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Vancouver columnist calls out excessive Canucks coverage in column about Canucks

Ryan Kesler

When Canucks forward Ryan Kesler responded to his coach’s mild criticism with a snippy retort, we pounced on the “story” like any respectable traffic-hungry blog. It wasn’t because we love to stir the pot. It’s because you jackals out there in internet land are always clicking on that sort of stuff. That’s right – it’s YOUR fault we peddle controversy.

Ahem.

At least one veteran Vancouver newspaper columnist is sick and tired of the media sensationalizing every Canucks sound bite.

Writes Ed Willes of The Province:

Look, we understand we’re contributing to that cycle by reacting to a reaction. But this isn’t about Kesler and [Alain] Vigneault so much as it’s about this market and the way the Canucks are covered.

The issue, of course, isn’t quantity. The issue is the coverage is a mile wide and an inch deep.

There are any number of reasons for that and we don’t have the space to explore them all. But whatever used to pass for a thoughtful discourse on the team and the league has been replaced by an immature, knee-jerk reaction to anything that occurs outside the carefully managed team bubble.

Willes is clearly calling out the media. However, he also seems to be blaming the Canucks organization for protecting/coaching their players to the point that the media can only make mountains out of molehills…because molehills are all the media’s being given.

Meanwhile, Vancouver Sun columnist Iain MacIntyre isn’t quite ready to take the blame for running with the Kesler quote.

There were many things Kesler could have said when Vigneault’s moderate observation was relayed to him. But by reacting the way he did, defensively, churlishly, Kesler turned the issue into something more. That wasn’t the media’s fault; it was the player’s.

MacIntyre added later in the column:

We’re not sure what Kesler thought about it Tuesday because after being unavailable to the media in the morning, when the Canucks changed their media-access policy, the assistant captain also failed to show for reporters in the first 15 minutes post-game, before deadlines called many of the wretches away.

And that wasn’t passive aggressive at all.

Anyway, Kesler went pointless for the third straight game last night in the Canucks’ 3-2 shootout loss to the Kings. Probably because he hates his coach.