EDMONTON — On a team that lost more youth and speed than any other over the summer, Vasily Podkolzin represents a chance for the Edmonton Oilers to recoup.
So far, he looks like a possible swap out for Dylan Holloway, lost alongside defenceman Phil Broberg to the St. Louis Blues’ perfectly timed Group II free agent grab.
The operative phrases there, of course, are “so far” and “possible.”
Podkolzin, who has three assists and watched what should have been his first goal slide wide of a yawning cage Monday versus New Jersey, is teeming with potential. Which is to say, he hasn’t done anything yet.
But this guy was always going to be a project, right? A first-rounder who was abandoned by the Vancouver Canucks, shed for a mere fourth-round draft pick, to a team in the Pacific Division whom the Canucks may face in the playoffs for the foreseeable future.
If that trade alone is a head-scratcher (surely Vancouver could have found an Eastern Conference team ready to part with a fourth for package of skill, size, speed and physicality that is Podkolzin?) then the player is not far behind.
Watching Podkolzin, 23, loosen up pucks for Leon Draisaitl on the forecheck, and then beat the wheels off of tough Nashville winger Jeremy Lauzon, you have to be intrigued with the possibility of what kind of player Edmonton will have if they can crack the code that the Canucks were unable to.
“Sometimes I need to create more and I need to be maybe a little more physical,” he said, after playing 14:48 against new Jersey with just three shots on goal to show for it. “I need to learn how to be more consistent in this game, to be more useful for my linemates.
“Sometimes it is your turn, and sometimes it is not,” he said of a luckless night against the Devils. “Tomorrow will be a new day.”
It’s a metaphor for his career, that last statement.
A 10th-overall pick in 2019 who spent two more years playing in Russia before coming over, Podkolzin and the Canucks couldn’t puzzle together the various seemingly superior hockey traits he does possess, with the ones that were lacking and needed improvement.
The result was worst-case scenario: A young player devoid of confidence, with only one way for it to be reclaimed. Moving on to a second organization.
Here in Edmonton, we have seen signs of what Vancouver sought but could not find, and other traits that make you say, “I could see, after three years of watching this, how a team might move on.”
Through 13 games however, there has been far more good than bad. If it gets better from here — and that is fair to expect — then a hard-shooting, physical, 23-year-old winger stolen from a Division rival for a paltry fourth-round pick seems like a hell of a deal.
“He does so many good things,” Oilers captain Connor McDavid said this week. “He wins battles, keeps the puck alive for that line (Draisaitl and Viktor Arvidsson). He makes great little plays — the play to Leo (first goal, 20 seconds into the game in Calgary) and the one (along the boards, digging out the puck) in Nashville in the first minute…
“Those are things that can go unnoticed sometimes, but when you’re playing with a guy like that (Draisaitl), it’s a lot of fun. He plays physical, works his tail off. He’s been great.”
Podkolzin projects, like Holloway, as a middle six winger. On this team, that means he and the injured Evander Kane will battle for the second-line spot next to Draisaitl when Kane returns.
Two physical left wingers in your middle six, one a proven scorer and the other bubbling with potential to become one himself, seems like a pretty welcome scenario. Both have the skills to step up to the top line in a pinch, and both give the lineup some heft with the way they play.
“What we’ve really liked about Pods playing with (Draisaitl and Arvidsson) is he gets to the net,” said head coach Kris Knoblauch. “You need a net presence. There may be a better player for that role on that line but everyone has to bring something to the table, and he goes to the net and that’s important when we have possession in the offensive zone.
“Another thing I like is his creating turnovers off the forecheck. You look at the goal in Nashville and in Calgary. Those intangibles are really important.”
Intangibles. Potential. Projections.
All are good, but all are invisible.
It is time in Vasily Podkolzin’s career to begin to post actual numbers, have actual success and make actual plays.
Expected goals are nice. Real goals, even better.
“He’s a first-round pick for a reason. Confidence is half the battle, maybe even more,” said McDavid. “In this league, everybody can skate, everybody can make plays and work hard but if you don’t have confidence that can be pretty tough.
“That’s something he’s searching for, but he should feel really good about himself now.”
