Prospect Info: 10th overall: Vancouver selects Vasili Podkolzin (RW, SKA St. Petersburg)

[Canucks1096]

The Russian Factor is a real thing though; it shouldn't be dismissed so casually.

The Russian factor only matters for lower end Russian players. When do you see a good Russian players go back to Russia. Not Bure Fedorov Mogilny Kovalev Malkin Ovechkin Zhamnov Zubov Gonchar Kuznetzov Kucherov Tarasenko Panarin. Kovelchuk went back but he was 32.

Lower end players like Chuborov Tryamkin goes back but not elite players.

 

[Sergei Shirokov]

We clearly have not seen eye to eye on zegras, you seem to post quite often what you dislike about him and I am not sure how he factors in the podkolzin discussion more then us passing on someone like boldy or caufield. I disagree he plays on the perimeter, and yes he is a playmaker primarily but that should not be used to discredit his elite playmaking ability.

If podkolzin pans out he is going to be a very good pick as well, but zegras is also going to be an excellent pick with a ton of offensive upside who also plays responsible in his own zone and could play center, we will see how this plays out in the months and years to come.

Was just asked to expand. And yes we don't see eye to eye on Zegras, I haven't been as high on him for awile leading into the draft.

Its not like we passed on Zegras, so its not an issue if he becomes better. I just think Podkolzin is a guy you go to war with. I love his complete game.

 

[sting101]

Hockey IQ is observable. The best description of it is the ability to read the play, know where to go on the ice, and know where your teammates are. It is easy to tell over the course of a single game that Pettersson has elite hockey IQ and Virtanen has below average hockey IQ.

well said.
Its such a treat to watch how guys process the game. For instance Kirby Dach was a guy i was ranking at 3 or 4 and getting push back due to his skating or laziness etc.
But the thing that stood out other than a guy with amazing hands and tremendous size was his ability to anticipate the game and see the ice. Its not like his numbers flew off the charts but a guy with his tools and frame that can process at an elite level is why he went 3rd OA.

Podkolzin in my viewings plays with a degree of tunnel vision. He also needs some fine tuning in the skating department but with his power and athleticism will have no problems turning that into a strength.

I think the limited upside is real at this point but i strongly feel he has a better grasp of the team game and cycle than Virtanen by a wide margin and his dog on a bone tenacity is completely at another level also. He's definitely got some work to do but he plays a heavy North American style game.

Timo Meier is my favorite comparable at this stage

 

[PuckMunchkin]

It's the same thing with the old man Galardi pick for Dallas. You would think they would take the 10 seconds to learn the player's name, before announcing it on national television. At least have the name of the player written out phonetically. It's insulting and lazy to do anything otherwise.

As a person whose name none of you fine North American folk could ever hope to pronounce correctly, I dont find it insulting at all.

 

[snipes]

Was just asked to expand. And yes we don't see eye to eye on Zegras, I haven't been as high on him for awile leading into the draft.

Its not like we passed on Zegras, so its not an issue if he becomes better. I just think Podkolzin is a guy you go to war with. I love his complete game.

Zegras was the most overrated player in the draft.

Rode the coattails of being on a line with Hughes and Caufield.

A few of those USNTDP forwards are going to massively disappoint.

 

[passive voice]

Hmm... sounds an awful lot like Virtanen based on this evaluation.

Jannik Hansen

 

[Lonny Bohonos]

Hockey IQ would also include things like being able to fake out an opponents (look off a pass etc) which is something Podzolzin isnt all that good at apparently.

 

[Jyrki21]

The Russian factor only matters for lower end Russian players. When do you see a good Russian players go back to Russia. Not Bure Fedorov Mogilny Kovalev Malkin Ovechkin Zhamnov Zubov Gonchar Kuznetzov Kucherov Tarasenko Panarin. Kovelchuk went back but he was 32.

Lower end players like Chuborov Tryamkin goes back but not elite players.

Sure, but that's kind of the point. Unless he's in that very top tier where he's pretty much clearly going to be a star NHL player, there's always the risk that he won't find it worth it to tough it out. That's basically all "the Russian factor" is referring to. And top-10 sounds great, but his chances of being Malkin or Kovalev are still a lot lower than him being Koltsov or Chubarov at this point. So it's not imaginary.

As a person whose name none of you fine North American folk could ever hope to pronounce correctly, I dont find it insulting at all.

You mean it's not "Lassi Thomson"? That name amuses me greatly – he's like the reverse Jake Virtanen.

 

[PuckMunchkin]

Sure, but that's kind of the point. Unless he's in that very top tier where he's pretty much clearly going to be a star NHL player, there's always the risk that he won't find it worth it to tough it out. That's basically all "the Russian factor" is referring to. And top-10 sounds great, but his chances of being Malkin or Kovalev are still a lot lower than him being Koltsov or Chubarov at this point. So it's not imaginary.


You mean it's not "Lassi Thomson"? That name amuses me greatly – he's like the reverse Jake Virtanen.

Thomson is actually a swedish. The "-son" suffix is a dead giveaway for scandinavian (but non finnish) surname.

We like -nen here.

Jake Virtanen
Teppo Numminen

 

[Jyrki21]

Thomson is actually a swedish. The "-son" suffix is a dead giveaway for scandinavian (but non finnish) surname.

I just assumed he came from an Anglo family somewhere along the line... Scandinavian would be Tomasson, wouldn't it?

