Ryan Kesler responds to Kevin Bieksa's trolling on live national TV
Kevin Bieksa from Hockey Night in Canada was the talk of social media Saturday night. It wasn't for anything he said while appearing on the popular national broadcast, but for what he did. Bieksa decided to troll his former teammate and long-time friend Ryan Kesler by casually inserting a framed photo of his 2011 ESPN Body Issue shoot on a shelf behind him while commenting on the night's happenings around the league, as pointed out by his Sportsnet coworker Danielle Michaud.
Bieksa never mentioned the photo, instead waiting to see if anyone would notice. Many people did. Eventually, the troll job made its way back to Kesler, who played with Kieksa in both Vancouver and Anaheim. Kesler's response: "Usually it's by his bed side."
For the record, Bieksa once impersonated Kesler in an interview way back in 2012 when the two were involved in Vancouver's second round playoff series against the L.A. Kings. It happened when Fox Sports reporter Mike Dunsmore mistook Bieksa, a defenceman from Grimsby, Ont., for Kesler, a centre who was born and raised in Livonia, Mich.
"It was awesome," Bieksa can be heard saying during the interview posted on YouTube. "For me, I'm an American guy and growing up in Michigan, I love playing in the States.
"I've got a lot of family and friends here, and I won an Olympic medal for this country. I brought THEM a silver medal. So, you know, they usually give some ovations here."
Bieksa was referring to the 2010 Winter Olympics when Canada beat Kesler's U.S. team for the gold medal, a fact he gladly pointed out on more than one occasion in the Canucks' locker-room. The two friends, who also had a podcast together called Kes and Juice, seem to have a great relationship.
| G | A | PTS | ||
| Conor Garland | 1 | 1 | 2 | |
| Dylan Guenther | 1 | 1 | 2 | |
| Nick Schmaltz | - | 2 | 2 | |
| Jake Debrusk | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Jack McBain | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Alex Newhook | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Mikhail Sergachev | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Jayden Struble | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Cole Caufield | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Logan Cooley | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Christian Dvorak | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Barrett Hayton | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Quinn Hughes | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Clayton Keller | - | 1 | 1 | |
| David Savard | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Pius Suter | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Arber Xhekaj | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Josh Anderson | - | - | - | |
| Joel Armia | - | - | - | |
| Arshdeep Bains | - | - | - | |
| Complete stats | ||||
| STANDINGS 2024-2025 | ||||||
TOP 10 | GP | W | L | OL | PTS | |
Jets | 22 | 18 | 4 | - | 36 | |
Devils | 24 | 15 | 7 | 2 | 32 | |
Hurricanes | 21 | 15 | 5 | 1 | 31 | |
Wild | 21 | 13 | 4 | 4 | 30 | |
Golden Knights | 22 | 14 | 6 | 2 | 30 | |
Capitals | 21 | 14 | 6 | 1 | 29 | |
Maple Leafs | 21 | 13 | 6 | 2 | 28 | |
Flames | 22 | 12 | 7 | 3 | 27 | |
Stars | 20 | 13 | 7 | - | 26 | |
Rangers | 20 | 12 | 7 | 1 | 25 | |
| Conference | Cumulative | ||||||