donlever wrote:
What GMMG said yesterday doesn't jive with this. I think he targeted a young player for the future. End of story.
I don't think they had any thoughts that he would provide short term benefits for the team. As a matter of fact GMMG talks about a kid who could have been playing junior last year (and was the year before) when discussing how raw he actually is.
The Hodgson for Kassian trade was definitely a futures for futures trade and that's what Gilis wanted. Gillis wasn't interested in trading Hodgson for a player who will only be here for a few years. But I don't think that meant Gillis didn't have the short term in mind. I think Gillis was merely referring to Kassian's young age when he made the "he can still play in juniors" comment. Gillis was alluding to the fact that Kassian is ahead of the curve right now and has lots of room and years to grow as a player.
mathonwy wrote:
Tactically, the trade was a failure. In retrospect, we lost options on our special teams, we lost TOI and we lost all of the systems knowledge that the Nucks had invested in Coho. When Kassian came over, it looked like he was auditioning for preseason camp as opposed to preparing for the playoff stretch run.
I can't believe that GMMG didn't have any thoughts about the short term benefits for the team. It doesn't seem logical to me.
You're assuming Hodgson would get playing time under AV in the playoffs. Henrik and Kesler played over 20 minutes. Pahlsson got 14. Hodgson would likely have averaged somewhere between 4-12 minutes depending on the game. In this year's playoffs (with the idea this team would go deep) you're telling us you can't see that the team could use another big-bodied forward who has the skills to move up in the lineup over a small skilled center who hasn't been effective on the wing? The Canucks had Henrik, Kesler, Pahlsson, Lapierre, Ebbett, and Malhotra who are centers with Raymond having played there previously. This was a team makeup decision.
mathonwy wrote: The unfortunate part was the bad intel on Zack Kassian. Whoever provided that intel shit the bed royally and needs to be fired. I'm absolutely serious about this. Anyone have any ideas who the Nuck scout is on the east coast?
Kassian was a 2009 NHL draft pick in the first draft Gillis was fully prepared for. You don't think Gillis liked Kassian then? If you liked Kassian then, chances are you still like him. Eric Crawford is the director of professional scouting and he was the one who was instrumental in Booth being here. So my guess is that he had input?