Ryan Kesler with the Anaheim Ducks and playoff Ryan Kesler in Southern California, at least from the time when he’s visible to the media.

In the regular season, he was relaxed. He was laid back. Ask him a question and he’ll quip, he’ll give insight, he’ll be playful.

On the ice he played a tough game, but didn’t engage in a ton of extracurriculars.

Move to the playoffs, and Kesler changes. His answers become one-worded. He plays into a media conspiracy – that we make him out to be the ‘bad guy.’ On the ice, he’s a massive pain in the butt. He taunts the crowd that boos him for most of the game.

To borrow terms from two great movies, his turd blossom amps go to 11.

And it’s awesome. It’s fun to watch. It’s sports entertainment at its finest. And most importantly for the Ducks, it helps Anaheim win. Kesler has three goals and five points so far for the Ducks and has won 62 percent of his face offs, mostly while being matched up against the opponent’s top lines between the Jets in the first round and through one game against the Flames in Round 2. The Ducks take a 1-0 series lead into Game 2 Sunday.

“Someone has to be the villain, right, that’s why you guys play it up to be. If we’re the villain then so be it,” Kesler says with a smirk.

The funny part of Kesler’s unique persona is that he’s not a villain, at least in his own locker room. His teammates like to play it up as well, (I asked Andrew Cogliano what he likes about playing with Kesler. He turned to Kyle Palmieri and said, “That’s a tough one eh?”)

But after the initial joke, they launch into Kesler’s importance on the ice and around them as a group.

“He’s able to have different personalities,” Cogliano said. “He’s a very composed and focused guy when the game comes and he does things around the room to keep it light. You need that in the room at all times. You can’t be serious at all times. You have to have opportunities to let down and have fun.”

Shortly after Ducks defenseman Cam Fowler completed an interview about Kesler, the latter walked past and gave him a slap on the back and a quasi-hug. Who knows why, but it was … touching?

“I knew him more a little bit more than some other guys,” said Fowler who had played with Kesler with Team USA in the 2014 Olympics. “I knew he was a great guy and a good team guy and I think when you get that reputation as a hated guy to play against, you want him on your team badly. We were very excited to get a player of his caliber.”

The playoffs are always littered with dirty-type players who score goals. Claude Lemieux remains the gold standard of this genre. Kesler’s teammate Corey Perry has been known to play fast and loose with the rules. But Kesler, who was acquired from Vancouver last offseason to give Anaheim depth at center, has never been suspended in his NHL career. He’s a pain, but he’s always within bounds, and he’s prolific, which probably causes more annoyance from opponents and fans.

“He embraces it and loves those situations and getting dirty and grinding it out,” Palmieri said. “As long as he keeps playing the way he does, it’s going to be great for our team.”

While sports is ultimately about who wins, we pay money to be entertained by the best athletes in these particular games. In this realm, Kesler is a showman.

Just look at how he celebrated after this road goal at the Jets in Round 1.

The crowd was on him all game, and he had the audacity to turn around and open his arms to them? That. Is. Awesome. It’s almost like he took lessons from professional wrestlers. This is his normal goal celebration, but it just felt a little more … yeah, this is a PG-13 blog.

“We’re not a group in here who likes to showboat or do anything or embarrass anybody,” Fowler said. “You just saw the emotion come out of him.”

Maybe, but it takes a lot of patience to deal with the amount of crowd and player taunting Kesler goes through on a game-in, game-out basis and not lash out. Players say they tune it out, but it does bother them to some degree. Not Kesler, who strangely enjoys it.

“I think he likes it from the fans. He’s not a negative guy. Ryan, sometimes he looks a little grumpy, but it’s because he’s a perfectionist,” Ducks coach Bruce Boudreau said. “When things don’t go well for him and he thinks things should be going better or he should be doing things. He’s an emotional guy and he lets it show, but I know in the last series he fed off the fans being on him.”

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Josh Cooper is an editor for Puck Daddy on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at puckdaddyblog@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter! Follow @joshuacooper

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