For Mike Gillis, it came down to skill and sandpaper.
The Vancouver Canucks general manager, who pulled off the biggest trade of NHL deadline day, had determined that his team had more than enough of the former and needed an injection of the latter.
So Gillis pulled the trigger Monday and traded away to the Buffalo Sabres a promising player in Cody Hodgson, who has lots of skill, in exchange for a young up-and-coming power forward in Zack Kassian, who has plenty of grit.
Gillis suggested that if he learned anything in last year’s playoff run it was that the Canucks needed to become a more balanced team, one that relied less on its skill.
“It showed me that to get to the Western Conference final you are going to have to grind it out and to do that you need more balance,” he said, explaining his bold move on the grounds of the Fairmont Scottsdale Princess Hotel.
“You can’t just have skill and have other teams use less skilled players to try and grind them into the ice every night. We wanted to get as fast and as big as we could going into these playoffs and we’ll see how we did.”
We’ll get our first peek at the new-look Canucks tonight when Kassian and newly acquired centre Sami Pahlsson are expected to make their debuts when Vancouver closes out a six-game road trip against the Phoenix Coyotes.
Judged purely on numbers, the Hodgson-for-Kassian deal looks to be a lopsided one in favour of the Sabres.
Kassian, Buffalo’s first-round pick (13th overall) in the 2009 draft, has played more games in the AHL than he has in the NHL this season. In 27 games with the Sabres this season, Kassian has three goals and seven points.
But the Canucks fell in love with his size, speed and upside.
“Well, there’s not much not to like,” Gillis said. “He’s 6-4 and 225 (pounds) and just turned 21 a month ago and he put up almost point-a-game numbers in the American League. For a player who is that physical, who can do that, it’s a rare opportunity you get a chance to get players like that.
“There aren’t many of them around in the league. He still has a ways to go to develop I think into his full potential, but he is a NHL player now who is going to help us in a lot of different ways.”
Gillis intimated that the Canucks were a team that had to lean too much on its skill and its high-powered offence. He decided he was willing to surrender some of that offence — Hodgson had 16 goals and 33 points in 63 games this season — in order to find that better balance.
“The only real power forward we have on our team would be David Booth and with that kind of size and speed (in Kassian) we now have a younger player who’s 21 who has that.”
Kassian said he was initially shocked and then excited by the trade.
“I was not expecting this at all,” he said. “I just want to thank Buffalo. They did a lot for me and I’m very excited to go contend for a (Stanley) Cup now. It’s going to be very exciting. They’re a Canadian team; it’s going to be a lot of fun.”
Kassian suggested playing against him won’t be any fun, which is exactly what the Canucks are hoping for.
“I like to be physical, but at the same time I like to make plays and chip in offensively,” he said. “I like sticking up for teammates and playing the physical game – just try to be an all-around player.”
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