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Like few others, Zack Kassian was an enigma in Vancouver.

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When a half-dozen goal-line-to-goal-line rushes left Nikita Tryamkin on all fours, heaving for air at practice this week, you worried.

Was Tryamkin ready for this?

Because this is the NHL, and it can be cruelly unforgiving. If you can’t last, none of your 86 inches on skates and 230 pounds are going to help you.

But you know what can? The Sedin twins.

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He was the power forward with the soft hands who could have had it all. Glorified by fans for what he might be, he was perpetually squeezed by his coaches for what he wasn’t.

Kassian didn’t hit enough. He didn’t fight enough. He didn’t defend enough.