Kassian RFA year

[SabreFan1]

Kass should get a 2-3 year bridge contract. Give him too many years and too much money all at once then there's a very real chance that he could get complacent, a la Tyler Myers. Make the man work for his money.

[Santo]

The OP has the point. All you guys saying "Kassian is still young", GUYS. He's been here two years and has been next to useless. He's played with the twins countless times and has never shown dominance outside of a couple games. We need to learn to expect more from this kid. The honeymoon is over. Kass needs to perform.

[PhillipBlunt]

'Bust' - CDC's favourite word.

I can't name a single one of our 1st/2nd round prospects other than Horvat that haven't been called busts since we got them.

Yup even Hodgson was labeled a bust before he played a single game in the NHL.

Kassian is playing in the NHL and still developing, he's not a bust.

Exactly. He was a force yesterday against Nashville. The kid needs time to make the mistakes and learn from them. The only issue I have is with his borderline dangerous decisions (Gagner and Dillion). If he can get those out of his game, he'll be fine.

[SabreFan1]

I've said it before and I still believe it to be the case, Kassian's training was mishandled here in Buffalo as well as Portland, and in Rochester. Darcy Regier was a poor GM who developed a bad habit of chewing up his young player's progress. Look at Grigorenko as proof. Realistically the clock started ticking when Kass landed in Vancouver. That's one of the reasons why I firmly believe a bridge contract is in everybody's best interest. Let him earn his money and his pay. If he pans out then great, if not then the Canucks won't be stuck with him for too long of a period of time.

[oldnews]

I've said it before and I still believe it to be the case, Kassian's training was mishandled here in Buffalo as well as Portland, and in Rochester. Darcy Regier was a poor GM who developed a bad habit of chewing up his young player's progress. Look at Grigorenko as proof. Realistically the clock started ticking when Kass landed in Vancouver. That's one of the reasons why I firmly believe a bridge contract is in everybody's best interest. Let him earn his money and his pay. If he pans out then great, if not then the Canucks won't be stuck with him for too long of a period of time.

Interesting take. I suppose that's one thing we might actually be thankful for out here, otherwise the Canucks may not have been fortunate enough to acquire him, a player this team really needs, and unlike anyone else it has moving forward. While I don't think Foligno is that talent that Kassian is, nevertheless they have some similar qualities that probably enabled Regier to go after a young center - something they were lacking at the time.

I've said it before as well - I am thrilled to have Kassian - I think very highly of a lot of the qualities he brings - and he has improved some aspects of his development dramatically since arriving here.

What I didn't expect was the world class vision and playmaking ability that he has for such a big, physical pwf. That, combined with the rest of what he has to offer (particularly his speed), is really exciting when we consider a few of the young goalscorers in the system that could fit very nicely with him (Jensen, Shinkaruk, Fox...)

[Hammerhead]

I think we need to give the kid some time , if you go way back the canucks gave up on one of the best power forwards to ever play the game in Cam Neely.

[Gurn]

Kassian's biggest problem is he was sold to the Canuck fans as being "ready to go". Without that hype people would be a lot more relaxed about him.

[SabreFan1]

Kassian's biggest problem is he was sold to the Canuck fans as being "ready to go".

That's basically it in a nutshell. It's unfortunate that Kass never got to benefit from the new trainers and other kinds of support that was brought in when Pegula bought the Sabres.

Now that he has picked up his defensive game and his skating speed, CoHo is becoming a pretty good all around second line center. Canucks fans who were neutral about Cody predicted that exactly. He will never be a "superstar", but he is progressing very well.

Both teams got what they needed and wanted and the CoHo/Kass swap turned out to be a fair trade.

[oldnews]

Kassian's biggest problem is he was sold to the Canuck fans as being "ready to go". Without that hype people would be a lot more relaxed about him.

Interesting paraphrase. Not quite accurate however.

Care to get back to us with the actual context you are trying to refer to?

Kassian's biggest problem was how entirely deluded most folks were regarding Hodgson's actual level of development.

