Fair or not, Zack Kassian has been compared to a younger Milan Lucic.
Aaron Garfat, the assistant GM of the OHL's Peterborough Petes, takes it one step further. He says Kassian, the power forward the Canucks levered out of Buffalo in the Cody Hodgson deal, had more impact at the same stage of his major junior career than the former Vancouver Giant and current Boston Bruins' star.
Garfat saw Lucic up close at the 2006 Memorial Cup in Moncton, N.B., where his Petes lost twice to the Giants in Lucic's first year in the WHL. He saw way more of Kassian, who played his first 2½ seasons of major junior with the Petes before moving on to Windsor. http://www.theprovince.com/sports/Zack+Kassian+looking+like+next+Lucic/6224765/story.html#ixzz1nmZJGemT
Shacks Take: The pressure on Kassian to perform is already immense considering the popularity of the player he replaced, without comparisons to the most complete power forward in the game. Hyperbole sells papers though and Kassian's going to have to get used to playing in the fishbowl of hockey-crazed Vancouver, so this kind of unfounded comparison is inevitable. If Kassian turns out to be half as good as Lucic, Canuck fans will be thrilled so there are worse comparisons. They could have said he looks like a young Steve Bernier.
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