Kassian to Vancouver for Hodgson

[X. Benedict]

What will be interesting is to see how Kassian plays for the Canucks. WIll he come out hitting/fighting at the risk of taking penalties or will he play like the last few weeks with the Sabres ...good puck control along the boards with virtually no hitting. Now that he's no longer a Sabre, I'd like to ask him if Lindy asked him to tone down the hitting and showcase the skill side of his game. I personally think the caged beast will be released ...

 

A caged beast? We talking about the same guy?

[Gramps]

A caged beast? We talking about the same guy?

 

We'll soon see - I have a feeling he was on Ruff Benadryl during his tenure here ...check out Van-Phx tonight.

[...]

We'll soon see - I have a feeling he was on Ruff Benadryl during his tenure here ...check out Van-Phx tonight.

 

First few games after a trade are never a good indicator of performance over a longer period.

[Derrico]

Rumor going around that Burke offered Schenn straight up for Hodgson and they didn't take it.

 

BHAHAHAHHAHAHHAA

 

Isn't this flat out saying you made a mistake? They both went in the same 2008 draft and Burke could have selected Hodgson but instead four picks earlier selected Luke Schenn. Now, less than four years later, he can't trade the 2008 6th overall pick for the 2008 10th overall pick That's ironic and hilarious.

[LabattBlue]

First few games after a trade are never a good indicator of performance over a longer period.

Bernier is the perfect example of that!

[K-9]

We'll soon see - I have a feeling he was on Ruff Benadryl during his tenure here ...check out Van-Phx tonight.

 

I've already predicted that Kassian will have a Gordy Howe hat-trick tonight. Newly traded players often have great initial first few games with their new teams. There is no doubt that Kassian can bring it when he wants to. But that's the problem he's had since juniors; it appears only when he wants to.

 

If he wants to be another Dave Schultz he is ready right now. If he wants to develop into the player that everybody wants him to be, he'll continue to work on those facets of his game that will enable him to become an elite player. That means he'll have to be aggressive in the checking and hitting department. Something he has so far shown little consistency in.

 

It will be unfair to Kassian if the Canucks insist on just releasing the "caged animal" of Kassian. Those guys are a dime a dozen.

 

GO SABRES!!!

[dEnnis the Menace]

First few games after a trade are never a good indicator of performance over a longer period.

 

Absolutely true! See: Torres, Raffi; and Bernier, Steve...

[Robviously]

First few games after a trade are never a good indicator of performance over a longer period.

We call this the Steve Bernier Effect.

[darksabre]

First few games after a trade are never a good indicator of performance over a longer period.

 

Amen to that. I look forward to the assessment of Kassian after the regular season ends. That's a better sample size.

[LastPommerFan]

If he's on the Roster in the playoffs, they got what they wanted. If not...

[djp14150]

I still question this trade.....it surprised me greatly.

 

I could see trading Kassian as part of a deal for an established #1 center.

 

But this trade...I dont know....

 

How common are skilled big wingers in the NHL? vs How common are average size centers with some passing skill? If He turns into another Brierre--great...but I am not convinced.

[Lanny]

What a crappy day of travel that must be. Fly cross country, get visa and physicals, and fly all the way back accross the country again.

 

Paul Hamilton ‏ @pham22758

Hodgson needed to come to Buffalo to get his Visa taken care of so both players did that and had physicals.Regier said Hodgson will play Wed

[...]

I still question this trade.....it surprised me greatly.

 

I could see trading Kassian as part of a deal for an established #1 center.

 

But this trade...I dont know....

 

How common are skilled big wingers in the NHL? vs How common are average size centers with some passing skill? If He turns into another Brierre--great...but I am not convinced.

 

 

You have to remember that the rest of the NHL doesn't know Kassian like we know Kassian. The concept of Kassian still precedes him outside of the Buffalo market - probably outside of this forum and certain other enclaves.

[spndnchz]

What a crappy day of travel that must be. Fly cross country, get visa and physicals, and fly all the way back accross the country again.

 

Paul Hamilton ‏ @pham22758

Hodgson needed to come to Buffalo to get his Visa taken care of so both players did that and had physicals.Regier said Hodgson will play Wed

 

Need to change the number of the jersey :thumbsup:

[shrader]

What a crappy day of travel that must be. Fly cross country, get visa and physicals, and fly all the way back accross the country again.

