Canucks get Zack Kassian

[tantalum]

Credit to MacTavish for making his amends as much as he can with that situation. He has fully acknowledged he was a complete idiot and it was a horrible decision and beyond horrible outcome. He owned up to it, got sober, served his year in jail AND has since become a friend of the family of the guy he killed.

With all that said I assume Sauve has his head on a swivel....

[donlever]

...hmmmn.

Good for him for doing all that indeed.

I am aware, first hand knowledge, of some goings on (alleged of course for site purposes) post being set free from the slam. This is where the wife comes in to the proceedings being as she lived in Edmonton at the time.

Took him a while longer to figure it all out apparently.....

[tantalum]

...hmmmn.

Good for him for doing all that indeed.

I am aware, first hand knowledge, of some goings on (alleged of course for site purposes) post being set free from the slam. This is where the wife comes in to the proceedings being as she lived in Edmonton at the time.

Took him a while longer to figure it all out apparently.....

yes it did take him awhile. I didn't mean to make it sound like he went to court all clean and sober, served his time and came out a changed man. Wasn't my intention anyways. He had a big problem and that takes time to solve/fix. The Oilers of the 80's hey days did A LOT of partying. Most teams did. Heck there was a reason a certain very successful Flames goaltender couldn't win an afternoon game in Calgary...of course he couldn't as he was being rolled out of a downtown bar at 2 am.

edit: it was also a woman he struck and killed. No idea why I said man.

[tantalum]

For a good read on MacT:

http://www.canada.com/edmontonjournal/news/story.html?id=f8eaac9b-1f11-45f2-9071-188d53d83a01

MacTavish's character helped him get through the most distressing time of his life, which came after he was drinking at a bar on Jan. 29, 1984, then drove home, colliding with another car on his way, killing that car's driver, 26-year-old Kim Radley.

At the time MacTavish had moved up from the college ranks and was a promising 26-year-old forward on the Boston Bruins. He pleaded guilty to vehicular homicide and spent a full year in jail, the first few months in a small cell with a pail for a toilet.

The Oilers were the first of four teams to approach him in jail about resuming his NHL career, and Boston let him go without compensation so he could start his life again in a new setting.

MacTavish paid for his crime, not only by doing time, but by speaking at numerous schools about the dangers of drunk driving and by serving as the honorary chairman of Edmonton's CheckStop anti-drunk-driving program.

He also forged a bond with Kim Radley's parents, Ron and Hazel Foote. They visited MacTavish in jail and forgave him for his crime. Out of this visit came a relationship that has lasted to this day, with Hazel still sending a card to MacTavish on his birthday. "I have a great deal of respect for Craig MacTavish," she says. "He was a young man who made a tragic mistake and was extremely sorry for it. I regard him very highly."

[FAN]

So jump ahead to R1 G3!

Kassian plays 3:55! Are you shitting me? Three minutes and fifty-five seconds!!!

Wiese played less than 2 minutes, Lapierre played about 8 minutes and Malhotra played less than 9. It's a combination of the Canucks spending a lot of time on the PK, the Canucks having more forward depth this year than last year, and AV shortening up his bench. Even strength, Kassian played only 9 seconds less than Malhotra. Instead of rolling out a 4th line, Kassian ust had Lapierre filling in on the top 3 lines.

[Reefer2]

I thought we had a good 4th line that would be able to play???

[Blob Mckenzie]

I thought we had a good 4th line that would be able to play???

The 4th line is the least of their problems

[Farhan Lalji]

It's quite simple:

IF the Canucks, under their current make up, are to be a successful team, then they need to have one of the following:

A) Two extremely dominant scoring lines.
B) Three good lines that can score.

This of course, is under the assumption that the health of out 'D' is there for the most part, while our goaltending is above average (as it tends to be whether we have Lou or Schneider in there).

My problem with the Canucks is that the Sedin line tends to always get shut down whenever we face a team that has an elite shut down pairing. When this happens, we NEED to have either the 2nd line be almost as potent as the first line, or have atleast the 2nd line and 3rd line be able to produce consistently.

Last year during the regular season, the Canucks had two very dominant lines. The Sedin line lit the league on fire, while Kesler raped in 41 goals or so. In the playoffs however - the Sedins' got shut down against Chicago, Nashville, and Boston (elite shut down D pairings), while Kesler got injured from the San Jose series onwards (and against Chicago, he played a defensive shut down role against Toews).

This year - the Canucks had 3 lines that could score........until they traded Hodgson. Now - they need their top two lines to produce. Unfortunately, Dan is hurt while Kesler is not the player that he was last year.

The point I'm trying to make is this:

At this stage in his career, it really doesn't matter as to how much time Zack Kassian gets. He could very well be a terrific player down the road, but at this stage, he's nothing more than Byron Bitz at worst or Raffi Torres on his best day. This could very well be the case for next year as well.

All of a sudden, all of my ideas of us getting Lecavlier or another top line forward doesn't make me sound like I have poo on my face after all.

[Reefer2]

But Farhan, having scoring from the 3rd line is a luxury, at least that that is what I was told earlier when I said the deal was at a bad time.

[donlever]

...good God you'd think Cody Hodgson was the second coming or something.

Lets not annoint the guy as a difference maker quite yet.

Richards, Kopitar and Stoll would be chewing him up and spitting him out in this series.

[Topper]

...good God you'd think Cody Hodgson was the second coming or something.

Lets not annoint the guy as a difference maker quite yet.

Richards, Kopitar and Stoll would be chewing him up and spitting him out in this series.

Will it be Reef or GM who suggests Kesler for Cody?

[Diehard1]

I liked Cody as much as the next guy, watched him a ton in junior and through his first couple of years as a Canuck. He's going to be a very good player, not sure what his ceiling is but he'll be an NHLer for a long time.

That said, all the Canuck fans who seem to think he's the missing link should look at Buffalo and what Cody did there. He scored 8 points in 20 games and didn't do a damn thing to help them get into the playoffs. I guess the thinking is if he was still on Vancouver he'd be spectacular - but it's odd thinking to say the least.

[tantalum]

3 lines that could score, well except for that third line that had 2 goals in 20 games before the trade.

[Reefer2]

...good God you'd think Cody Hodgson was the second coming or something.

Lets not annoint the guy as a difference maker quite yet.

Richards, Kopitar and Stoll would be chewing him up and spitting him out in this series.

lol - never said that, he did provide goals at the right time and he did make the 2nd line PP better no denying that.

Good one Mr Top, keep it up.

[Farhan Lalji]

...good God you'd think Cody Hodgson was the second coming or something.

Lets not annoint the guy as a difference maker quite yet.

Richards, Kopitar and Stoll would be chewing him up and spitting him out in this series.

Probably, but then you could use Kesler in that shut down role against the Richards', Kopitar's, and Stolls' of this world.......just as the Canucks used Kesler to shut down Toews and Thornton last year (while still being a threat offensively).

You look at the GF and GA percentage before and after the Hodgson deal, and you'll notice that the GA percentage isn't a whole different. You look at the GF percentage however and it reveals a whole different story.

This isn't the bible bro. These are just facts.