CHICAGO — There are players on both sides of this Western Conference Final who would, let us say, raise millions for charity if they offered themselves as targets in a pie-throwing contest; so long would be the lineup of punters.
Anaheim’s Ryan Kesler, for instance, the former Vancouver Canuck whose moods run the gamut from owly to obstreperous. And that’s just the ‘o’ words. Brian Burke last fall called Kesler “a grumpy, hostile player,” and he meant it as a compliment.
Or Chicago’s Andrew Shaw, a sneaky-gifted grinder who is on anybody’s list of the most irritating, melodramatic thespians in the sport.