"When Ryan Kesler took a one-time scrimmage slapshot that drifted wide Monday and then took time to deal with some discomfort, it was hard to know what to make of it all.

The Vancouver Canucks centre has heroically played on one leg and a stitched up chin in the Stanley Cup playoffs. He has driven the opposition crazy and driven his stature as one of the game's two-way greats to new heights with 18 points in 18 playoff games and by limiting three notable centres to a combined 11 points in 18 outings.

The odds of Kesler making life miserable for Boston Bruins centre David Krejci, who shares the playoff lead with 10 goals, are as good as the Selke Trophy front-runner contending for the Conn Smythe Trophy and as good as the Canucks capturing their first league championship in all those video simulation games.

Especially if Kesler is as healthy as he claims to be.

Latest Bodog.ca odds have Kesler a 7-to-5 choice to be the most valuable playoff performer, followed by Tim Thomas at 4-to-1 and Henrik Sedin at 6-to-1.

Maybe those oddsmakers talked to Jonathan Toews, Mike Fisher and Joe Thornton because Kesler's ability to dominate those one-on-one postseason battles could make for a shorter series. If a left groin strain he suffered last Tuesday in the Western Conference finale and that Monday scrimmage saga are more of a nuisance than a negating factor Wednesday in the Cup final series opener at Rogers Arena, it's going to be hard to keep Kesler from making an impact with and without the puck.

"He's cocky and confident enough and he's the wild card," said one NHL source. "They [Bruins] have no answer for Kesler."

The Canucks consider Kesler their ace, a driven demon with a gear and wrist shot that few can match and whose pain threshold is off the charts. The opposition considers him a joker because he jabs and gabs and annually tops polls as the most-hated player."