I wasn't happy when we traded him, less so after Kesler's embarrassing performance in last year's playoffs, and even less so now that he's rounding into the player I knew he'd become. Especially if Kassian turns into the second coming of Dustin Penner.
However, I'm sure glad I took Cody in my pool. For someone picked in the 20th round, he was a steal.
Darcy Regier basically got his contract extension on that trade alone. Just highway robbery. Hodgson has enormous talent and is already rounding into form.
Not to mention the other half of the deal. Sulzer has turned into a solid 4/5 D for us, while Gragnani isn't even in the NHL anymore.
And it was the Canucks getting the crap end of the deal!
he wouldn't get playing time with AV playing like that in his own zone, it's why they traded him, and it's why when he did play in Van it was always with someone like Hansen/Higgins who are both very responsible defensively
I think it's more his skating (which he improved but was always a knock) and his strength, which can also be improved, he has the smarts to be a good player
I have seen a few sabres games and he gets beat a lot on board battles
I hope he does well and it works out for both teams, but I don't think many Canucks fans are unhappy with Kassian
Hodgson is going to have trouble being a successful top 6 center on a winning team unless he can completely revamp his defensive play. A lottery team like Buffalo can afford to feed him minutes even though he's a liability but once they have designs on actually competing they're going to have to weigh his pros and cons and a less offensively gifted center might be taking his ice time. The points are nice I'm sure, but they're not all that useful if you're one of the worst defensive centers in the league. He may be able to improve, but it's not something he's shown a desire to work on in his 3 years of pro hockey. If anything he's getting worse.
Targeting Kassian may prove to be a mistake for the Canucks (it's still years too early to determine that), but keeping Hodgson simply wasn't an option given what Hodgson and his camp were after. Even if you completely discount anything Gillis has said about dealing with Hodgson's camp, this is a guy whose dad called up and hassled Eliotte Friedman because he didn't like what Friedman said about him on HNIC. I imagine negotiating an extension this summer with those guys will be fun for Regier. I wouldn't be surprised if we see another O'Reilly type situation.
Hodgson is going to have trouble being a successful top 6 center on a winning team unless he can completely revamp his defensive play. A lottery team like Buffalo can afford to feed him minutes even though he's a liability but once they have designs on actually competing they're going to have to weigh his pros and cons and a less offensively gifted center might be taking his ice time. The points are nice I'm sure, but they're not all that useful if you're one of the worst defensive centers in the league. He may be able to improve, but it's not something he's shown a desire to work on in his 3 years of pro hockey. If anything he's getting worse.
Targeting Kassian may prove to be a mistake for the Canucks (it's still years too early to determine that), but keeping Hodgson simply wasn't an option given what Hodgson and his camp were after. Even if you completely discount anything Gillis has said about dealing with Hodgson's camp, this is a guy whose dad called up and hassled Eliotte Friedman because he didn't like what Friedman said about him on HNIC. I imagine negotiating an extension this summer with those guys will be fun for Regier. I wouldn't be surprised if we see another O'Reilly type situation.
Talented point producing centers are rare, regardless of his defensive skill set, he will always have a team willing to give him top six minutes
__________________
Quote:
Originally Posted by MarkGio
I am so fulfilled with many things in my life that it would be pathetic to seek schadenfreude over something as silly as a sports game.
Talented point producing centers are rare, regardless of his defensive skill set, he will always have a team willing to give him top six minutes
If he continues at this pace long term , then yes. But it's 20 games into the season and guys like Gagner, Purcell, Parenteau, and Conacher are all putting up similar numbers on bad teams. I think it's a little early to be proclaiming anything about any of those guys' scoring prowess over the long haul.
You are going to see a lot more of these goals now that you basically can't hit a player with his head down, without getting a 50 game suspension, and a 16 trillion dollar fine. 10-15 years ago, a player like Stevens would have liquified his organs going up the ice with his head down like that.
this is a trade i'll be happy bringing up with nuck fans for years to come (likely in retaliation for the far worse atrocities the flames have made with regards to trades)
he wouldn't get playing time with AV playing like that in his own zone, it's why they traded him, and it's why when he did play in Van it was always with someone like Hansen/Higgins who are both very responsible defensively
Sounds like Flames fans trying to find any warts in Phaneuf's game to try and make themselves feel better about a terrible trade. Jason Spezza was horrendous in his own zone and it took him years to learn the defensive side as it likely will with Hodgeson but the payoff is the natural talent that can't be taught. Kassian is a big guy with okay talent but he's not an elite talent and like any winger that gets a chance to play with the Sedins he's going to get points by default but as the years go by the trade will look worse and worse for the Canucks.
Sounds like Flames fans trying to find any warts in Phaneuf's game to try and make themselves feel better about a terrible trade. Jason Spezza was horrendous in his own zone and it took him years to learn the defensive side as it likely will with Hodgeson but the payoff is the natural talent that can't be taught. Kassian is a big guy with okay talent but he's not an elite talent and like any winger that gets a chance to play with the Sedins he's going to get points by default but as the years go by the trade will look worse and worse for the Canucks.
Does anyone else remember Datsyuk when he first entered the league? He made Marc Savard look like Mark Messier. Then a few years later, he went on to be Selke winner.
I'm not saying Hodgson will become that, but people often forget that player development doesn't end as soon as the player is an NHL regular.
__________________
"A pessimist thinks things can't get any worse. An optimist knows they can."
Does anyone else remember Datsyuk when he first entered the league? He made Marc Savard look like Mark Messier. Then a few years later, he went on to be Selke winner.
I'm not saying Hodgson will become that, but people often forget that player development doesn't end as soon as the player is an NHL regular.
I remember the 2004 Wings playoff series when he was scared to go into the corners against the Flames. Yzerman was a train wreck defensively for the first half of his career also. You have to have patience with offensive centers and the plus for Hodgeson is that even while making defensive mistakes he's offsetting most of them by playing at a point a game clip. It's not a terrible trade but it's a bad trade that will likely in the future look like a horrendous trade.
While there may be warts in Hodgson's game, he is still a youngish player at 23 years old and getting the defensive side of the game particularly as a center is more difficult. I wish him the best of luck and hopes that he goes on to have a really good career, no sense in being bitter about the trade I figure.
Who knows what was going on behind the scenes in Vancouver though - could be Gillis being an idiot, Vigneault refusing to play a young player or Hodgson thinking he was better than he was/interference from his father.
Yep, goal of the year so far for me... The backcheck and toe-drag in the neutral zone seal it. Although Datsyuk vs. Nashville might lead to me flip flopping back to him... yeah it's 50-50, Dats's was with 6 minutes left to tie the game.
Really? I'm just happy to have a 23 year old point-per-game center with elite level skill. Defence can be taught.
Of course any fan will do backflips to try and justify a bad trade. Kassian's been a non-factor since the start if February. The same thing in happened in Buffalo - he looked like a solid young, tough power forward for ten games, then stopped caring and disappeared. Fortunately they recognized that he's actually a bum and fooled someone into giving up a player like Hodgson for him.
