The Oilers and Zack Kassian

On Tuesday an old friend, errrrrr maybe not friend, was placed on waivers by the Montreal Canadiens. Zack Kassian, a player once known as an up and coming power forward for both the Buffalo Sabres and Vancouver Canucks, is free to be had by any of the NHL’s other 29 teams.

We know that Peter Chiarelli likes bigger players who play a tough and heavy game. Tough to play against is a huge box to be
checked when GMPC is evaluating players. For all of his shortcomings as a player, and there are a lot, Kassian is a physical player who is tough to play against.

Does that mean the Oilers will claim him? Should the Oilers claim him?

Off Ice Issue:

Kassian was suspended by the NHL in early October and was forced to enter a rehabilitation program. He broke his nose and left foot in an accident, where he was a passenger, just a day before the suspension. While nothing official ever truly came out, the forward was placed in a substance-abuse program, so you can imagine what the issue was here.

Kassian was cleared by the program, hence why he was eligible to be placed on waivers yesterday.

Offensive Output:

For a guy picked in top fifteen of his draft year, Kassian has not exactly lived up to the hype, especially offensively. His career in Vancouver never saw a season of 30 points. His closest was in 2014-15 when he registered 14-15-29 in 73 games. Last season, he struggled mightily, scoring just 10-6-16 in 42 games.

That 29 point season represents his NHL career high. He’s certainly not an impact forward and at age 24 the window on him becoming anything more than a third liner is either closed or about to shut.

Kassian simply has not produced at the level that was expected from him when he was drafted.

The Other Things:

At 6’3” and 217 pounds, Zack Kassian has something that you cannot teach, and that is size. He’s also not afraid to play a physical game, he throws his body around quite a bit. He’s the kind of guy that will answer the bell too, he is more than willing to drop the gloves.

If there is one thing that we have to give this player, it’s that he is a pain in the you know what and that he’s a hard guy to go up against.

That said, Kassian doesn’t play much special teams, at least he hasn’t over the course of his pro career. That’s an issue, he’s mostly just a five-on-five player. In today’s game, you need to have multiple uses. He’s undisciplined and lacks good hockey sense, two things that really limit what a player can do and limit his usefulness.

Defensively, Zack Kassian really isn’t anything to write home about.

Final Verdict:

The Edmonton Oilers will likely pause and think about this. Zack Kassian is a big and tough player who tries to play a power forward game. He’s also potted fourteen goals in a season before and he was showing progress as a player as recently as two years ago.

That said, he’s not an impact performer, he’s more of a depth guy at this point. The Oilers have a number of depth guys already on the roster and they are about to get a bunch of players back from injury. Kassian, at least to my eye, does not fit with this current roster.

I think he’s a Peter Chiarelli kind of player, but I can’t see the Oilers putting a waiver claim in on Kassian. He has some off-ice issues and those need to be 100% cleared up before a team takes a chance on him. He’s also coming off of an injury that could impact his ability to play, so it needs to be seen that he hasn’t lost a step.

I’d pass if I were the Oilers, and I expect that is just what they will do.