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Too Early to call Kassian a dissapointment?


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I'm so tired of all this Kassian hand wringing. Kid will be fine, I've seen him make some pretty awesome setups and passes... don't know who was talking about lack of hockey IQ - what?? yes he's made some dumb plays (penalty today, some bad hits) but I don't see him costing us goals regularly or being oh so weak on the backcheck or anything. He's also not suited for a 3rd line role. I'd rather see him on the 2nd line... and yes I know people will say he hasn't earned 2nd line minutes, fair, but it's a bit of a catch 22 at this point.

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I felt he has played enough games with us that we can finally start to criticize him and his development since joining this team.

I think there is something really off about his hockey sense. When he plays he just doesn't seem to "get it" when it comes to reading or making the right plays. He just extremely inconsistent too in both his effort and ability.

For someone that is suppose to be a good power foward he seems to have lost an edge in terms of his puck protection and board battles. I don't know if it's a result of him getting really lean but the same thing happened to Bernier. I don't understand the Canucks trainers wanting him to lose his weight because he's obviously not as strong on the puck as when he was first traded here.

Did the Canucks make the mistake in trading for Kassian? i understand that Hodgson didn't want to play here but maybe we could have targetted someone else. Ive just been extremely unimpressed by his play as a Canuck. Seems like AV wasn't really the problem either because the new coaching staff are basically treating him the same way. He just hasnt earned an opportunity and its disapointing. It has nothing to do with his character either, hes a good person.

Thoughts?

woohoo! yay we canucks fans get to critisize! yaaa! this is what you live for right?

wow

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Yeah I will agree with you there. It wasn't the smartest thing to trade for a project type player when we were contenders. But at the same time we needed to get bigger. I don't think COHO could be talked to, if we had Torts maybe but not with AV. I think we can all agree on one thing and that is that GMMG is not the worst GM out there but he's far from the best.

we didn't need to get bigger. give me one good reason why?

back to back president's trophies. only injuries (freak injuries to Kesler and Hamhuis) lost us the SCF.

it is precisely this need to "Get Bigger" that has sunk this latest core's chances at a SC. Right in the middle of it we abandoned what got us there - speed, and skill - for a few players who are bigger but not better. And where is that now? the current management makes no talk about getting bigger anymore - cause that flavour of the year is out, time to spin something else....

I agree with your MG assessment.

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we didn't need to get bigger. give me one good reason why?

back to back president's trophies. only injuries (freak injuries to Kesler and Hamhuis) lost us the SCF.

Playoffs. How many times have we lost to bigger teams in the playoffs? LA, BOS and SJS. We got man handled during the SCF whenever we were in Boston and during Game 7. At the time that was an issue with the media and a big issue on CDC..

Big PWF to protect the Sedins ring any bells? it did a lot then for me at least.

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Playoffs. How many times have we lost to bigger teams in the playoffs? LA, BOS and SJS. We got man handled during the SCF whenever we were in Boston and during Game 7. At the time that was an issue with the media and a big issue on CDC..

Big PWF to protect the Sedins ring any bells? it did a lot then for me at least.

The Canucks have tried to get bigger and they can't even make the playoffs or past the first round now :lol: .

Skill>Strength. The Canucks were a skilled team and by sacrificing their skill, their cup window effectively closed.

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The Canucks have tried to get bigger and they can't even make the playoffs or past the first round now :lol: .

Skill>Strength. The Canucks were a skilled team and by sacrificing their skill, their cup window effectively closed.

I never said we need to go that route I am just saying they tried to and unfortunately failed, hence the outcome you have stated.

Teams like LA, SJS and BOS are successful at that being big physical teams. MG thought that was the way to go.

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It's definitely a project, yet one with potential. Glad we have a coach like Torts to work on this, as opposed to AV sabotaging an aspiring youth movement.

So we might need to deal a few vets & get younger? Boo-freeken-hoo! Glad we didn't keep Bo & Hunter up, if we need to re-tool. Save their ELC for when the team KNOWS their intended course. Now if we do make many changes & get rather young, we'll need some nasty muscle, which might be a role Kassian will have to adopt(fully).

It doesn't help to thrust these Bert/Lucic fantasies upon this guy-every team wants some of that(top PWF), but it's rare to find. Stay positive, & ensure he can develop into his necessary role, WITH an emerging set of young players. He might even develop special chemistry with players who haven't yet arrived.

PRESSURE with vets; patience with youth.

