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Former Sabre Kassian Flourishing

Howard Simon

howard@wgr550.com

As the saying goes in sports, the best trades are the ones that help both teams. Early on in this 2013 NHL season, the Cody Hodgson for Zack Kassian deal is doing exactly that.

Hodgson is off to a tremendous start, anchoring a line with Thomas Vanek and Jason Pominville that combined for 45 points going into the weekend.

Kassian is drawing rave reviews out west and is flourishing on the Canucks top line with Daniel and Henrik Sedin although their point total is considerably less than the Sabres trio with 20 in Vancouver’s first 10 games.

Going into the weekend, Kassian led the Canucks in goals with 5. The five goals in 10 games already tops his total of four goals in 44 games last season and might be a surprise to many Canucks fans who didn’t see much from Kassian as he scored just once in 17 games following the trade out of Buffalo.

Playing with the Sedin twins certainly is a big factor for Kassian’s success but he also put in the work in the off season. The 6-3, 214 pound Kassian changed his perspective about training, getting himself a personal trainer and also working out at a high performance center that Nike runs for its elite athletes.

Kassian also spent part of his off season working out with the Sedin twins who went to Canucks management and requested that. The pair liked what they had seen in terms of Kassian’s potential and felt they could have a positive impact on the 22 year old forward.

In addition to improving his offense, Kassian has shown his physical side, consistently finishing checks and getting into a couple of fights on behalf of teammates.

One Vancouver columnist wrote about Kassian starting to bud and invoked the names of Todd Bertuzzi, the last true power forward the Canucks had, Cam Neely, the greatest power forward Vancouver ever traded away and even Vancouver native Milan Lucic, considered one of the top power forwards in the game today.

Filed Under :
Topics : Sports
Social : Sports
Locations : Buffalo, Vancouver
People : Cam Neely, Daniel Sedin, Henrik Sedin, Jason Pominville, Milan Lucic, Thomas Vanek, Todd Bertuzzi

02/08/2013 11:32AM

Former Sabre Kassian Flourishing

Please enter your comments below.

02/10/2013 7:21AM

You have to give something to get somethig

I am glad that Kassian is doing well. Just as I am glad that Hodgeson has been a creative center for us. Both kids seemed to need a change to get there careers moving forward. Most of the time fans want us to trade our non-performers for someone's all star. This was a good hockey trade. Besides, i think in a few years both kassian and Foligno will be in that conversation about power forwards.

02/10/2013 8:09AM

Howard...

I think the trade is working for us as well. Kassian is a maniac off the ice and will sooner or later get in trouble. I think the trade we made was a good one and I am no fan of Regier. Please stop the would of, could of, should of. It makes for horrible journalism.....

02/10/2013 8:23AM

The main thing here is "a good trade" for both teams

We needed a center and they were looking for a tougher skilled guy. Not to mention Sulzer was a nice suprise "throw in" for us. Sometimes just a change in teams or systems helps both teams and that is how trades should work. Darcy doesn't have to get the better of the deal!

02/10/2013 8:54AM

A Little More Doubt Creeps Into My Mind....

about Lindy Ruff. I have always had a doubt about Regier. I distrusted him over the years as he let our star players walk. I understand that was under different regimes but for the last three seasons he has watched the Sabres sink and not thrown them a life saver of a trade. Also he signed two role players in the off season and an 18 kid and was not able to acquire a significant offensive player we so badly need. But what if he had acquired that player. Would he be on the third line by now. Historically Lindy does put the reins on the offensive minded player. From the beginning, putting Donald Audette (Audette's 1st stint)in the doghouse, for not conforming to his system or to delegating Grigerenko to the 4th line; and all those offensive players brought in at deadline deals to only be shelved on the 4th line. I won't even bring up AHL all-star Luke Adam. There has to be something wrong. Either Darcy was wrong or Ruff is the wrong coach. Which is it?

02/10/2013 9:02AM

kinda late here, howard

kassian got off to a hot start with the sedin twins, but now has zero points in his last three games...that coincides with his drop off the top-line and out of the top-six on the team...he doesn't seem to have the mental capacity for consistent contributions in the top-six...someone once wrote that he was the sabres' chris neil or daniel carcillo...nice trade by regier

02/10/2013 9:38AM

Without Ruff's System, players get better

Long live Ruff! Long live the system!

