The Edmonton Oilers and Zack Kassian’s Descent
Over recent reports that Zack Kassian has been permitted to find a trade out of Edmonton, I take a look at his Oilers career. Although most people would say Kassian is vital to the team, his stats lend credence to his decision to find a fresh start.
Edmonton Oilers: It hurt to type those words. Me, like many other Oilers fans, fell in love with Zack Kassian when he was acquired from Montreal for Ben Scrivens. After overcoming a substance abuse problem, Kassian made his Oilers debut January 14, 2016, in a 2-1 shootout loss to the San Jose Sharks. Even though he did not record any points in that game, he showed off his tenacity, speed, and aggressiveness that quickly transformed him into a fan favorite.
Edmonton Oilers and Zack Kassian in 16/17
While he played 36 games in 15-16, I don’t believe that sample size provides enough data to analyze his stat line fairly. So I’m beginning in 16-17, Kassian’s first full Oilers season. Kassian spent that season mainly on a line with Matt Hendricks and Mark Letestu, which had great success in a shutdown role.
Kassian that year held a 48.0 Fenwick rating and a -3.9% Fenwick for relative rank. Meaning that while he was on the ice in 16-17 he and his teammates he effectively sawed off the possession battle. Stats wise he finished that season with seven goals and 17 assists for 24 points. This was Kassian’s best statistical season since his time in Vancouver; he had arrived.
He showed that he was again an NHL caliber player and in doing so cemented himself as a fan favorite. Kass Hole as he was so lovingly dubbed that year was fast, furious and everything Edmonton had needed in a grinding role since Raffi Torres played for the copper and blue.
Then the playoffs happened, and in that San Jose series, Kassian was an absolute animal. That’s all I have to say about that.
Edmonton Oilers and Zack Kassian in 17/18
Unfortunately as fast and amazing as the good times for Kassian were the bad times started coming one season later. See in 17/18 any player not named Connor McDavid seemed to go through some hard stretch. Be it injury, confidence issues, bad luck, it looked like everyone in that dressing room was cursed somehow.
Kassian was not an exemption to the rule as all his stats dropped off in 17/18, not in any shocking way, but just enough of a drop for concern. While his Fenwick rating stayed practically the same, at 47.9%, his Fenwick relative rating tanked to -5.1%. This combined with a stat drop to only 19 points, seven goals 12 assists, started to show that something was awry with Kassian.
Zack Kassian’s Collapse
This season can only be described so far as a disaster for Zack Kassian. Be it lack of ability to gel with new line-mate Kyle Brodziak, or the coach putting him in the press box this early in the year, Kassian has not been good. He has the worst possession metrics of his entire Oilers career and has been largely invisible prior to scoring his first goal against Chicago on Sunday. His possession metric stat line thus far looks like this, courtesy of Natural Stat Trick:
GP TOI CF CA CF% FF FA FF% SF SA SF%
7 59:12 45 59 43.27 35 45 43.75 26 32 44.83
That is U.G.L.Y, and it does not have any sort of alibi, because it is ugly. He ranks last in all three of these categories for the team this year (corsi for, Fenwick for, shots for). When he is on the ice this season, the puck is largely going in the wrong direction. To my eye, watching him play, he just looks disengaged and out of it. Like something isn’t clicking for him anymore in Edmonton.
Trade?
As Friedman has reported during the second intermission of the Nashville game:
"“Zack Kassian has permission from the team to seek out a trade out of the city, try to find a fresh start,”"
Why he needs one or why he’s seeking one aren’t things I’m willing to speculate on. However one thing is clear, and that is the stats seem to back up that Edmonton no longer works for Kassian. It’s unfortunate as he’s really become one of the emotional core of this Oilers team over his time here, spanning three years now.
No matter where he goes through, we’ll always have him demolishing Logan Couture. If he does end up moved Oil Country will certainly miss him, and hopefully, he can find a fit somewhere else, because he is a serviceable NHL player. Once an Oiler, always an Oiler, sail on Zack.