Vancouver Canucks trade centre Cody Hodgson to Buffalo Sabres to much surprise of player-NHL News
Cody Hodgson finds it difficult to come to the realisation that his team, Vancouver Canucks, have traded him to Buffalo Sabres just before closure of the trade market on Monday, February 27, 2012.
Hodgson, who plays as centre, just cannot believe that the team would ignore his stature in the side and exchange hands for him for another first-round pick, Zack Kassian.
The player said soon after the trade:
"I'm still in shock right now. My phone is blowing up and I don't know what to think. I'm still trying to think about it and put everything together."
Cody Hodgson has secured 33 points and 16 goals in spite of the fact that he has played less than 13 minutes a night during all his games this season.
The trade has also baffled many of the National Hockey League (NHL) community members, who are equally taken aback over the trade.
Yet, many called it to be the right development, saying that the player was kind of stuck behind other two centres, Ryan Kesler and Henrik Sedin, and Vancouver did not find him as useful anymore as he was in the past.
Canucks’ general manager, Mike Gillis, said:
"Cody is a really good young player, he's going to continue to develop and be an excellent NHL player, but for our needs immediately and moving forward, we felt that we needed better balance on our team and we needed size and we needed toughness. I think
we got more balance in our lineup, more diversified.”
In spite of the questions around the move, the team is satisfied with the trade.
According to the GM, Kassian will fit well in the set of the skills the team needs at the position with other two aforementioned centres playing beside him.
Hence Canucks remain confident of their chances to progress further in the league without much interruptions and effects from the trade.
Kassian himself has spoken of the same surprise and said that at first he could not believe that he would replace the player of Hodgson’s stature.
Yet he is excited over the opportunity and has shown confidence for performing well into his role.
He said that he was trying to become an all-round player with equally good skills for physical and making plays while sticking with the other players, but he also acknowledged that the move came all too sudden for him.
Hodgson’s was second trade of the day as the team had earlier added the checking centre, Samuel Pahlsson, from Columbus Blue Jackets to the squad.
In addition, they have traded the defenseman, Marc-Andre Gragnani, as a result of the deal with Sabres, which made them qualify for spare blueliner, Alexander Sulzer, in exchange.
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