This morning the Oilers made official a trade that Elliotte Friedman first suggested during the trade freeze, sending the unused goaltender Ben Scrivens to Montreal for using forward Zack Kassian.

I shouldn’t hate this deal. I should recognize that the Oilers traded Ben Scrivens, who is widely considered a good guy, to a place where he might be able to resurrect his NHL dreams. Ben Scrivens was never going to get that in Edmonton after his performance over the last 2 seasons.

Ben Scrivens was a pretty average NHL goaltender before the 2014-2015 season. He had his ups, he had some downs, but they were all within the normal range of NHL goaltending. Average was really all the Oilers needed Scrivens to be for them. Just be semi-normal and it would have been an upgrade over the netminding that the Oilers had been receiving. In his first partial season with the Oil he was exactly that, finishing with a .916 save percentage.

Scrivens came into the 2014-2015 season as the de facto starter for the club. He appeared in 57 games for the Oilers last year and finished with an atrocious .890 save percentage. Those are AHL backup numbers…or so I thought. Peter Chiarelli brought in Talbot and Nilsson over the offseason, which pushed Scrivens to the AHL.

This year Scrivens has only appeared in 10 AHL contests and that save percentage has all but flatlined at an .893 with an equally terrible 3.47 goals against average. It’s easy to blame the Oilers’ brutal defense for the woes of their goaltenders, but at the AHL level the team is doing alright. With prospect Laurent Brossoit posting a .928 save percentage for the same team it’s hard to blame the skaters for the struggles of the Ivy league goalie.

So he was never going to play in the NHL for the Oilers again unless about 4 other stoppers all came down with a sudden case of dysentery. As such, I should feel good for him leaving to another organization to chase his dream once again. And maybe I will one day look back on this deal and choose to focus on the good thing the Oilers did.

Afterall, the club retained 24% of Scrivens’ salary just so he could get this new opportunity. The team has made no progress at all from a Cap perspective on this deal. Each club is the same as they were economically before the deal ever happened.

But I do hate the deal. I hate the deal because Zack Kassian is still the person who purposefully broke Gagner’s jaw by swinging his stick at head level when he “missed” a check then mocked him later when he returned with a jaw cage. He’s the lowest form of life the NHL employs and it is impossible for me to view him as anything other than the kind of scum that develops on meat that’s gone too many days past the best before date.

Kassian has been a mistake his entire NHL career. Buffalo threw away the 13th pick by selecting him in the 2009 NHL Entry Draft. He played just 27 games for the Sabres before they threw him aside for noted bust Cody Hodgson. It was the first of Kassian’s garbage for garbage deals.

He stayed with the Canucks for 3.5 seasons before they walked away from him. It was during that time that he established his place in the NHL as the most classless player in the League. Truth be told he couldn’t have learned his trade from better people than Burrows and Kesler. When even the Vancouver Canucks cant tolerate a player because of his constant lack of professionalism and character, there’s a problem. The Nucks traded him for Brandon Prust, preferring the career 4th liner to Kassian.

This year Kassian hasn’t played a single game in the AHL or the NHL. He was involved in a late night incident on the eve of the new season that GM Marc Bergevin said showed “a lack of character.” He was the passenger in a vehicular accident that left him with a broken nose and foot. Ultimately Kassian transitioned into Stage 2 of the NHLPA’s substance abuse program. He spent a little more than 2 months in the program before being cleared to play again.

When he was cleared the Canadiens didnt open their arms and give him a 2nd opportunity. They waived him immediately then assigned him to the AHL but told him not to report to the team because they didnt want him near their players.

What does that mean he was in Stage 2 of the Substance Abuse Program? It means he was already in Stage 1 of the substance abuse program and violated its terms knowing full well that he would be suspended without pay if he did. Anyone who has known an addict knows that consequences are always an afterthought. Rational people can see the hundreds of thousands of dollars potentially lost to their actions and conclude that only stupid people would sacrifice that to get high or drunk, but that’s not fair. Addiction affects the intelligent and unintelligent alike. So his violations don’t speak to his intelligence, but we can safely assume it was non-existent before he violated the terms of his treatment program. If he violates the terms of his treatment again he will be placed under a mandatory 6 month treatment.

Addict or not, the Oilers traded one of the most affable and classiest players they had (albeit one who couldn’t play) for someone who might rival only Shayne Corson for the worst personality in Oiler history. We went from Ivy League to Bush League in a hurry.

No. I’m not happy.

No. I’m not ready to forgive and forget the time he destroyed Gagner’s face then mocked him for it.

No. I don’t think it’s a trade that might benefit both teams.

The Oilers downgraded their franchise’s character and class this morning. Even if he never plays a game for the NHL club, which I can only hope is the case, the Oilers are worse today than they were yesterday. Congratulations to the Edmonton Oilers for making sure to acquire what might be the only player in the NHL I find impossible to cheer for.

Follow me on Twitter @Archaeologuy

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