 

[PuckMunchkin]

I just assumed he came from an Anglo family somewhere along the line... Scandinavian would be Tomasson, wouldn't it?

Oh true. So better to say -son suffix is not a Finnish phenomena.

We have lots of Swedish names in Finland because those bastards ruled over us for hundreds of years until the early 1800s

 

[DFAC]

His skating is his biggest weakness, and for Virtanen it's his biggest strength. I understand Virtanen hasn't lived up to the hype, and will probably be the reason we're nervous to draft power forwards in the top 10 for the next decade, but his skating isn't the problem. In all my years of watching hockey, Jake Virtanen is one of the most powerful and effortless skaters I've seen.

Podkolzin has a very choppy stride that works, but could be better. Think Bo Horvat at the time he was drafted.

I dont really understand why Podz is getting compared to Jake, if anything he plays more like Horvat

 

[LovemyNucks]

I dont really understand why Podz is getting compared to Jake, if anything he plays more like Horvat

That's the hope isn't it. When we flipped Schneider for the 9th there was outrage that we took a center that was projected to be a great 3rd liner. Now it looks like a fantastic decision. Let's hope the drive and motor that Pods has can lead to an elevation of expected ceiling like Horvat's has ended up being.

 

[Canadian Canuck]

Poldkolzin is literally a winger version of Horvat imo with a better shot. He’s scary good. No idea how he didn’t go top 5.

 

[Orca Smash]

Zegras was the most overrated player in the draft.

Rode the coattails of being on a line with Hughes and Caufield.

A few of those USNTDP forwards are going to massively disappoint.

Caufield was equally helped by being on a line with zegras, and zegras did not ride the coattails of hughes. They often played on different lines at times.

Were getting off topic here bringing zegras into this.

 

[Pastor Of Muppetz]

Zegras was the most overrated player in the draft.

Rode the coattails of being on a line with Hughes and Caufield.

A few of those USNTDP forwards are going to massively disappoint.

The Canucks were going to trade down if Pod had already been taken..I'm just speculating here, but I believe that Zegras was on the Canucks list, as was Seider ..in what order I have no idea.

 

[Snatcher Demko]

Is it fair to say the upside is Timo Meier (which would be amazing) and downside is Jannik Hansen with maybe a better shot? How do you say "honey badger" in Russian?

 

[701]

Is it fair to say the upside is Timo Meier (which would be amazing) and downside is Jannik Hansen with maybe a better shot? How do you say "honey badger" in Russian?

It's "медовый барсук," or "medovyy barsuk" in our English alphabet.

 

[Orca Smash]

The Canucks were going to trade down if Pod had already been taken..I'm just speculating here, but I believe that Zegras was on the Canucks list, as was Seider ..in what order I have no idea.

Well if you believe andrew walker zegras was the canucks guy like pettersson and quinn were, they liked podkolzin, but not to that extent.

That was simply me paraphrasing but you can look it up on twitter. He might be drawing that conclusion based on someone saying (maybe it was benning?) we had him ranked 8th (cant believe he would say that, not sure why he would).

I think podkolzin has a chance to be a very good pick however, I was just very high on zegras as a sure fire point producer in the nhl. We will see what happens. Sekeres also suggested if van landed on zegras the avalanche wanted him badly and they might have moved the pick for barrie. In which case I would have rather had podkolzin.

 

[DL44]

I was just looking at clips of Timo Meier... if this kid turns out In the realm of Meier....!!!....
I see A LOT of similarities right there..

 

[Uhmkay]

I agree with the Horvat comparison. It's actually by far the closest comparison. I'm not sure why people are even comparing him to other players after Horvat. They are virtually identical as Horvat when he was drafted save for Podz being a winger. Otherwise they play with the exact same style of play.

If he can improve his skating in the same way Horvat did... we have the steal of the draft. We may have already anyways.

He is literally nothing AT ALL like Virtanen.... he is what we are hoping Virtanen starts to play like.

Also Podz skating is not slow... it's just ugly. He pushes through with brute force. I think Horvat used to be the same way and once he fixed his stride his speed improved to almost elite levels.

 

[CpatainCanuck]

The canucks need to get Podkolzin with the same skating coach Horvat had. He already has the motor and strength, just needs to refine his technique and edgework. He could become an amazing player in the nhl.

 

[DownGoesMcDavid]

The canucks need to get Podkolzin with the same skating coach Horvat had. He already has the motor and strength, just needs to refine his technique and edgework. He could become an amazing player in the nhl.

If Podz gets better at skating like Horvat did draft +1 then we have ourselves an Elite/franchise player

But Horvat is the exception not the norm so it will be very hard to see that kind of improvement.

 

[CpatainCanuck]

If Podz gets better at skating like Horvat did draft +1 then we have ourselves an Elite/franchise player

But Horvat is the exception not the norm so it will be very hard to see that kind of improvement.

Agreed; but Podkolzin is a better skater at the time of his draft than Horvat was. When Pod gets up to speed he is absolutely flying out there. His turns kind of look like mine however; not much of a crossover.

 

[Josepho]

Agreed; but Podkolzin is a better skater at the time of his draft than Horvat was. When Pod gets up to speed he is absolutely flying out there. His turns kind of look like mine however; not much of a crossover.

Horvat's drastic skating improvement definitely shouldn't be considered the normal expectation.

I doubt Podkolzin will ever develop the high-end speed that Bo has.