02/10/2013 10:45AM

Pegula

Pegula is the worst kind of owner for a pro sports team

02/10/2013 10:45AM

I wish

You folks at WGR would start talking about various coaches who can replace Ruff, instead of players we traded away last season. Once we win a couple of games, it's almost as if Ruff is completely forgiven for the shambles of this team. Even the worst squads win some games every now and then. Fact is, we're sitting in last place in the division, and still, no one here thinks that we're in trouble.

02/10/2013 11:08AM

Wouldn't it be nice

if the sabres had a scoring power forward & potential star 18yr old centre that wasn't wasting away on the 4th line.

02/10/2013 11:36AM

Easily a big win for Sabres right now

You could say Kassian is doing okay compared to others, but he is not close to Hodgson's success, or the impact the whole line has had with Vanek leading the league in everything. Also, I think Kassian had 5 goals about a week ago-perhaps cooling off a bit? This trade has been a huge win for the Sabres, with Hodgson and don't forget our leading goal scorer on defense Sulzer (for Grags).

02/10/2013 11:46AM

Bumsfan

Good Kassian that he got away from Ruff before he could ruin him.

02/10/2013 11:46AM

He is free of Lindy Ruff

Thats why he is playing good

02/10/2013 11:53AM

Kassian-Hodgson trade

The Kassian-Hodgson trade still reminds me of the time when the Sabers found that easily-overlooked passage way to Dimension Coo-Zuk under the Peace Bridge. It’s been 17 years since the last decent hockey player Buffalo had pushed his way out of the tall weeds at Fernish’s byninedermince. So, if Kassian does well out west and Hodgson does well here, who’s to play?

02/10/2013 12:12PM

a pathetic policy of ...

this board. Censor all criticisms of the Sabres owner or of the WGR itself. a pathetic policy indeed.

02/10/2013 1:22PM

Commited

I would score 5 goals if I played between two superstars!!! Hodgson fills a need at center and has elevated Vanek's play! Nice that he decides to be a committed athlete after he leaves maybe there is something to this as Hodgson trained with the top hockey trainer this past off season. Pegula should think about putting him on the payroll because i see a Sabres team that looks out of shape and slow!

02/10/2013 1:34PM

i'll still

take hodgson in that trade, but i also still think darcy stinks. pee yoo!!!

02/10/2013 2:19PM

Ellis has been waived

Gerbe is next. PLEASE!!! Blockbuster trade coming e4. More to come...

02/10/2013 2:50PM

what else is new

did Ruff hinder this guy here. he is playing like what we drafted him to play. at least we didnt get burned on this trade.

02/10/2013 3:41PM

??

Why not even mention how Hodson has DOUBLE the points that Kassian does??? And that most of Kassians points and hits were in the first 6 games....and he has really done almost nothing since. Odd time to write this article.... g a p /- shots hits 09-Feb-13 Cgy 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0.0 1 07-Feb-13 Min 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0.0 0 04-Feb-13 Edm 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 0.0 0 01-Feb-13 Chi 1 0 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 0.0 2 30-Jan-13 Col 1 1 0 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 100.0

02/10/2013 3:41PM

zac

good for zac. wish we kept him.

02/10/2013 5:33PM

About time you noticed..

You are reading my posts, eh? FORREEEVER..

02/10/2013 10:51PM

So what?

Would still make that trade any day of the week. Playing out West with the rest of the pansy NHL teams makes Kassian into some kind of beast but in the East he was languishing.

02/10/2013 11:02PM

zack attack

This could be the defining trade of Reiger's tenure at GM. I still think Zack was too much to give up. Buffalo just doesn't have a player like that on it's roster.

02/11/2013 6:12AM

Bumsfan

Sunday's outing of the Keystone Sabres was realy getting boring. One good thing is that they need only use the Zamboni on half the ice because they don't play hockey in the opponents zone when the Sabres play. $12 million on the bench for 2 consecutive games? That'll help Meyers confidence and make him work harder the Linde way. LOL

02/11/2013 9:34AM

Talent around him

Is much better in Vancouver than here. When you have the Sedins, Kessler playing around you there are going to be a lot more opportunities to do really good things. Here the most overrated coach in the history of the entire NHL puts him on a line with talentless Kaleta and Hecht. It's just another indictment against everything wrong with the Sabres. The more we see of the Sabres this year and in recent years...the more we see that the problems are not just with management and coaching but severe problems from a personnel and talent standpoint. Bottom line is the Buffalo Sabres are one of the worst all around teams in the NHL.

