Zack Kassian appears to have picked his side in the Edmonton Oilers’ Western Conference semifinal playoff series against the Vancouver Canucks.
The longtime NHL forward played for both the Oilers and the Canucks during his career but made more of a name for himself while in Edmonton, topping out with back-to-back 15-goal seasons during his Oilers tenure.
Kassian made an appearance on the video board at Rogers Place in Edmonton on Sunday while cheering on the Oilers in Game 3 against the Canucks. While wearing one of his old Oilers jerseys, Kassian did his best to pump up the crowd and elicited an understandably strong reaction from the home fans.
The Oilers played a short video tribute for Kassian before cutting to a live shot of him sitting in a box at the game. OilersNation‘s Zach Laing captured the moment and posted it to social media on Sunday evening:
Kassian spent the majority of his NHL career with the Oilers, being acquired by the team in 2015 and playing with them all the way until 2022, when he was flipped to the Arizona Coyotes.
In 412 games over parts of seven seasons with the Oilers, Kassian racked up 55 goals, 135 points, and 556 penalty minutes. He added six goals and nine points in 37 playoff contests with the club.
The Buffalo Sabres originally selected Kassian in the first round (No. 13 overall) of the 2009 NHL Draft. The Windsor, Ontario product made his NHL debut with the Sabres in the 2011-12 season but was traded to the Canucks midway through his rookie year in a shocking 1-for-1 deal for Cody Hodgson.
Kassian spent four seasons in Vancouver, cementing himself as an everyday NHLer before being traded to the Montreal Canadiens in 2015. He never played a game with Montreal while making his way through the league’s substance abuse program; after he was cleared to return, the Canadiens traded Kassian to the Oilers.
After toiling through an unproductive year in Arizona, Kassian retired from the NHL last October. He briefly returned to action with HC Sparta Praha in the Czech Extraliga before seemingly hanging up the skates again.
The Oilers currently trail the Canucks by a 4-2 score after two periods of play at Rogers Place.