He was essentially a human missle in that hit. The timing of when he left his feet should not matter. Whether it was before or after contact was made, there is clearly an upward motion in that hit. There is only one intention when you take that direction in a hit, to go after the opposing player's head. At least one league has finally started to go after head hunting. I always thought it was going to take a death for the NHL to do the same, but there actually seems a bit of chatter about this there too.
Oh, and since it always bugs me, I have to throw two corrections out there for this thread. It's KASSIAN, not Kassain. And Dante, it's Tyler Ennis.