I really do understand the optics of the Kassian trade and why so many hate it. I was not happy when I first saw the trade either.
The more I really think about Kassian though, I think this will end up being a lot of hullaballoo about nothing. I just don't see him getting it together and ever really making a big impact in the NHL. Doesn't seem to be the sharpest tool in the shed and really has a long way to go with professionalism, attitude, conditioning, work ethic, both on and off the ice. He was drafted 6 years ago now, should have gotten it by now.
Okay, but Kassian was traded at a time when he was "getting it together", and at the end of "making a big impact"... perhaps not throughout the NHL, but on the Canucks... and to the dismay of team's fighting with the Canucks for that playoff spot. Benning has acknowledged Kassian's impact. Benning has credited Kassian with helping the team to make the playoffs, that he was directly responsible for wins down the stretch, and that it was too bad that Kassian was injured, because the team missed him in the playoffs. I assume he meant that the team missed him in the playoffs, because of the additional physicality that Kassian could have provided the Canucks against the Flames... The forecheck, and offense too. Kassian was doing everything that Benning said he wanted, and gave Kassian credit for providing it. Or, in short, continuing to do what he was doing for over a month.
This is where Kassian was at, before he was traded... and then, he was traded... and Benning went back to what you say. For some reason, Benning no longer saw Kassian getting it together (3 coaches here couldn't reach him), and he doesn't really see Kassian making a big impact. That maybe Kassian can become the player that
he thinks he is (where Benning now says that a change in scenery sometimes makes players able to get it together). Whereas as early as two months prior, Kassian was making strides to become the player
we (the regime) think he is. The thing is, the sample size
wasn't enlarged in those two months, for Kassian to provide more evidence that he was slipping back to his old ways (and couldn't be reached despite all the work the regime says they put into him... with this work being credited as
the reason by Benning that Kassian was able to turn it around)... There was also no more evidence, an additional 8 weeks worth, that Kassian
did finally get it consistently beyond those 5 excellent weeks.
The sample size didn't move. The player that
Kassian thought he is, and the player that
they wanted Kassian to become, were lining up... for about 5 weeks,
and that's where things were left.
Benning didn't trade Kassian at a time when he wasn't getting it together. Benning traded Kassian at a time when
he was. Benning
gave Kassian away at a time when he, and practically everyone I've heard (including Benning and Willie) were pleased with him. Now, are those 5 weeks of excellent play, a blip?
Nobody should be shocked, IMO, if Kassian becomes everything Benning (and you, and me, and everyone else here)
hoped for next season. The signs were already there at the time of the trade. I believe that Kassian has it in him to keep what he now has together, and until he proves me wrong, I think he's got it now. He's now at the age where players who are going to get it, yet haven't got it yet, finally get it... He left off getting it. I think he continues to get it. He now, has got it.
Please do quote this, this time next year... My prediction: Kassian will be a physical presence, scoring 40-50 points next season, barring injury... and I will not be a great talent evaluator, or hockey genius for predicting this... The signs were there. I just chose not to ignore them, when Benning instead chose to... two months after a time when he, himself, couldn't, and didn't, ignore it.