Ryan Kesler shares the story, motivation behind his tweet at Johansen this summer

Earlier this summer, the greatest 'Ryan Rivalry' in sports reignited on Twitter as Ryan Kesler and Ryan Johansen went back and forth.

The seemingly random tweet and reply actually has a backstory that explains a lot and Kesler was kind enough to share it with Eric Stephens of The Athletic:

Coincidentally, Kesler and Johansen share the same agent. Kesler often returns to Vancouver to meet with part of his training team and that’s where Johansen resides and works out in the offseason. But, as was suspected here, there were other motivations for the call-out tweet.

“People don’t understand,” Kesler said, pointing out it was playful in nature. “We were passing each other in the gym for a week there. I think we caught each other’s eyes. … It’s just letting everybody know I’ll be back.”

In the article from Stephens, Kesler discusses how he's training to come back after playing in just 44 games last season.

The tweet actually had more (all) to do with him wanting to the world know he'd be back than meeting to fight before the season.

When Kesler does return, though, everyone will be waiting for the Ducks to face the Predators to see what happens when he and Johansen are on the ice together again.