Canucks GM Mike Gillis and Assistant GM Laurence Gilman were on the TEAM1040 on Wednesday afternoon with Don Taylor. The interview was wide-ranging and about as candid as could be expected from the two. They covered essentially all of the major issues surrounding the team right now, from the lockout, to Ryan Kesler’s injury status, to Alex Edler’s development, and more.
To say that Ryan Kesler has tunnel vision at times would be accurate. The gifted two-way pivot was criticized at times last season for failing to properly use his linemates (Kesler isn’t totally blameless, but he did see a revolving door of wingers and seemed out of sorts for much of 2011-12 after rushing back from offseason hip surgery).
There is a reason why Kesler looks to shoot – he has a great shot. In 2010-11, he used a newly-developed wrist shot to score the bulk of his 41 goals. Teams seemed to key on his go-to move last season, which was a major reason for the decline in goals (only 22). He loves rushing the puck up the ice on his off wing or up the middle, cutting in, and firing a wrist shot across his body to the blocker side of the opposing goaltender (or the glove hand side for the righty catchers).