Hodgson was ready to be a sheltered third line center between two outstanding two way veteran wingers. That was it. His production was, and still is, blown way out of proportion, his defensive game was absolutely horrible as was highly evident when he got the minutes in Buffalo he wasn't really ready for. He was flanked by two of the best two way third line wingers in the NHL (HIggins and Hansen, both of whom scored as much as Hodgson - and carried him with much better underlying numbers than their rookie center).

Kassian's underlying two way numbers were better then, and still are (Hodgson is still 24th among Sabres with some pretty bad underlying numbers). Kassian was ready to contribute - as a 10-12 minute young 3rd liner - exactly the extent of what Hodgson was ready to offer.

[Ride the red Pony]

While I do really like the big fella and he has shown some flashes, he still has a ton of work to do. Soft hands, good vision, but what I'm most impressed with is the touch he has on his passes.

Very awkward on the body, comes in too high and very seldom delivers a good solid blow. He almost looks uncomfortable when throwing the body. Decent scrapper, definitely no Probert but hangs in, should get better with age.

Experience, experience, experience.............

Sign him up.

[Absent Canuck]

Kassian's biggest problem is he was sold to the Canuck fans as being "ready to go". Without that hype people would be a lot more relaxed about him.

I wasnt. The guy was 21 years old and wasnt even an NHL regular yet. I dont think many thought he was fully developed. He wont be until he is 27 but we will start to see his game at a higher level by age 25.

[Nino]

I wasnt. The guy was 21 years old and wasnt even an NHL regular yet. I dont think many thought he was fully developed. He wont be until he is 27 but we will start to see his game at a higher level by age 25.

Think your missing the point, MG thought he was ready to step right in and make an impact right away for us and after the trade he said as much. You may have thought he was five years out but he was billed in the trade and an impact player that will help us win now, sad thing is I think they believed it.... Lol.

[oldnews]

Think your missing the point, MG thought he was ready to step right in and make an impact right away for us and after the trade he said as much. You may have thought he was five years out but he was billed in the trade and an impact player that will help us win now, sad thing is I think they believed it.... Lol.

You're doing what weak journalists and soft minded CDCers fall for, which is substitute bad paraphrasing for actual context.

What's obvious is that you don't know what Gillis thought, nor are you accurately representing what was said.

Convenient paraphrasing is easy. But so is quoting what a person actually says.

"He still has a ways to go to develop I think into his full potential but um, he's an NHL player now, who is going to help us in a lot of different ways."

http://video.canucks.nhl.com/videocenter/console?id=160765

What Gillis pretty clearly knows and states is that Kassian has a lot of development ahead of him. What he does not say is that he is going to be an immediate "impact" player. That was more of a contrived whining point of fans who also mistakenly thought that the rookie that was dealt for Kassian was an impact player. He wasn't. He was a sheltered rookie who contributed, but he was certainly not what CDC fantasies made him out to be. He's still growing into a top 6 role himself, and not particularly any quicker than Kassian has.

It was very clearly the case that Kassian was a player just at that stage of NHL readiness where he could come in and play a role. If you have a quote where Gillis declares him an immediate "impact: player, you should just cut to the chase and simply post it.

[Nino]

You're doing what weak journalists and soft minded CDCers fall for, which is substitute bad paraphrasing for actual context.

What's obvious is that you don't know what Gillis thought, nor are you accurately representing what was said.

Convenient paraphrasing is easy. But so is quoting what a person actually says.

"He still has a ways to go to develop I think into his full potential but um, he's an NHL player now, who is going to help us in a lot of different ways."

http://video.canucks.nhl.com/videocenter/console?id=160765

What Gillis pretty clearly knows and states is that Kassian has a lot of development ahead of him. What he does not say is that he is going to be an immediate "impact" player. That was more of a contrived whining point of fans who also mistakenly thought that the rookie that was dealt for Kassian was an impact player. He wasn't. He was a sheltered rookie who contributed, but he was certainly not what CDC fantasies made him out to be. He's still growing into a top 6 role himself, and not particularly any quicker than Kassian has.

