Quote:
Originally Posted by Jmac
Torts: "Kassian needs to earn his way to the top line"
Torts: "Jensen, you're new. Go play on the first line"
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The team was in a VERY different place when Kassian had his chance to earn his top line spot. They still thought they were contenders.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Jmac
Even-Strength Goals/15 minutes (min. 150 ES minutes played): - Chris Higgins (0.220)
- Zack Kassian (0.215)
- Shawn Matthias (0.204)
- Mike Santorelli (0.198)
- Jannik Hansen (0.182)
- Ryan Kesler (0.178)
- Jordan Schroeder (0.154)
- Tom Sestito (0.147)
- Zac Dalpe (0.135)
- Daniel Sedin (0.130)
- David Booth (0.114)
- Brad Richardson (0.097)
- Henrik Sedin (0.091)
- Alexandre Burrows (0.060)
Daniel + Henrik + Burrows = 0.281 ES goals/game w/ 1st line minutes
Yet, Torts refused to split up what clearly wasn't working. Meanwhile, Kassian is the second most efficient scorer on the team ... that can't score goals ... and gets stuck on the 3rd line all season with Booth and Richardson, neither of which are exactly known for their playmaking abilities. |
The numbers are somewhat telling. But you can't tell me that you believe looking at Kassian's body of work this season, that he is complete enough a player playing with different players in different situations, to be trusted with first line minutes. As mentioned previously, Kassian has shown flashes of brilliance, but also many instances of floating around looking lost, making poor decisions, etc etc. Kassian has looked most complete and consistent playing with Booth and Richardson, for whatever reason. I'd also be curious to see the quality of competition Higgins and Kassian are facing vs. Hank and Dank for example... could very well be some 'Hodgson' effect in play here too.