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Breaking News: Canadiens Trade Brandon Prust for Zack Kassian

By Lissa Albert

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The Montreal Canadiens announced that they have traded forward Brandon Prust to the Vancouver Canucks in exchange for Zack Kassian. This is a solid deal for Montreal.

Both players are tough, both are grinders. Neither is afraid to take on an opponent whether it’s during a shift or dropping the gloves.

Let’s look at what the differences are between the two players.

Size

Brandon Prust, at 6′, 195lbs vs. Zack Kassian at 6’3″, 214lbs. A significant difference given their roles. Prust, as TSN’s John Lu stated in his analysis, fights outside his weight class. Prust didn’t always win the fights he was in, but he did it with heart.

Kassian is known to be tough and also unafraid to bang up anyone in his way. His size is an asset to a team that has been striving to get bigger for several years.

Age

Prust is 31, Kassian is 24. That makes a big difference in a game where “old” is someone in their 30s.

Salary Cap

The Canadiens will be saving $750,000 with the Kassian signing. Prust was a $2,500,000 cap hit while Kassian was signed for $1,750,000. In a salary-capped league, this is a big plus, especially considering the fact that Alex Galchenyuk has yet to be re-signed with the Habs.

Scoring

Purely statistical, this is a good trade for Montreal. Prust scored 4 goals and recorded 18 points in 82 regular-season games with the Habs in 2014-15. Kassian scored 10 goals, and registered 16 points in just 42 games with the Canucks. Three of those goals were game winners.

Brandon Prust was a great penalty killer for the Habs. Well respected by his teammates, and took on opponents. Of course, emotionally, it’s tough to see a guy like that be traded away.

Prust is a player with heart, and left it all on the ice for the Habs. He’s popular with fans, and his personality always drew attention. And Kassian is an as-yet-unknown quantity to fans.

But this is hockey. And when we look at a team, we don’t look at its parts, we look at the whole. Otherwise, we’d just follow the teams our favorite players have gone to – and who can follow that many teams as a true fan?

Today, with this trade, the Canadiens dropped a higher salary, they got bigger (Kassian plays as big as he is – even bigger), younger, and more goal-productive than before.

Kassian, paired potentially with Devante Smith-Pelly on the fourth line, can contribute to a strategic advantage. Imagine those two banging up their opponents with hits and checks, leaving the field wide open for the Habs’ top line to swoop in and take advantage of the impact left by their teammates.

Smith-Pelly was a significant presence this past season. Opposing teams came to know that the Habs’ fourth-liner was unafraid to take on the challenges in his way.

Now, with Kassian possibly on the same line, they could be unstoppable.

There are people criticizing Marc Bergevin for making the deal. To me, that’s just misguided. Bergevin is a smart guy, and has made some profoundly smart moves since becoming the Canadiens’ general manager. Criticizing him because of an emotional attachment to one player is unfair to him.

In fact, on sports radio just now, it was mentioned that Bergevin trades players out before they lose their trade value, but just at the right time for the team. Brandon Prust leaves the Habs on a high note, but Kassian comes in with huge potential.

There are fans who “get it” and are pleased with this move.

There are also those who are mourning the loss of Brandon Prust.  It’s understandable, for all the reasons I just mentioned.

But as Habs fans, we have to cheer our team as they strive to get past the second, and third rounds of Stanley Cup playoffs, and that can only be done with skills, size and talent.

Popularity doesn’t win games. Nor does personality. Just because we “like” the player, it doesn’t mean he’s always the best signing for our team.

We’ve been here before. We gasped collectively when we lost both Brian Gionta and Josh Gorges in almost the same hour last post-season. But we move on.

We’re Habs fans, and we wish Brandon Prust well in his new home, as we welcome Zack Kassian to the Habs.

Doing anything less just wouldn’t be Canadien.

(Enjoy the “many faces” of Kassian as he celebrates goals. From the caption on the video, written February 2015: “lately, he’s had a lot to celebrate.”)

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