Top 3 Destinations For Zack Kassian To Be Traded To

With the trade deadline on March 21st, the Edmonton Oilers only have a week to make some changes to their roster. One roster move the Oilers could make is trading away Zack Kassian. He has a bit too high of a cap hit for what he brings to the team and with the addition of Evander Kane, Kassian’ s toughness isn’t needed as much.

There are a couple teams that would like to bring a type of player like Kassian to add toughness to their team game. There is also some teams that would be able to handle his cap hit if the Oilers added a pick to get his contract off the Oilers books.

Arizona Coyotes

The Arizona Coyotes are a team that have the cap room to bring in the overpayment of Zack Kassian. The Coyotes also don’t have any players that play edge signed beyond this season. The Edmonton Oilers trading Kassian to Arizona could also be used to bring something back.

Last week I wrote about how the Oilers should trade for Phil Kessel. In this scenario I had the Oilers giving up Kassian, a pick and Josh Archibald for Phil Kessel. Adding Kassian helps in this trade to help make the cap hit work.

Carolina Hurricanes

The Carolina Hurricanes are the second team on my list for a potential landing spot for Kassian. The Hurricanes are going to be a playoff team this year, so they will be looking to add at the deadline.

The Hurricanes are a team that lack a gritty bottom six player. The player leading the way in PIM’s is Vincent Trocheck. Trocheck isn’t the player the Hurricanes want to be out there on the ice mucking it up. He is their 4th leading scoring forward.

If there is a scrum on the ice you don’t want him being in the thick of the battle getting a penalty. That is why they may look at adding a type of player like Kassian. With recent trade history of the Edmonton Oilers and Hurricanes another deal is likely to happen.

Boston Bruins

The Boston Bruins are on this list for very similar reasons as Hurricanes. The main difference is the player on the Bruins that leads the team in PIM’s is arguably their best player.

Brad Marchand is leading the Bruins in points per game with 1.2. He is second on the team in points by 3 but has played 11 less games than Pastrnak. So you need Marchand to focus on the scoring part of the game, and not the post whistle part.

The Bruins also have some assets that could come back the other way. Edmonton native Jake DeBrusk has been rumored in coming to Edmonton all season now, so maybe that could be a fit.

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Edmonton Oilers  Keep Zack Kassian

With the way the Edmonton Oilers are playing right now it is hard to imagine them not making the playoffs. If Kassian can pick up his game slightly maybe the Oilers would actually not want to trade him.

He does have a high level of skill for a “tough guy” which is something the Oilers may want in the playoffs. I personally think that if the cap hit for Kassian was gone the player that could be added would have a greater impact than Kassian would. So, I would try and move him if I was Holland.