Canucks practice NYR

[Hairy Kneel]

Kevin Costner plays Kassian in "Don't Call Me Rookie"

a story of revenge, betrayal, and collusion in the NHL..

...the Stanley Cup will be his..coming soon to a theater near you.

[Plaguez]

His positioning is actually very very good. He stays with his point man, doesn't get sucked down into the corner and when the puck is on his off wing he always slides down into the slot to nullify the backdoor play. Kassian is far better in his own end, positionally, than most of the fwds on the team.

Oh? Really!!??

Drance: No one has ever really questioned Kassians offensive abilities so much as theyve been skeptical of his two-way play and lack of discipline.

The miscast power forward hes really better suited to making plays has managed six points (three goals and three assists) in his past eight games. Where Kassian couldnt buy a break in the opening few months of the year, hes now the third most efficient Canucks point producer at even-strength behind only Chris Higgins and Nick Bonino.

On a team that needs every drop of offensive juice it can squeeze out of its current roster, surely thats enough to avoid the press box.

The offensive production and the chemistry Kassian has shown of late with linemate Shawn Matthias hasnt been good enough for Vancouvers coaches. In spite of his occasional moments of brilliance, Kassian apparently remains firmly entrenched in the doghouse.

On Monday against the Minnesota Wild, Kassian logged just a hair more than 10 minutes the fewest on the team by a decent margin. Recent call-up Ronalds Kenins logged four minutes more.

Kassian has become a better two-way player in that he seems to be capable of driving play in a bottom-six role. Since the midpoint of last season the burly right wing has flashed an ability to boost his linemates shot attempt differentials, but I suspect thats mostly a product of his carrying the puck through the neutral zone.

Its a useful skill, but the data suggests that Kassians defensive play remains problematic. Whether its the giveaways or his inability to cut off the top on in-zone play in the Canucks end, no regular Vancouver forward is permitting scoring chances against at a rate as high as Kassian is, according to war-on-ice.com.

Not helping matters is that hes sporting a brutal .864 on-ice save percentage. Hes been cursed with the sort of bad luck that can magnify every error a player makes.

Some of that is beyond Kassians control, surely, but its hard to write it all off as simply bad luck when opposing teams are generating better than 32 scoring chances per 60 minutes of even-strength ice-time when Kassian is on the ice.

Mmkay?

[Pimp C]

Just who the hell do you put at center if you pull Vey out? Kassian? You think it sounds reasonable for someone to learn a new position with minimal notice?

Well the guy they're replacing Kassian with has played center.