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According to Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman in his regular column “31 Thoughts”, there is a chance that Ryan Kesler might not play in the 2018-2019 season.
In thought number 4 of the column, Friedman notes that Kesler will not have surgery, but will be undertaking an intensive rehab and training regimen to rebuild strength in his hips. So while Kesler is in all likelihood planning to be ready for the start of the season, it appears that the possibility of Kesler taking a year off has been discussed internally.
Friedman notes that Kesler does not plan to retire and wants to get back on the ice as soon as possible. However, it looks like we will not know for sure until training camp begins in September.
Kesler played 48 games for the Ducks last season after missing the months of October-December recovering from his surgery. Kesler as well as the organization admitted that he was struggling at times keeping up with the pace of the game, despite the fact that he had an average of over 18 minutes of ice time per game playing on a line that was called upon to to shut down opposing teams best players.
The 33-year-old center had 14 points in 44 games in the regular season and 2 points in the playoffs. He has 4 years remaining on his contract at a cap hit of $6.875 million per season.