Kassian, Hodgson Off to Good Starts for Wolves, Americans

They should be playing in the NHL, but of course they can’t right now. Still, they need to be on the ice, and so far it’s gone well for Zack Kassian and Cody Hodgson early in the 2012-13 American Hockey League season.

Marquee players involved in a trade between the Buffalo Sabres and the Vancouver Canucks minutes before the deadline last Feb. 27 — with defenceman Marc-Andre Gragnani and Alexander Sulzer also going to opposite coasts — Kassian and Hodgson have bee relegated to play for their farm clubs because of the lockout.

Both have played five games so far with their respective clubs: Kassian leads all scorers on the Chicago Wolves with three goals and an assist (and also has the most penalty minutes with 16), while Hodgson is tied for second on the Rochester Americans with seven assists.

The Wolves recently played a sold-out two-game set in Abbotsford, B.C., against the Heat, the AHL club of the Calgary Flames. Kassian had two goals: a 3-2 shootout win on Friday and a 4-1 loss on Saturday, which extended his scoring streak to three games. He also had a fight in each game — against Joe Piskula on Friday and Zach McKelvie on Saturday — both of which he won.

It’s no accident: Kassian trained in Vancouver for a week with Daniel and Henrik Sedin (at their request), and he also spent time at specialized facilities in Portland and Winnipeg getting into shape. “I feel quicker,” Kassian said in an interview. “Obviously, when you lose some pounds and put on some lean body mass and muscle it’s going to make you quicker. In a sense, I feel like I got a step faster.”

Certainly Kassian needed to step it up after being roundly criticized late last season for becoming invisible after a promising start after coming over to the Canucks. At the time, defenders of the trade asked for Canucks’ fans patience with the budding power forward, who was the youngest player in the deal, to give him time to develop.

Hodgson, meanwhile, has used his passing skills to fuel one of the top scoring lines in the league, as left winger Marcus Foligno has scored five times and is in the top five in the AHL.

While others are haggling over terms and conditions, revenues and contracts, Kassian and Hodgson are carrying on with the best part of the hockey business: improving their abilities and helping their teams perform.