02/11/2013 10:04AM

The Pope, Regeir and Ruff

The Pope knows when to quit, so why doesn't Dary and Lindy know?

02/11/2013 12:49PM

vanek and others........

are wishing they'd be the next one traded so they could be free of lindsay ruffles, his suffocating brand of minor league hockey and be on a WINNING TEAM with a future in the playoffs!!!!

02/11/2013 12:56PM

Source: Anaheim interested in Sekera and Stafford e4

May we see a blockbuster deal in the works as soon as today? Stay tuned. More to come...

02/11/2013 1:47PM

Think about the trade as a whole

The trade was not just Kassian for Hodgson. We got Sulzer out of it and got rid of gragnani too. I think this trade worked out quite well...

02/11/2013 5:30PM

RE: kinda late here, howard

I wish more people would read the above comment. I was thinking the same thing when I saw this headline...about a week late. Great trade by Reiger. But all most people can do is rush to scream, "fire, fire." Well, Vanek didn't scorelast night, so the same people will be yelling for him to be traded soon. What a joke a lot of Sabres "fans" are.

02/11/2013 6:16PM

I'm good.

We got a fairly promising center that appears to have better chemistry with Vanek than Roy (or Connolly, or Hecht, or etc, or etc.) ever did. I'm waiting to see what happens to Hodgson when the inevitable Vanek dry spell comes- but for now the trade looks great.

02/11/2013 6:25PM

re: So what?...

Who won the Stanley Cup last year???? Oh................ right in the pansey west. What an IDIOT! FORE!

02/11/2013 11:26PM

Pegula, Regier and Ruff

equals dumb, dumber and dumberer...these 3 wizards of smart, especially Pegula are ruining this once great team filled with history and tradition. Pegula is so out to lunch on how awful his GM, Coach and team are he makes the "owners" whoeverthey may eventually be, of the Phoenix Coyotes brilliant. ANyone that thinks Pegula will deliver a Stanley Cup to Buffalo before the Waterfronts developed is a brainless turd.

02/12/2013 9:58AM

no clue

i hear people say things like "with the emergence of foligno, kassian became expendable"- and just cringe. like a team with ennis, gerbe, pominville, vanek, hecht, roy (at the time), myers, sekera, leopold, and erhoff could have enough sandpaper cuz foligno was just about ready. unacceptable hockey decision. hearing that vancouvers gm baited any takers by sending hodgson out for 80% of their offensive zone faceoffs- in essence giving him a chance to fatten up his offensive numbers while covering up his defensive shortcomings, and wow. this did not address the teams need for a number one center. it gave them a number two center, which they already had a few of. im only giving this deal my blessing if kassian blows up off the ice- this was not the player to give away for another #2 center. the sad thing is how many people flap their gums about how nice hodgson is on offense while forgetting that we need more players like kassian to win in the playoffs.

02/12/2013 6:03PM

Kassian goes back to old ways

Just dropped Kassian from my fantasy league as he has done nothing for the past 14 days (1 goal, 1 Asst)playing with the Sedin's. Zack is back to his disappearing act. On the other hand, Hodgeson and Sulzer have both done what's been asked for them - Hodgeson centering the top line and Sulzer playing consistent D for being a "throw in" and not expecting much. I like the moves Darcy has made since Pegula has been owner, I also have given Lindy the 2 years grace period and I do think it is time for him and his staff to go. How can our D be so awful, especially when we have 3 of the best defenders ever - Patrick, Numminen and Ruff coaching? The message is old or perhaps its the fact that the messenger has said the message so many times it has become "white noise". Time for a change!

02/13/2013 9:50AM

Lindy's love affair...

Lindy's love affair with Jordan Leopold, Andrej Sekera and Jochen Hecht must end. He surely has seen enough of these three to understand there is zero upside to their game, and their deficiencies are redundant and damaging to the team. Why Jochen was brought back is a mystery. He is a 3rd party observer on the ice. Refusing to forecheck and absent from board play. Sekera and Leopold are turn over machines, weak in front of their net, out of position and ineffective on offense. Meanwhile, TJ Brennan, Braydon McNabb and Luke Adam ride the bench or buses. These three do not rate an opportunity within Lindy's "system"?

02/13/2013 10:30AM

Ha

Good fit for the Sedin sisters. Definitly need and manly presence on that line!

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Yes. I've gotten over him "taking his talents to South Beach"

No. I stopped rooting for him for good when he went to Miami

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