It was very clearly the case that Kassian was a player just at that stage of NHL readiness where he could come in and play a role. If you have a quote where Gillis declares him an immediate "impact: player, you should just cut to the chase and simply post it.

Your right, I remembered it a little differently. But he did say he was going to help win. On a side note I dug up the story it's here, if you read it it clearly shows as I've said that the Cody trade was the start of the Canucks down fall. Gillis openly said he is willing to trade scoring for sandpaper now all we have is a first line and sandpaper... Lol.

After the story I'll post another comment that he made regarding the booth trade that was another part of him destroying the team.

By Brad Ziemer

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. For Vancouver Canucks GM Mike Gillis, it came down to skill versus sandpaper.

Gillis, who pulled off the biggest trade of NHL deadline day, determined that his team had more than enough of the former and needed an injection of the latter.

So Gillis pulled the trigger Monday and traded away to the Buffalo Sabres a promising player in Cody Hodgson, who has lots of skill, in exchange for a young up-and-coming power forward in Zack Kassian, who has plenty of grit.

Gillis suggested that if he learned anything in last years playoff run it was that the Canucks needed to become a more balanced team, one that relied less on its skill.

It showed me that to get to the Western Conference final you are going to have to grind it out and to do that you need more balance, he said. You cant just have skill and have other teams use less skilled players to try to grind them into the ice every night.

We wanted to get as fast and as big as we could going into these playoffs and well see how we did.

Kassian and veteran centre Sami Pahlsson, whom the Canucks acquired from Columbus earlier Monday, are expected to make their debuts when Vancouver closes out a six-game road trip against the Phoenix Coyotes on Tuesday night.

Judged purely on numbers, the Hodgson-for-Kassian deal looks to be a lopsided one in favour of the Sabres.

Kassian, Buffalos first-round pick (13th overall) in the 2009 draft, has played more games in the AHL than he has in the NHL this season. In 27 games with the Sabres this season, he has three goals and seven points.

But the Canucks fell in love with his size, speed and upside.

Well, theres not much not to like, Gillis said. Hes 6-4 and 225 (pounds) and just turned 21 a month ago and he put up almost point-a-game numbers in the American League. For a player who is that physical, who can do that, its a rare opportunity you get a chance to get players like that.

There arent many of them around in the league. He still has a ways to go to develop I think into his full potential, but he is an NHL player now who is going to help us in a lot of different ways.

Gillis intimated that the Canucks were a team that had to lean too much on its skill and its high-powered offence. He decided he was willing to surrender some of that offence Hodgson had 16 goals and 33 points in 63 games this season in order to find that better balance.

The only real power forward we have on our team would be David Booth and with that kind of size and speed (in Kassian) we now have a younger player whos 21 who has that.

Kassian said he was initially shocked and then excited by the trade.

I was not expecting this at all, he said. I just want to thank Buffalo. They did a lot for me and Im very excited to go contend for a (Stanley) Cup now. Its going to be very exciting. Theyre a Canadian team; its going to be a lot of fun.

Kassian suggested playing against him wont be any fun, which is exactly what the Canucks are hoping for.

I like to be physical, but at the same time I like to make plays and chip in offensively, he said. I like sticking up for teammates and playing the physical game just try to be an all-around player.

Hodgson also expressed surprise at the trade and found out about it when was out for a walk early Monday afternoon with Canucks defenceman Chris Tanev.

Im still in shock right now actually, he said. My phone is blowing up right now; I dont know what to think. I talked to my family and its going to be closer to them, so theyre happy about it. Vancouvers a great city and really passionate about hockey and has great fans. I really dont know what to think right now. Im excited.

I know its a business and Im thankful they gave me my start here. They drafted me.

The Canucks also shipped spare defenceman Alexander Sulzer to the Sabres and received offensive defenceman Marc-Andre Gragnani.

In an earlier deal, the Canucks sent two fourth-round picks and minor-league defenceman Taylor Ellington to the Columbus Blue Jackets in exchange for Pahlsson, a proven playoff performer who Gillis said gives the Canucks a shutdown centre.

