Zack Kassian has been a major success story for the Edmonton Oilers this season, but his time in the NHL hasn't always been so smooth.
Recently he joined the "Kess & Juice" podcast to discuss his struggles with substance abuse and his road to sobriety. The show is hosted by Ryan Kesler and Kevin Bieksa, who were Kassian's teammates in Vancouver. It was Kassian's time with the Canucks where he began his struggles with alcohol.
"You've got to be willing to help yourself. Sadly, you guys tried to help multiple times, but it took, ultimately, a car accident to hit my rock bottom and to really think and to really think about what I was doing and how it was affecting the people around me, not only my career, but my family, my friends, and my teammates."
When Kassian was traded to the Montreal Canadiens in the 2015 off season, Habs GM Marc Bergevin made it clear that he was on his last strike, and if he screwed up, he was out of there.
Three days before the season opener, Kassian was loaned a brand new Ford F-350 from a local Montreal dealership, but after a long night of partying it was found smashed into a tree. According to police, it was a women that was driving the truck, not Kassian, but she was also impaired.
Kassian came out of the crash with broken nose, fractured foot, and a ticket to the NHL's substance abuse program. After completing the program, he returned to Montreal, where he found out that Bergevin stayed true to his word, Kassian never played a game for the Canadiens and was dealt to the Oilers in December of that season.
"Obviously the incident in Montreal was pretty humbling," Kassian said. "After that accident, my world came crumbling down. There's no easy way to put it: I broke down, I cried a couple times, I didn't think I was going to get back to the NHL, to be honest."
When the Oilers traded for Kassian in 2015 they gave him the chance to get his life together, and he took the opportunity and ran with it. He has become one of Edmonton's most offensive weapons, and has provided some great secondary scoring behind the team's two stars, Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl.
With 13-15-28 in 44 games this season, Kassian is on pace to shatter his career highs in all three categories.
NPQ
