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Zack Kassian (Official Thread)


hyroglyphixs

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Brutal Trade! I have always supported MG even with the Ballard trade, but no more, if Kassian fails to bring anything to the Canucks this post season I hope that spells the end of MG. You think May Ray is a whipping boy when he is not producing? Kassian has 1 assist in his last 17 games if he continues at that production level I hope MG is run out of town by true Canuck fans, if Av had a hand in this then he should go too.

My prediction is Canucks get bounced in the second round.

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Whenever Kassian turns into the next Lucic in 2-3 years MG can sit back in his chair and laugh.... until then, i'm kinda 50/50 on this trade. I really loved Coho, he was so skilled and has such a bright future ahead of him. On the other hand, I think that Gragnani could potentially be paired with Edler a few years down the road when Salo retires (or if not him Tanev). Overall, i think that this is a pretty good trade.... i wuz shocked innitailly but i kinda get the purpose of it.

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Stop using the excuse of COHO being stuck behind Henrik and Kesler to feel better about this retarded trade.

Hodgson could've easily been 2nd line center with Kesler and Booth on his wings.

Kassian could easily become Steve Bernier v2.0, good junior stats, big power forward game, no hands, questionable worth ethic.

I would've traded Raymond and whatever picks it took, before i even thought about COHO.

Do you see Pittsburgh trading Jordan Stall, because he's stuck behind Crosby and Malkin?

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People are going a little too far with "he never would have gotten top 6 minutes behind Kes and Henrik".

Players move from center to wing all the time. It's so common you don't even really notice. It could have easily happened with Kesler or Hodgson. That's not a good enough reason to trade him for me.

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i get the extremely hypothetical semi-suicidal undertone of people making a cam neely bad trade comparison except:

Coho was no Cam Neely.

Coho was a great budding potential star who like an ensnared unicorn could never fly high here. Now we have:

230lbs of potential power forward badassery who fits a role on this team better.

any cup winning player will tell you the importance of roles

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Finally for f**k sake I'm able to post a comment, been waiting since the news of the trade broke, refreshing page every 5 mins. Had to resort to going to Sabres website to talk to Sabres fans, letting them know what kind of player they are getting.

Anywho... on to what is on my mind.

I really wish the Canucks traded Schroeder and/or Raymond for Kassian instead of CoHo or at least instead waited to swap CoHo for Kassian at the Draft.

It is very possible that Kassian may not be the impact player he is expected to be for us in this years playoffs. I really hope we luck out and he is. He is young and still quite unseasoned. In this scenario we are rushing this Kassian into this role we want him to be for the sake of being tougher and grittier for this years run. This has knee jerk reaction written all over it.

CoHo has progressed very nicely this season in the NHL and has proven he can be an impact player, and has playoff experience from last year so he would know what pace and intense style of game to expect.

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I like Kassian but I really think we overpayed for him. We should have gotten someone by the likes of Nash for Cody Hodgson (Coho+Ballard + Raymond ) Regardless I do believe that CoHo deserved more minutes and is likely going to be a top 6 forward in Buffalo (which is what he deserves). As soon as I saw the other trade I knew COHO was gonna be outta here. Tough TOUGH day to be a Canucks fan. If we were going to trade Coho from the beginning we should have gotten way more for him. Possible Franchise centre and future captain. Ugh this sucks! Anyways welcome to the team Kassian!

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If you're bummed out by this trade, that's because you are making a direct comparison between Hodgson and Kassian. Yes, it hurts to lose a potential franchise center, but you need to recognize that Zack Kassian is not coming over from Buffalo to replace Cody - we did that with a previous deal for Sami Pahlsson. With Pahlsson, we are going back to the conventional shutdown 3rd line. This allows us to give those sheltered offensive minutes that we gave to Cody by having Kesler play the entire game in the shutdown role to Kesler - by having Pahlsson take half of Kesler's shutdown minutes.

Without doubt, Kesler will outproduce Cody with the same offensive minutes - that's what happened last season when we got Manny to take some of Kesler's defensive minutes before he got injured. Now, we have 2 lines that can take Kesler's shutdown minutes, meaning Kesler will really be able to focus on offense. With this formula, we went to game 7 of the SCF despite both Manny and Kesler getting injured. With another addition of Pahlsson (and having Booth instead of Samuelsson and Luongo playing the way he is this year), we are better equipped than last year.

Now let's focus on Kassian. What do we have in this kid? A big, rugged power forward that can shoot, skate and play. Here's my take though Canucks fans - dont, please don't, expect Kassian to be our "answer" to Boston, or as our "Lucic".

This kid just turned 21 and this is his first season in the pros against men. No matter how big you are, you are going to be intimidated, not intimidating, by the other big experienced players in this league. Buffalo had the unfair expectations for this kid to be their answer to Boston - how do you expect a then-20 year old to take on the entire Boston team? Boston plays the way they do because their entire roster is willing to fight - from Chara to Thornton to Campbell to Horton to Lucic - everybody fights on Boston. To expect one kid, a 21 year old, to stand up to all of them, is insane.

Buffalo played this kid like his biggest asset was his toughness - so they played him as a 3rd/4th line banger and killed his offensive instincts in the process. He was constantly moved up and down from AHL to NHL and it's as if they had him believe that the only way he could stick to the roster was by fighting...

But what I think Buffalo overlooked is that Kassian has great skills. Kassian can skate extremely well for his size. Kassian can shoot very well. Kassian can pass very well. Kassian can hold on to, and protect the puck with his body extremely well. Most importantly, Kassian is a beast along the boards.

Kassian can help us gain possession and keep our cycle game going. He's not a fighter - that mean streak aspect of his game will come along as he gets more confident and established in this league.

He can help us NOW on the top 9. This kid is skilled - it's a different skillset than Cody - Kassian's skills are speed, size, grit, puck possession and board battles. He is an impact player in many ways that Cody is not. Similarly, Cody is an impact player in many ways that Kassian is not - smart, playmaking, leadership. Except - we have players that have the skillset that Cody has, and they are better at Cody in that regard. We do not have players better than Kassian at what he does with his size, speed and skillset.

Kassian, if he cannot help us now, will help us in the future greatly. The reality of the trade is, we don't need Kassian to be an impact player this season. Pahlsson is what we swapped Hodgson for - not Kassian. We can afford to wait for Kassian to develop if we need to send him down. No worries. But when he is ready, he will bring something to this team that nobody else can.

With our player development and leadership, I have no doubt that whatever "problems" Kassian is rumoured to have will get straightened out by the veteran leadership in our locker room, our experienced coaching staff or the organization.

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Brutal Trade! I have always supported MG even with the Ballard trade, but no more, if Kassian fails to bring anything to the Canucks this post season I hope that spells the end of MG. You think May Ray is a whipping boy when he is not producing? Kassian has 1 assist in his last 17 games if he continues at that production level I hope MG is run out of town by true Canuck fans, if Av had a hand in this then he should go too.

My prediction is Canucks get bounced in the second round.

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We traded Rookie of the Year for who?

Over on the Sabres forum, Zack Kassian has been described as inconsistent, underwhelming, and not living up to expectations. Over here, Hodgson receives nothing but praises time after time.

We already have Byron Bitz as our big-body power forward. Sure, we could use another big-body forward, but NOT at the expense of Cody Hodgson.

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6'4" 225lbs doesn't come along very often. I like the trade alot. Even if hodson goes on to be an 80 point player, he never would have been that here behind kes and hank.

Kasian was a 13th overall pick and a power foward with skill like this is just SO HARD to find let alone land. Very rare in this leage.

We will learn to love this kid. Trust me.

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