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This trade looked bad at the time and looks even worse today. Kassian is not going to blossom into this power forward everyone keeps saying "takes time". It's over, folks. We lost the trade.

When was the last time a PWF played like a full time NHLer with 106 NHL games of experience?.. I am sorry sir but you have no god damn clue on what kind of player Kassian will become. We did lose that trade though, Coho was more NHL ready and we needed somebody who was NHL ready in return for him.
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Not ready to give up on him, but he does seem to have set back games like against the NYR. As much as people say he is "still learning", some games it doesn't look like he has. If the rest of the team wasn't sucking so badly, Kassian's development likely wouldn't be under the same microscope but I think there is a desperation to see something from him.

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When was the last time a PWF played like a full time NHLer with 106 NHL games of experience?.. I am sorry sir but you have no god damn clue on what kind of player Kassian will become. We did lose that trade though, Coho was more NHL ready and we needed somebody who was NHL ready in return for him.

Quote me on it! There's a reason Buffalo dumped him. It's called drive and determination. This kid will not be a star. Will he get better? Sure. Is he going to be the next Bertuzzi? Absolutely not.

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Quote me on it! There's a reason Buffalo dumped him. It's called drive and determination. This kid will not be a star. Will he get better? Sure. Is he going to be the next Bertuzzi? Absolutely not.

There's a reason why we hired Torts, for players like Kassian and Edler. Will Kass become a star? Unlikely but crazier things have happened. Glad you brought up Todd and I agree, Kassian will not become the next Bertuzzi. It took Bertuzzi till he was 25 to breakout though hence why I have said multiple times in different threads.

PWFs take time, history has shown that, get that through your head FFS.

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I just don't understand why he doesn't atleast play more physical.

Might as well send him down to Utica and bring up Archibald.

But it seems like Kassian's problem is drive and determination and sending him down could make it even worse and turn him into a 4th liner at best... He always seems to dominate in the AHL, I don't get him.

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I just don't understand why he doesn't atleast play more physical.

Might as well send him down to Utica and bring up Archibald.

But it seems like Kassian's problem is drive and determination and sending him down could make it even worse and turn him into a 4th liner at best... He always seems to dominate in the AHL, I don't get him.

I think he just needs to play, he only has 106 NHL games under his belt. He was also rushed into the NHL when he needed to spend a solid year in the minors.
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Too early to call him a disappointment?

Yes too early. There is still ample time for him to develop into a good player. He still has the tools and he's managed to be effective, neutral anyways where he is responsible on the ice even though he plays against good quality of competition. Occasionally his talents comes through, he makes plays and we see glimpses. And he clearly has attributes scouts drool over. But he is just not just not assertive. He's doing fine if you want a 3rd line / 4th line checking wing?

What he does not display is the competitive energy. He just does not go into the game, be it board battles, fore checking or creating havoc in front of the net, with the same gusto as some of his teammates. When Archie was up, you could see he was not as big, as fast or did not have the hands. But he battled every shift! Guys like Higgins, Malhotra Torres, Santorelli were all disappointments early in their career too. But a switch went on, perhaps of desperation to stay in the league, and they upp'd their battle level, intensity, training and took on the dirty game roles to prove how bad they wanted it. Its getting close to time that Kassian gets a harder tap on the shoulder so he recognizes that battle level. I can only think of one or two games this year (Toronto is one) where he was a physical presence, dominating at times, as you would expect from a "power" forward!

We do want more from that potential. I would send him to the minors. And the message is not to score, but to compete like a dog every shift!

We've learned with PF's, that sometimes that is a process? Pardon the expression, but it is waay too early to give up. Learning how to train a bigger body to move explosively and still having the endurance to play full games, even full shifts is a legitimate issue. Nothing better than more minutes and a a clear message, perhaps in the minors, to coax that energy out of his body!

While I'm defending Kass a bit here, and I'm sincere, It's not too early to call the trade a disappointment. At the time it was made, we needed a guy who could step in to the lineup and make a difference to a contending team. Rule one for contending teams is trade for battle hardened veterans to make cup runs. Not a buck green, untested rookie. It was not what we needed. Point two, was we dug a hole, the motor which was driving our secondary scoring, pulling a contributing talent from the line up which has yet to be replaced. Time has proven we did not have the play making depth. Rule two; trade from strength and don't create one hole to fill another.

People can hack on Hodgson, his crying and what not, all they want. It was a dumb trade from day one.

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