dtsdlaw

I don’t think it’s all about the money. He could go on LTIR tomorrow and collect every penny owed to him for the next three years. And yet he plays on.

Kesler is a stud and an indispensable mentor and locker room presence for the young guys. To think that he was runner-up for the Selke (and should have won) the same season (2016-17) he couldn't even walk up stairs and was wearing a brace that limited his ability to turn is INSANE. This is why I will never count out Kesler until the day he hangs up his skates. Nobody brings it harder than Kesler. The article makes me think that he will probably won't see the end of his contract, but I also think he's got at least one more season in him after this one, and that he'll be better next season than he has been this season after another summer of conditioning/strengthening that hip AND now that he doesn't have RC grinding him so hard. Seriously, what was RC thinking with his TOI and assignments if Kesler was in that bad of shape during the 2017-18 season?? Makes zero sense after reading this article.

Del Zotto

Unless your name is Ryan Kesler. He had hip surgeries in 2007 and 2011 too.

Rakell has only 5 goals. Henrique has only 8. Ritchie has only 5. And none of those guys have even close to the defensive responsibilities that Kesler does. IMO there's too much attention being paid to Kesler's scoring totals right now when almost all of the forwards, especially the guys who are supposed to score, have been unable to find the back of the net.

I think it's definitely possible. Gretzky had 894G. As of today (February 19, 2016) Ovechkin is at 512G. Ovi needs 382G to match Gretzky. Seems like an awful lot, but then I look at Teemu Selanne's numbers and I think Ovi's got a legit shot at it. Ovi is currently 30 years old. If he makes it to 50 goals this season (13 more), he'll be at 525G and he'll need 369 more goals to catch #99. Between ages 31 and 43, Teemu scored 305G, but that included an entire season canceled (04-05) when Teemu was only 34 y/o and Teemu's pseudo-retirement in 07-08 when he played only 26 games. Could Teemu have scored 369G (i.e. an additional 65G) between ages 31 and 43 if the 04-05 lockout and his pseudo-retirement hadn't happened? Maybe. But Ovi is also scoring at a much higher rate than Teemu was at this stage of his career. Teemu also missed 74 games over his final six seasons so there's some margin built into the comparison for Ovechkin's potential health issues as he gets older. Barring serious injury or early retirement, I think Ovi has a chance.

If not for the 2004-05 lockout, I think Ovi might have gotten there, or at least a lot closer. As it was, he didn't start his NHL career until age 20, whereas Gretzky started at 18. If he'd come over for a 2004-05 season he's probably sitting just north of 500 goals right now, and probably more than 510 at season's end. That would have shaved a year off your "40 until 40" calculation, duck123, which would have made it really interesting. The way Ovi plays the game, with so much passion and joy, I also can't see him walking away from the NHL until he literally can't skate anymore. I don't know what his workout ethic is like, but if it's even half of what Selanne's or Jagr's is then I could see the second greatest 8 playing until age 40+. Nevertheless, he's probably going to fall short of Gretzky's goal record. Barring major injury, I do think he'll catch Gordie Howe (801g) though.