According to TSN’s trade breakers, the Montreal Canadiens have acquired Zack Kassian from the Vancouver Canucks, though we don’t yet know what the return is. Kassian is a 6’3″, 214 pound right winger who has struggled to establish himself as a top-six forward in Vancouver after being acquired for Cody Hodgson several years ago.
There is a temptation to write Kassian off as a plugger, but if you look at his HERO chart, it tells a bit of a different story.
HIs possession numbers are that of a decent third liner, but his offensive production is actually quite a bit better. Unfortunately his defensive impact is very poor. While a few people will think that Kassian’s numbers are inflated by playing with the Sedin twins, he has played just under 300 minutes with those two over the last three seasons out of his over 1800 minutes at five-on-five.
Kassian’s most common linemates over that time were Brad Richardson and David Booth, neither known for offensive production.
One sticking point, apparently Kassian has a bad back.
UPDATE: The trade has Brandon Prust headed to Vancouver in exchange for Kassian and a fifth round pick. The trade will save the Canadiens $750K against the cap.
