It’s been one week since the Oilers pulled the trigger on the trade that sent Ben Scrivens to Montreal for Zack Kassian. In that time span, Kassian has practiced with the Bakersfield Condors and even gotten into a pair of games for the farm club. In those two games, Kassian has a goal, a few penalty minutes and has thrown some big boy hits.
Is he up to game speed already? Unlikely, it’s only two games and Kassian hasn’t played hockey in a long time. That said, he looked decent on the weekend, and he may only need a few more AHL games before being ready for the bright lights of the NHL.
His official stat line through two AHL games? 1-0-1 with 4:00 PIM’s and an even rating on the +/- spectrum. By all accounts, he’s also been mucking it up in the physical game, which is exactly the reason why Edmonton took a chance on him. It’s only two games, but he’s playing his game in the AHL right now.
When Might We See Him?:
I’d imagine that Zack Kassian needs roughly five games of AHL work before being ready for the NHL. Considering the time he missed, he needs to get back into full game shape. After playing two games this weekend, Kassian will get a chance at two more next weekend when the Condors host San Antonio on Friday night and Ontario on Saturday.
The fifth game he’d play? Friday, January 15th against Texas. The Condors also play on the 16th in Ontario and on the 18th against San Jose in San Jose. I’d imagine that the 19th is a possible call-up date.
The games are spread out, so Kassian will get ample practice time to get his game back up to speed. If he played in five games, he’d get a little over two weeks worth of practice in. I’ve included a sixth and seventh game in my call-up date because those games are within three days of the fifth game.
If my January 19th date is right, he’d see seven AHL tilts and quite a bit of practice. That should be enough and it would be over the five game target.
Where Would He Fit In?:
Projecting Zack Kassian into the lineup is kind of tricky. If we use January 19th as the date, and we will the rest of this post, then Kassian is probably coming back to a lineup that may also include both Connor McDavid and Nail Yakupov. It’s not 100%, but if those two skating is any indication, it’s possible.
For the sake of argument, let’s say that is the case, that Edmonton has a healthy forward group when they decide to recall Kassian from Bakersfield. I believe that both Jujhar Khaira and Iiro Pakarinen will be sent down, so another forward would have to go in exchange for Kassian. My bet? One of Rob Klinkhammer or Luke Gazdic will bite to bullet and hit the waiver wire. I’ll say it is Gazdic, who has seen the press box recently.
Zack Kassian, if he’s going to be effective, should probably see minutes in the team’s top-nine forward group, that means playing on one of the top three lines. Only problem with that is, one of Teddy Purcell, Jordan Eberle or Yakupov needs to move down the lineup or to their off wing.
Purcell has a real chemistry with both Taylor Hall and Leon Draisaitl, so I doubt it will be him. As for Eberle, he’s starting to really figure it out with Benoit Pouliot and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins on the team’s second line. Besides, if you are going to roll Eberle out there, you don’t put him in the bottom-six, it makes no sense.
That leaves Yakupov as the odd man out. He’s not a fourth line forward, so you can’t put him there, but what about trying him on his off wing for a bit? He did it earlier in his career, and while it didn’t exactly pay off, might it work better while playing with actual skilled players? It’s certainly not ideal, but it may.
Also, let’s not rule out that the Oilers stick Jordan Eberle with Connor McDavid for a period to see if there is some chemistry between the young star playmaker and Edmonton’s top sniper.
Possible Lines:
Scenario one would see Yakupov moved to his off wing: Hall – Draisaitl – Purcell / Pouliot – McDavid – Eberle / Yakupov – Nugent-Hopkins – Kassian / Korpikoski – Lander – Hendricks
Scenario two keeps everyone in their natural positions, so Kassian slides to line four: Hall – Draisaitl – Purcell / Pouliot – McDavid – Eberle / Korpikoski – Nugent-Hopkins – Yakupov / Hendricks – Lander – Kassian
Personally, I prefer the first scenario. It gives Edmonton a dominate first line, a second line that can do just as much damage, and a third line that has a scorer, a physical winger and a solid two-way center, that’s a very good top-nine unit.
Some interesting possibilities are about to open up to Todd McLellan, and a lot of lineup uncertainty is about to become the topic of debate. The one certain fact? This is Edmonton’s best forward group is a long, long time.
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