Pahlsson, who hails from the same Swedish hometown as the Sedin twins, was a key contributor when the Anaheim Ducks won the 2007 Stanley Cup.

I like the fact he has won, hes a bigger body who is a defensive player, Gillis said of the 34-year-old Pahlsson. That is what you are going to get. There are times, particularly in the playoffs, when you are playing against good teams you need a shutdown player who can play against those big (centres) on other teams.

Vancouver Sun

"You have to continually try and make changes to get better and address certain things and we did that," Gillis said. "We got a bigger player in Zack, we got a bigger player in David Booth, We are going to continue to try and get bigger and stronger in the context of having a good offensive team."

^^^^^

Good offensive team that's made up of plugs MG? And over paid ones at that.

[oldnews]

Your right, I remembered it a little differently. But he did say he was going to help win. On a side note I dug up the story it's here, if you read it it clearly shows as I've said that the Cody trade was the start of the Canucks down fall. Gillis openly said he is willing to trade scoring for sandpaper now all we have is a first line and sandpaper... Lol.

After the story I'll post another comment that he made regarding the booth trade that was another part of him destroying the team.

By Brad Ziemer

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. For Vancouver Canucks GM Mike Gillis, it came down to skill versus sandpaper.

Gillis, who pulled off the biggest trade of NHL deadline day, determined that his team had more than enough of the former and needed an injection of the latter.

So Gillis pulled the trigger Monday and traded away to the Buffalo Sabres a promising player in Cody Hodgson, who has lots of skill, in exchange for a young up-and-coming power forward in Zack Kassian, who has plenty of grit.

Gillis suggested that if he learned anything in last years playoff run it was that the Canucks needed to become a more balanced team, one that relied less on its skill.

It showed me that to get to the Western Conference final you are going to have to grind it out and to do that you need more balance, he said. You cant just have skill and have other teams use less skilled players to try to grind them into the ice every night.

We wanted to get as fast and as big as we could going into these playoffs and well see how we did.

Kassian and veteran centre Sami Pahlsson, whom the Canucks acquired from Columbus earlier Monday, are expected to make their debuts when Vancouver closes out a six-game road trip against the Phoenix Coyotes on Tuesday night.

Judged purely on numbers, the Hodgson-for-Kassian deal looks to be a lopsided one in favour of the Sabres.

Kassian, Buffalos first-round pick (13th overall) in the 2009 draft, has played more games in the AHL than he has in the NHL this season. In 27 games with the Sabres this season, he has three goals and seven points.

But the Canucks fell in love with his size, speed and upside.

Well, theres not much not to like, Gillis said. Hes 6-4 and 225 (pounds) and just turned 21 a month ago and he put up almost point-a-game numbers in the American League. For a player who is that physical, who can do that, its a rare opportunity you get a chance to get players like that.

There arent many of them around in the league. He still has a ways to go to develop I think into his full potential, but he is an NHL player now who is going to help us in a lot of different ways.

Gillis intimated that the Canucks were a team that had to lean too much on its skill and its high-powered offence. He decided he was willing to surrender some of that offence Hodgson had 16 goals and 33 points in 63 games this season in order to find that better balance.

The only real power forward we have on our team would be David Booth and with that kind of size and speed (in Kassian) we now have a younger player whos 21 who has that.

Kassian said he was initially shocked and then excited by the trade.

I was not expecting this at all, he said. I just want to thank Buffalo. They did a lot for me and Im very excited to go contend for a (Stanley) Cup now. Its going to be very exciting. Theyre a Canadian team; its going to be a lot of fun.

Kassian suggested playing against him wont be any fun, which is exactly what the Canucks are hoping for.

I like to be physical, but at the same time I like to make plays and chip in offensively, he said. I like sticking up for teammates and playing the physical game just try to be an all-around player.

Hodgson also expressed surprise at the trade and found out about it when was out for a walk early Monday afternoon with Canucks defenceman Chris Tanev.

