Zack Kassian says he’s happy being an Edmonton Oiler.
That’s despite a report on the weekend that Kassian’s agent was seeking a new home for the 27-year-old forward.
“I never asked for a trade. I never was looking for a trade. It’s one of those things, you get healthy scratched, your agent is doing his job calling the team to see what’s going on,” Kassian said.
“He mentioned if he could seek out, see if there was any other interest. Peter (Chiarelli) granted that.”
Kassian has been scratched for three of the Oilers 10 games this season.
“Nobody’s happy when they’re not in the lineup,” said head coach Todd McLellan. “In turn, he responded and played well on the weekend.”
Kassian scored his first goal of the year in a 2-1 overtime win in Chicago on Sunday.
“The first thing I did when this rumour came out was I addressed all the guys in the room. That’s all I truly care about,” said Kassian. “I love Edmonton. I love the team.”
The Oilers, who have won three straight, will host the Minnesota Wild Tuesday night at Rogers Place. The Wild are 6-3-2 on the year and coming off a 5-2 loss in Vancouver on Monday.
“They might not be labelled as superstars, but they have some upper echelon players,” said Oilers winger Alex Chiasson. “They pride themselves on how they play with a lot of energy. It’s a good test for us.”
The Oilers expected lineup is:
Nugent-Hopkins – McDavid – Yamamoto
Rieder – Draisaitl – Chiasson
Lucic – Strome – Caggiula
Khaira – Brodziak – Kassian
Klefbom – Larsson
Nurse – Russell
Garrison – Benning
Talbot
The Oilers and Wild are on 630 CHED with the Face-off Show at 5:30 p.m. The game starts at 7 p.m.
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