You'd think that a fresh start with a new team in a new city - especially one as relaxed and inviting as the Anaheim Ducks, who play in the sunny spaces of Southern California - after eleven seasons playing in the pressure-packed confines of Vancouver would allow Ryan Kesler some much-needed perspective and act as a bit of a calming salve.
And perhaps it has; to an extent.
But not enough of an extent to keep the six-time 20-goal scorer and former Selke Trophy winner from commenting on the state and status of his old team, and even more so, on the media that followed them, in an interview with the OC Register.
"I think changes needed to be made with the new management coming in and the new coaches," Kesler said. "I felt I was stuck in a rut there. I needed a change.
"Talking with management, they were going into a rebuild, or that's what they told me. I just thought it was best to move on."
Nothing too groundbreaking there; it's clear from the outside that Vancouver is doing a bit of reloading, if not necessarily rebuilding, as they've aged quickly and been forced in the recent past to make some less-than-stellar moves, such as trading Cory Schneider last year instead of Roberto Luongo even though Schneider is the better, more consistent player, because they essentially couldn't get anything for Luongo due to the unwieldy nature of his contract.
But Kesler clearly took umbrage with the manner in which the Vancouver media portrayed him, especially during losing streaks. Kesler developed a reputation as something of a poor teammate due to his penchant for pouting when things weren't going well.
"I don't buy that I'm not a good teammate," he said. "You can ask any of my teammates. I know when I was traded, if I was such a bad teammate, 95 percent of the guys wouldn't have texted me (afterward).
"That's the problem with Vancouver. The media makes up a lot of stories that aren't true. To be honest, I was really sick of certain media guys throwing people under the bus.
"No matter how much my old teammates say it doesn't bother them. It affects them. It does in that city."
But Kesler claims, though his comments would seem to say otherwise, that the media's portrayal of his attitude never truly bothered him.
"I get they've got to sell papers in that city," Kesler said. "Negative stories sell more than positive stories. Saying that, that never bothered me. Obviously you get irritated with them sometimes. But the media was fine. I liked most of them."