 

Paul Hamilton ‏ @pham22758

Hodgson needed to come to Buffalo to get his Visa taken care of so both players did that and had physicals.Regier said Hodgson will play Wed

 

Ha, I just posted the same thing in another thread. That's a rough way to start out their time with the Sabres. Phoenix to Anaheim would have been a lot easier.

[That Aud Smell]

One thing I am curious about - the leak that Darcy wanted a first for Gaustad before the deadline. Very un-Darcy like. I wonder who leaked. I have a hunch it was intentional.

Intentional, yes, but not necessarily from the Sabres camp - it could have come from those trying to beat Darcy down by focusing public opinion on what some thought was a "ridiculous" asking price.

 

i am with korab on this one. the twitter was aflutter over the weekend and on monday with the utter absurdity of regier's apparent asking price for a quality role player -- i saw words like "insane" and "laughable" from pundits on my feed. that was the received wisdom.

 

i think a buyer or two generated that leak and "received wisdom" in order to exert whatever pressure they could on darcy. (social media has changed that game that way, i think. (or has it?))

 

anyway, then *boom* -- nashville caved.

 

score one for darcy.

[G-Daddy]

RE: Hodgson needed to come to Buffalo to get his Visa taken care of so both players did that and had physicals.Regier said Hodgson will play Wed.

 

Question: Anyone know if TPeg has a corporate jet for these kinds of things or did they have to fly commercial?

Edited February 28, 2012 by DGW54321

[K-9]

If he's on the Roster in the playoffs, they got what they wanted. If not...

 

I'd ammend that to say that if he's on the roster of a SC champion then they got what they wanted. I think there's a lot of pressure on the kid to be some sort of missing ingredient to get them over the hump in the toughness department from some of the commentary I've heard and read.

 

GO SABRES!!!

[I am Defecting]

Kassian has shown that Jagr-like one handed shielding the puck style at times. Defenders bounce off him, but I wish he had more creativity, so that SNAP he could create something unexpected, to go along with the possession. He was 13th overall, FFS. But he really did kick ass when he decided to fight. I felt that he could have had a Ray/Domi type relationship with Lucic that could have been fun. I feel that he's almost as good as Leino at puck possession, but not as creative. My concern is that he might be kinda dumb, but I don't know. Fighting-wise he might be on par with Lucic in time, picking on middleweights but losing to heavyweights.

[Ghost of Dwight Drane]

Oh playoffs! where he averaged 6 minutes of ice time!

 

I see how you got to 20!

 

At least you are sharp enough to figure it out.

 

The point being, I don't care if people want to feel they have a great asset in Hodgson. I hope he is. It is the psychological NEED to feel so validated by doing something, that people have to bash Kasian....a 20yo big body.....for being some sort of failure, when in actuality his career has started out much better than Hodgson, even being a year younger. The same people that will beg us to forgive Tyler Myers for not playing physical "yet" because he needs to "grow into himself", feel the NEED to villify Kassian who is younger and has 150+ games less experience than Myers as some sort of talentless filler. Don't worry though.....we can't possibly think of moving Myers in any deal because he sure as shinola is going to be the next Chara. But Kassian? Pffffttt!!! What a loser! They guy only caved in 2 guys faces in fights and scored 3 goals in his first 6 games while it took Hodgson 29 games to score that many.

 

People have strange psychies.......NOT ONCE did I say this was a horrible deal. Once we figured out Nashville gave a 2012 1st and Buff a 2013 4th....I said that was a good deal. All I ever have done with these deals is point out that of the Sabres 3 biggest needs......1)Heart+Toughness 2)Leadership 3)Centers.....the Sabres gained ground on one and lost ground in 2.

 

Hodgson is a young, talented center who can play now and contribute offense while some day he may become a #1 ceneter type. Hype him all you want. A team that was seconds away from winning a Stanley Cup however feels that Kassian and Gragnani increase their chances of getting the job done right this year over Hodgson. I don't take that lightly.

 

We went through the trade deadline last year, July 1st last year after spending $80 million in salaries, and the team took a swan dive for 3 months of the season while not making one move to try and stop the bleeding. We stand here this afternoon with the exact same core of players, minus Gaustad, and a top 3 lines in which the biggest physical threat comes from a 5'4" forward with a huge heart. I'm sure they braintrust is working on a masterplan for this July 1st where they can "almost" land Parise, or "almost" convince Nash that Buffalo isn't quite as ###### as Columbus as both a franchise and a city.

