Kassian as a hockey player

[Darkstar]

The sad thing of it is (for Hodgson fans), is that Hodgson likely isn't going to get much better. This looks to be his ceiling. He will be a center who will get (on average) 40 - 50 points a season, but is a defensive liability, has variable success at faceoffs and has no substantial physical aspect to his game. Because of these liabilities, he will be a regular top-6 center only on teams which finish towards the bottom half of the League. This is something which you either do not understand, or to which you are turning a blind eye: points aren't everything.

(Insert "Last I checked you need goals to win a game" comment here. This is true, but if they score 3 for every 2 you score, how many games are you likely to win?)

I suspect that Hodgson will never be sought after as a top-6 center on one of the better teams in the NHL who are making a Cup run (unless they've had injury issues and he's a rental). This does not mean he won't be on a Cup team at some point in his career, but it does mean that I don't see him being the guy who can a team over the top.

On the other hand, Kassian is still developing. He looks like he still hasn't reached his ceiling (and yes, he might not ever get there), and he continues to take more steps forward than he does step back. Basing Kassian's future scoring ability on his current season's stats doesn't make a lot of sense, both because of him being a year younger in development than Hodgson and due to the differences in their positions and styles of play.

Kassian plays the game like Hodgson can't, and has been noted by others, he looks like he will be the type of guy which the team needs more than they did Hodgson.

You are correct, any intelligent person would know who to choose, and for the Canucks they went with the player who can do the "most" for this team over his career: Kassian.

regards,G.

[TimberWolf]

When the dust settles, Zack will go down as one of Gillis' biggest busts.

[TimberWolf]

Is there any legitimate proof to this? Hodgson's in his second full year of his NHL career, just like Kassian. He'd be on pace for a 60 pt season in 82 games so your whole 40-50 pts projection already goes out the window. There is definite room for Cody to improve his game, especially since he's 23 years old.

Kassian is in a similar position but the worry about him is that he hasn't shown much of anything thus far to prove that he will be a legitimate top-six forward in the NHL. He had that decent stretch in the first 10 games but he only has 1 pt in his last 20 games. He's slow, below-average defensively and hasn't really shown that he has the hands to constantly put up the points in the big leagues.

If you base everything purely off of projections, Cody is likely going to be like a Jason Allison while Zack will likely end up being like a Ben Eager or a more-physical Steve Bernier. Kassian doesn't have the hands, the vision or the speed that someone like Bertuzzi did.

[Lancaster]

The sad thing of it is (for Hodgson fans), is that Hodgson likely isn't going to get much better. This looks to be his ceiling. He will be a center who will get (on average) 40 - 50 points a season, but is a defensive liability, has variable success at faceoffs and has no substantial physical aspect to his game. Because of these liabilities, he will be a regular top-6 center only on teams which finish towards the bottom half of the League. This is something which you either do not understand, or to which you are turning a blind eye: points aren't everything.

[KelVintage]

Is there any legitimate proof to this? Hodgson's in his second full year of his NHL career, just like Kassian. He'd be on pace for a 60 pt season in 82 games so your whole 40-50 pts projection already goes out the window. There is definite room for Cody to improve his game, especially since he's 23 years old.

Kassian is in a similar position but the worry about him is that he hasn't shown much of anything thus far to prove that he will be a legitimate top-six forward in the NHL. He had that decent stretch in the first 10 games but he only has 1 pt in his last 20 games. He's slow, below-average defensively and hasn't really shown that he has the hands to constantly put up the points in the big leagues.

If you base everything purely off of projections, Cody is likely going to be like a Jason Allison while Zack will likely end up being like a Ben Eager or a more-physical Steve Bernier. Kassian doesn't have the hands, the vision or the speed that someone like Bertuzzi did.

[Jagr68]

KASSIAN SCORES!!!

A Polite "Screw you" to you, sir.

[Gollumpus]

Is there any legitimate proof to this? Hodgson's in his second full year of his NHL career, just like Kassian. He'd be on pace for a 60 pt season in 82 games so your whole 40-50 pts projection already goes out the window. There is definite room for Cody to improve his game, especially since he's 23 years old.

[Darkstar]

Just want to ask here: do you understand what "average" means in the sense it was being used? Who cares if Hodgson gets 1000 points in a single season? I was addressing the average over his career, not what he has achieved for this or any other single season.

As to Hodgson improving his game, sure there is a chance. He might get to play with line mates who will bring up both his point totals (as has happened in Buffalo) and drop his +/- (as was the case in Vancouver). This being said, he had two years when he was in the Canucks system (not counting the time he spent in juniors after he was drafted in '08), and while his offensive skill was never really in doubt, sadly his lack of defensive ability was also never in doubt, as shown by his time in Buffalo.

Hopefully, in the future, Hodgson will be paired with a couple of really slow guys, so it will look like he's become a faster skater.

Yeah, except you are basing your projections for Kassian on fewer games than Hodgson has played.

What has Kassian done in his first 80 games (not counting tonight's game - 1 goal for Kassian)? 10 goals and 9 assists.

What has Hodgson done in his first 80 games? 16 goals and 18 assists. I got the Hodgson numbers by adding the results of his first nine game with Buffalo to what he did while he was with the Canucks (71 games). Fun fact: Hodgson dropped from being a +8 to a +4 in those first nine games.

I'm assuming that you are counting on a late growth spurt for Hodgson to become the next Jason Allison. Kassian looks like he is on track to put up comparable numbers to what Bertuzzi did at his age. NOTE: I'm not saying that Kassian will be the next Bertuzzi, just that his development to date is comparable.

[oldnews]

[Honky Cat]

Cody is playing on the first line in Buffalo. He's playing against the top lines in the league and still has a better +/- than Kassian. You also have to remember that he's on Buffalo, where more than half of the players on the team have a negative plus/minus rating. Kassian actually has the worst plus/minus rating on the Canucks as well so if you base defensive ability solely off of that stat (which I don't), he's the worst defensive player on the team.

You constantly bring up Cody's lack of defensive ability and speed, but there are 2 Art-Ross trophy winners on the Canucks who came into the league dealing with the same criticism. Not saying that Cody will ever win the Art Ross trophy, but to say that he has already reached his ceiling is asinine. Cody's vision and skill will take him far and this league and he's one of the hardest workers off of the ice (ask Gary Roberts). His speed isn't great but it's definitely improving and he actually plays the PK on the Sabres. A Jason Allision comparison isn't his ceiling, it's a comparable.

Bertuzzi had 18 goals and 39 points in his first 78 games of his career, Kassian has 11 goals and 20 points in his first 81 games. Bert practically had double the points in a similar amount of games as Kassian. Development curve isn't similar at all thus far.

A good comparison in development to Kassian is Ben Eager, who had 19 points in his first 88 games. I definitely see Kassian as being better than Eager but Kassian's development curve and playing ability looks more similar to Eager than Bertuzzi at this point. Eager is also a better skater than Kassian though.