Im still in shock right now actually, he said. My phone is blowing up right now; I dont know what to think. I talked to my family and its going to be closer to them, so theyre happy about it. Vancouvers a great city and really passionate about hockey and has great fans. I really dont know what to think right now. Im excited.

I know its a business and Im thankful they gave me my start here. They drafted me.

The Canucks also shipped spare defenceman Alexander Sulzer to the Sabres and received offensive defenceman Marc-Andre Gragnani.

In an earlier deal, the Canucks sent two fourth-round picks and minor-league defenceman Taylor Ellington to the Columbus Blue Jackets in exchange for Pahlsson, a proven playoff performer who Gillis said gives the Canucks a shutdown centre.

Pahlsson, who hails from the same Swedish hometown as the Sedin twins, was a key contributor when the Anaheim Ducks won the 2007 Stanley Cup.

I like the fact he has won, hes a bigger body who is a defensive player, Gillis said of the 34-year-old Pahlsson. That is what you are going to get. There are times, particularly in the playoffs, when you are playing against good teams you need a shutdown player who can play against those big (centres) on other teams.

Vancouver Sun

"You have to continually try and make changes to get better and address certain things and we did that," Gillis said. "We got a bigger player in Zack, we got a bigger player in David Booth, We are going to continue to try and get bigger and stronger in the context of having a good offensive team."

^^^^^

Good offensive team that's made up of plugs MG? And over paid ones at that.

I see why you'd change the subject to Booth - because you whiffed on Kassian.

Some crapty VanSun scribbling isn't going to change what has actually transpired.

Have a look at Hodgson's numbers - they're posted a page back - how was this trade the start of a downfall? That's ridiculous. The kind of stuff Tony G would say, and then backtrack a few years later, deleting his old articles, and arguing that Kassian should be playing top line minutes.

At 4.25 million for Hodgson, compared to Kassian's 810k - rich that you should end that post referring to overpaid 'plugs'. Kassian is neither.

[Baggins]

If there is anyone in the league who needs incentive, its Kassian. He has a very strong tendency to go right to sleep without plenty of external stimuli.

Perhaps his contract should be structured around trying to keep him motivated as much as possible, he gets a very modest base salary and fantastic rewards if he gets 20 goals or 50 points or whatever.

He's neither old enough or young enough to have incentives in his contract. That's limited to entry level contracts and players over 35 on one year deals.

[Goat James]

Looking at the trade a couple deadlines later.

Hodgson has 16 goals, 19 assists

.90 pp60 minutes

46% in the faceoff circle

-25

18+ minutes a night

3:13 powerplay time / game

45% of his offensive production is on the power play.

9 goals and 10 assists at even strength.

-16.76 corsi on, 25th on the rather bad Buffalo Sabres.

He's lost his top line center job to Tyler Ennis.

6 years x 4.25 million.

Kassian has 11 goals, 8 assists.

.85pp 60 minutes.

-10

12+ minutes a night

38 seconds of powerplay time/game

10 goals and 8 assists at even strength.

4.5% of production on the powerplay.

-2.25 corsi on, 18th on the Canucks.

Third line minutes (with Booth and his 13pts).

Qualifying offer of 850k required. Would be happy to offer him twice that.

Not a bad hockey trade at all.

It all sounds very good, but that's not how hockey works. Hodgson is playing on the worst team in the league. Crosby plays more than any other forward in the league and scores more than anyone. You earn your ice time. That's how hockey works. If you're good then you get to play more.

[zombieksa]

Give him the Burrows deal. 3 or 4 years at 2M. If things pan out he'll be in for a huge raise at the start of his prime. could be beneficial for him and the team.

[ice orca]

It all sounds very good, but that's not how hockey works. Hodgson is playing on the worst team in the league. Crosby plays more than any other forward in the league and scores more than anyone. You earn your ice time. That's how hockey works. If you're good then you get to play more.

Did you just compare Hodgson to Crosby?

[Goat James]

Did you just compare Hodgson to Crosby?

No. I just said that if you earn your ice time. There is a reason that Hodgson plays more than Kassian.