 

Enjoy the excitement of trade day.....enjoy the freshness of a new young player to evaluate.......but instead of some people using their energy to villify a player or a poster for ruining your buzz....maybe people need to honestly evaluate where things stand and what is really being said. There are always going to be differences of opinions. That's why there are markets, be it stock, commodity, horse, or hockey player. If the people watching over some of these same posters 401k's and IRA's had the same results as the Sabres have the past 5 seasons compared to the average, or the best.....would you still be happy?

 

All "Team Stormcloud" is are a few guys stuck in a Union pension fund...watching the administrators plunk almost every last dollar into Enron. We have no control over it....all we can do is warn and bitch.

[thesportsbuff]

 

i am with korab on this one. the twitter was aflutter over the weekend and on monday with the utter absurdity of regier's apparent asking price for a quality role player -- i saw words like "insane" and "laughable" from pundits on my feed. that was the received wisdom.

 

i think a buyer or two generated that leak and "received wisdom" in order to exert whatever pressure they could on darcy. (social media has changed that game that way, i think. (or has it?))

 

anyway, then *boom* -- nashville caved.

 

score one for darcy.

 

both interesting ways to look at it. I want to lean more towards Darcy leaking it intentionally, just because if that were true, the legend of darcy being a great GM without the prior financial restraints gains more steam, and I want to have confidence in our GM. That said, we'll probably never know whether or not either side is true, but I don't think it's that unreasonable that the Sabres got the price out there so teams knew what to expect, and wouldn't be surprised on deadline day.

 

I envision it that Darcy and Poile were basically playing chicken. Darcy wanted a first rounder, and wouldn't budge-- but if 2:55 rolled around and he had no takers, he probably would have cracked and dealt Goose for a 2nd and 4th or something, just to get something. Poile probably wanted to trade.. who knows, maybe a 2nd and 4th, but when 2:30 rolled around and Darcy hadn't backed off of his offer at all, he went to his pre-formulated "Plan B" and offered the first rounder as long as they got a fourth rounder back. Perhaps they had this last-ditch "Plan B" in place because they knew early that Darcy wanted a first rounder, and knew that most other teams wouldn't do it... so he waited for Darcy to cave. And perhaps Darcy waited for Poile to cave. And in the end, Poile caved first. Good on Darcy.

[I am Defecting]

What is Team Stormcloud actually, in more that two sentences, without the spin, in another thread?

[SDS]

1)Heart+Toughness 2)Leadership 3)Centers.....the Sabres gained ground on one and lost ground in 2.

 

Yet, everything being reported about Cody is in fact he has a ton of potential in the leadership department. Many fans were counting on him being captain in a few years. Yet you dismiss it out of hand. I don't recall waiving the Gausted leadership flag in recent years and no one has ever put forth the argument that Kassian was going to fill that roll, so really you are skewing your facts to suit your needs.

 

What is Team Stormcloud actually, in more that two sentences, without the spin, in another thread?

 

Toronto Maple Leaf fans.

[wnyguy]

GoDD, both Gaustad and Kassian were on THIS team THIS year. Where was this toughness ? Where was this grittiness? Where was the leadership that these two exhibited? I never saw it. You can't lose something you never had in the first place. If Kassian was the kind of player we wish he was he would have made damn sure he went after any Bruin, didn't even have to be Lucic. in any game he was in the line up against them. We didn't get that from him and I do not believe that Ruff was stifling his physical ability. Kassian just doesn't have it.

[kishoph]

This is the line up I would like to see for the top 3 lines.

 

Vanek - Ennis - Pominville

Leino - Hodgson - Stafford

Gerbe - Roy - Kaleta

 

1) Ennis is turning into a very good play making Center who see's the ice good and is one of the better passers on the team, seeing him feed Vanek and Pommers could be really nice.

 

2) Hodgson seems to have a great shot and Leino's strength has appeared to be setting up plays from behind the net and the along the boards, having a sniper to get it to could increase Leino's production.

 

3) Roy without a doubt is the best Defensive Center on the team, putting him on the shutdown line replacing Goose should be an easy decision.

 

I think these combos would utilize each of our Centers strengths.

Hold the phone, on WGR moments ago, Lindy talked about moving Ennis back to the wing. This would be so stupid, Center is our weakest position and while we gained a Center in Hodgson , we also lost one with Goose leaving, so the Lindy thing to do is take away another Center by moving Ennis back to the wing. The idiocy of our Head Coach will never cease to amaze me.

Edited February 28, 2012 by kishoph