Matt Kassian (born October 28, 1986) is a

Canadian Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...

former professional

ice hockey Ice hockey (or simply hockey) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an ice skating rink with lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. In ice hockey, two opposing teams use ice hock ...

player who has played in the

National Hockey League The National Hockey League (NHL; french: Ligue nationale de hockey—LNH, ) is a professional ice hockey league in North America comprising 32 teams—25 in the United States and 7 in Canada. It is considered to be the top ranked professional ...

(NHL) for the

Minnesota Wild The Minnesota Wild are a professional ice hockey team based in Saint Paul, Minnesota. The Wild competes in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Central Division in the Western Conference and play their home games at the Xcel Ener ...

and the

Ottawa Senators The Ottawa Senators (french: Sénateurs d'Ottawa), officially the Ottawa Senators Hockey Club and colloquially known as the Sens, are a professional ice hockey team based in Ottawa. They compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a membe ...

Playing career

Kassian made his NHL debut during the 2010-11 season after originally being selected in the second round, 57th overall, by Minnesota in the

2005 NHL Entry Draft The 2005 NHL Entry Draft was the 43rd NHL Entry Draft. Originally scheduled to be held on June 25, the 2004–05 NHL lockout led to the draft being postponed to July 30. Special procedures were required to determine the order of picks, because ...

. His junior hockey career was spent with the

Vancouver Giants The Vancouver Giants are a major junior ice hockey team playing in the Western Hockey League (WHL). Inaugurated in 2001–02, the Giants have won one President's Cup (now known as the Ed Chynoweth Cup) in 2006 and one Memorial Cup in 2007 in th ...

of the WHL. On November 3, 2010, the

recalled Kassian from the

American Hockey League The American Hockey League (AHL) is a professional ice hockey league based in the United States and Canada that serves as the primary Minor league#Ice hockey, developmental league for the National Hockey League (NHL). Since the 2010–11 AHL se ...

's Houston Aeros. During the month of November 2010 Kassian played four games for the Wild, collecting 12 minutes in penalties and no points, with only a single shot on goal. He was then assigned back to the Aeros in December. He was re-called from the Aeros in mid-January. He recorded his first NHL goal on March 1, 2012 in the first period of a game against the

Montreal Canadiens The Montreal CanadiensEven in English, the French spelling is always used instead of ''Canadians''. The French spelling of ''Montréal'' is also sometimes used in the English media. (french: link=no, Les Canadiens de Montréal), officially ...

. He scored his second NHL goal in the third period of that same game. On March 12, 2013, Kassian was traded from the Wild to the Ottawa Senators for a sixth round draft pick in 2014. He spent the remainder of the 2012-13 season and all of the 2013-14 season with the Senators, appearing in a total of 48 games, serving primarily as an

enforcer Enforcer or enforcers may refer to: Arts, entertainment and media Comics * Enforcer (comics), a Marvel Comics character * Enforcers (comics), a Marvel Comics team * New Enforcers, another Marvel Comics team Film and television * ''The Enforcer ...

. Following the 2013-14 season, Kassian was not re-signed by Ottawa. "I wanted to be back and they felt otherwise. That's their right as an organization," he said. In September 2014, Kassian was invited to

Arizona Coyotes The Arizona Coyotes are a professional ice hockey team based in the Phoenix metropolitan area. The Coyotes compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Central Division in the Western Conference and currently play at the Mull ...

' training camp but was ultimately not offered a contract. He was invited to attend AHL affiliate, the

Portland Pirates The Portland Pirates were a minor league professional ice hockey team in the American Hockey League (AHL). Their home arena was the Cross Insurance Arena in downtown Portland, Maine. The franchise was previously known as the Baltimore Skipjacks fr ...

training camp, and appeared in 2 games in the 2014-15 season with the club before ending his professional career and enrolling in business school. He is of no relation to fellow professional forward

Zack Kassian Zack Adam Kassian (born January 24, 1991) is a Canadian professional ice hockey winger for the Arizona Coyotes of the National Hockey League (NHL). During his junior career, he won a Memorial Cup with the Windsor Spitfires in 2010. Selected 13t ...

Career statistics

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Kassian, Matt 1986 births Living people Canadian ice hockey right wingers Houston Aeros (1994–2013) players Ice hockey people from Edmonton Kamloops Blazers players Minnesota Wild draft picks Minnesota Wild players Portland Pirates players Ottawa Senators players Texas Wildcatters players Vancouver Giants players