Zack Kassian Called Up From Rochester

by Zachary Zielonka on Nov 25, 2011 7:58 AM EST

Among Sabres fans, Zack Kassian has become somewhat of a legend. People have seen his play during his OHL days, throwing the body around and dropping the gloves at the drop of a hat. Those same Sabres fans are going to get their chance to see what Kassian can do in the big leagues as he was called up from the Americans. He was called up to replace Brad Boyes who was injured on Wednesday night against the Bruins.

Kassian leads the Americans in points with 14, seven goals and seven assists, and only has 17 penalty minutes on the season, which is close to the top, but behind well far behind penalty minute leader Joe Finley.

Where Kassian is going to slot into the lineup is yet to be seen. Coach Ruff has been shuffling the lineups on a regular basis and Boyes was playing on a line with Luke Adam and Matt Ellis before he was injured. With the Sabres dealing with so many injuries at the moment, trying to find consistency in the lines might be something that Ruff might consider so playing Kassian with Ellis and Adam may make sense.

Regardless of where Kassian plays, he is going to be one of the most watched players on the ice.

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Hope he makes the most of it.

Go Sabres!

by drwho62 on Nov 25, 2011 8:41 AM EST reply actions

Also stays away from bars….

"Thank you very much fans and let’s go for the next game together!"

— Lubomir Visnovsky

I rec’d that shit.

by Steven Hida on Nov 25, 2011 9:36 AM EST up reply actions

I hope

Kassian can have an impact on this game. A lot of people have been pre-creaming their pantalones to get Kassain on the team for the rest of the season.

I think that he needs to stay on Rochester for another season, let his play develop. He still needs to learn the game. Recent interview with the coaches from Roch suggested that he played his first full all around well played game this year. This is great, but, there is still concern about his consistency. This shows that more development is needed, we dont want to bring him in before he is ready, spoiling a chance at an impact talent.

Good luck tonight Zack. It looked like the rest of his teammates were making the most at their shot in the bigs.

by Buffalove83 on Nov 25, 2011 9:54 AM EST reply actions

In time...

he may be able to take some of the camping in front of the net work off of Vanek’s shoulders.

Go Sabres!

by drwho62 on Nov 25, 2011 10:18 AM EST reply actions

Temper your expectations

I don’t expect much from Kassian on the fourth line – Adam last season was quite inconspicuous on the fourth line, it’s only when he got his chance on the top six did he really start making an impact.

by Calvin on Nov 25, 2011 10:57 AM EST reply actions

Foligno

I would have thought that Foligno would be the next call up for a forward. Granted it was only one game, but I was at the Rochester-Toronto game last Friday and Foligno looked much more ready for the next level than Kassian. Perhaps that was a good night for Foligno and a bad one for Kassian.

"Starting today, the Buffalo Sabres' reason for existence will be to win a Stanley Cup" - Terry Pegula

by willgarr15 on Nov 25, 2011 11:00 AM EST reply actions

Kassian over Foligno

I think the reason is because Kassian is a RW where as Foligno is a LW. The Sabres are currently down 3 RWs with Kaleta, McCormick, and Boyes. Otherwise, Foligno would probably be the one being called up.

by Guido1983 on Nov 25, 2011 11:33 AM EST up reply actions

Good reasoning. Didn’t think of it that way, probably with the versatility of most of our forwards, I just think about them as either wings or centers…

"Starting today, the Buffalo Sabres' reason for existence will be to win a Stanley Cup" - Terry Pegula

by willgarr15 on Nov 25, 2011 12:47 PM EST up reply actions

Thats part of Lindy's problem.

I firmly believe you need right-handed shots on the RW and left-handed shots on the left wing. I also believe your centers need to be slick stick handlers. I also believe your centers should compliment your best wingers on a line. I mean if your best player on a line is on the left wing he should have a right handed center etc. I think when you go hodge-podge you lessen a lines effectiveness!!

by Coach Bob on Nov 25, 2011 12:54 PM EST up reply actions

Vanek

Right handed shot on the left.

Go Sabres!

by drwho62 on Nov 25, 2011 1:28 PM EST up reply actions

I could not disagree more

drwho makes an excellent point that Vanek is a righty who has played exclusively on the left side his entire career. Some players prefer to be on the off wing as Vanek does, and frankly, I prefer it as well. It allows the winger to protect the puck on their back-hand and also give a much better shooting angle on their forehand. I think Drew Stafford should move to LW. Look at all of Drew’s highlight goals – they all came off the left side. It allows him to protect the puck.
Pidgeon-holing your wings and centers in the way you say, Coach, hand-cuffs your team into specific roles. Also, Center in the NHL is about defense more than it is offense. When the rush goes up ice, the center can easily exchange with a wing (as often happens) and either wing can lead the rush in a playmaking role as you prefer. But defensively, the center must play down low, as a 3rd defenseman to counter the opposition. This is why you won’t see Ennis play center in the NHL any time soon.

"Starting today, the Buffalo Sabres' reason for existence will be to win a Stanley Cup" - Terry Pegula

by willgarr15 on Nov 25, 2011 3:12 PM EST up reply actions 2 recs

I totally agree. And it’s not just Vanek in the NHL. Ovechkin, Hossa, Kane, Gaborik, Jagr, Kovalchuk, St. Louis, Erik Cole, Heatley, Franzen, Loui Eriksson, Havlat, Kovalev, Bertuzzi, Brendan Shanahan, Alex Mogilny, Peter Bondra, Miro Satan, Tony Amonte, Pavel Bure and the list goes on.

A lot of players really like that shooting angle. I firmly believe you should try and play wingers where they are most comfortable.

"You mean @TWHITNER. It’s how he prefers to be referenced." - Jon Harrington

by kaisertown on Nov 26, 2011 11:21 AM EST up reply actions

Here we Go

Hecht, Adam, Kassian
Vanek, Roy, Pominville
Gerbe, Leino, Stafford
Ellis, Gaustad, Tropp

Hecht and Leino can be interchanged, but you are looking at the best line groupings. Since they are short down the middle, Ennis should be permanently moved to center as he is the best pure stick-handler on the team. Lindy put Ennis at center, he may be your answer!

by Coach Bob on Nov 25, 2011 12:49 PM EST reply actions

I liked the Vanek/Hecht/Pominville and Stafford/Roy/Leino lines from the last game so I’d go with this:

Vanek/Hecht/Pominville
Leino/Roy/Stafford
Gerbe/Adam/Kassian
Ellis/Gaustad/Tropp

Die By The Blade - Where we've even turned ourselves around since January 1st.

by Zachary Zielonka on Nov 25, 2011 1:23 PM EST up reply actions

I like it

However, I really enjoyed the Tropp-Adam-Gerbe line during the Phoenix game. Those three seemed to have good chemistry, forechecked hard and Tropp and Adam seemed like a physical force for the first time I can remember on the forecheck. I don’t know what it was, but they really played great together I thought.

"Starting today, the Buffalo Sabres' reason for existence will be to win a Stanley Cup" - Terry Pegula

by willgarr15 on Nov 25, 2011 3:14 PM EST up reply actions