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

[Orca Smash]

He didn't exactly light up the MHL last year.

And? That does not change my point, I dont know if you thought i was defending him, I say this about every prospect, he did better in international tournaments and thats part of the reason his draft stock was so high at one point as you mentioned. FAN also made some valid points as well since drafting is not binary and other factors can and should come into play.

Lets see how he does this year in the khl (or mhl), that is all I was saying as I do with every prospect every year as international tournaments with random teams and short sample size for me are not nearly as good of indicator as regular season performance is. Although the khl will be the most difficult test an 18 year old can have, playing on a deep team, lets see how he does.

Part of the issue is some posters jump to absurd conclusions far to early in a prospects season after the draft. Especially if they dont like the pick. You really need to be neutral and judge these kids in there draft year playing a regular season.

 

[mouz135]

I see the usuals have come out to be wet blankets. Again.

There's more to it than just points

 

[VanillaCoke]

Of course there is more than just points, but zero points is still zero points..

How much it matters is another story. Probably not much.

 

[racerjoe]

Of course there is more than just points, but zero points is still zero points..

How much it matters is another story. Probably not much.

As a one off I don't find it concerning, but as a continuation from last year it is.

I agree with the sentiment that we need to see a larger sample size, no questions asked.

Having said that looking at just the highlights provided just that one game I still see the same things as before. A fabulous motor, and everything is created from that. Makes good safe passes. It also shows the lack of finish and IMO offensive IQ. He creates because he is a bulldog, and I worry that will go away when the competition gets bigger and stronger.

I really can't wait to see how his regular season goes. Hopefully it goes well for him, and he is the player I think we all want him to be.

 

[Jyrki21]

What happened to benningnthejets?

This poll is accurate to within 0.0003%, 99 times out of 100:

In case anyone's curious, this is largely what is meant by negativity and toxicity on these boards. By far the majority of people here, including many supposed Benning Bros, agree that Benning has performed badly and that the team would likely be much better off with another GM. People mainly object to posters continuously attempting to define each new event or piece of news as a failure of management, in this case the drafting of Podkolzin, by any pretence necessary, apparently to maintain a state of psychological arousal or anger rather than because they believe it to be true, and often when the event or decision in question is ambiguous or meaningless. We happen to be discussing a particularly dumb example here, but it's often and maybe even most commonly done by posters who appear to be otherwise literate and intelligent.

C'mon, man, don't insert an issue where none exists. As a general rule, the largest critics of Benning also overlap greatly with "the analytics community" and much of it found this pick to be a good gamble, or at the very least extremely intriguing. I agree that focusing too much on points in these sample sizes isn't a good approach (if he had a second assist on an empty-netter, is that really better than creating chances?), but you're taking a throwaway line and elevating it to something it's not.

 

[DL44]

Top 10 pick can’t put up points. Flashy or not who cares. Need to dominate or at least produce at these tournaments for such a high pick.

It much more important that prospects not get buried at these tournys rather than lighting it up.

 

[M2Beezy]

Main boards prospects followers who aint Canucks fans seem pretty impressed with his play. Still early, and may not mean the world but what we would could of hoped for

 

[geebaan]

I love this player and pick. It was him or Caufield for me, so happy to see he’s doing well from those highlights.

 

[Ryan Miller*]

Main boards prospects followers who aint Canucks fans seem pretty impressed with his play. Still early, and may not mean the world but what we would could of hoped for

Yup if you want unbiased opinions on Canucks prospects, you have to look elsewhere. Here it's just agendas.

 

[Disappointed EP40]

This is exactly why I don’t post anymore lol

I see the usuals have come out to be wet blankets. Again.

There's more to it than just points

Yup if you want unbiased opinions on Canucks prospects, you have to look elsewhere. Here it's just agendas.

In case anyone's curious, this is largely what is meant by negativity and toxicity on these boards. By far the majority of people here, including many supposed Benning Bros, agree that Benning has performed badly and that the team would likely be much better off with another GM. People mainly object to posters continuously attempting to define each new event or piece of news as a failure of management, in this case the drafting of Podkolzin, by any pretence necessary, apparently to maintain a state of psychological arousal or anger rather than because they believe it to be true, and often when the event or decision in question is ambiguous or meaningless. We happen to be discussing a particularly dumb example here, but it's often and maybe even most commonly done by posters who appear to be otherwise literate and intelligent.

More than TEN posters post essentially "Hey, no points, but that's okay, looks great" TWO posters post essentially "Hey, no points, I'm disappointed. He should get points" And all you guys are "Toxic! Negativity!"

The irony of calling others negative while only focusing on two people that are clearly not putting much thought into their post.

If you have a room with 100 people, you'll always have people that will take the same view, a realistic view, a pesimistic view, a batshit crazy view, and a neutral view. You want to focus on the two bloody posters who are clearly misevaluating this and call it "agendas!" then go nuts. When I read this board, I ignore 20%-50% of the posters, and I'll just add that to the pile too.

EDIT: The remainder are insightful, well thought, and interesting posts if you're just see the positive.

 

[Disappointed EP40]

It much more important that prospects not get buried at these tournys rather than lighting it up.

This... Body position looks good. Heads up. Always knows where the puck is.. goes to the dirty areas.

What stands out is his decision making. Consistently made the best choice, or attempted to improve his options.

 

[Grantham]

I watched all the games in this tournament.

Although he didn’t really put up points, I was quite impressed with him. Any questions I had about speed or Hockey IQ were squashed. He always seem to make the best and safest play.

I don’t really remember him losing even a single board battle. He initiates contact and even thrives off of it. I think he has a mix of pretty unique talents. Very strong defensively and could be relied upon in late moments or PK. His skating and speed was much better than previous Sochi games. Way better passer than I thought too. Strong as an Ox.

Probably needs to work on his shot, but that is a hot take.

Reminds me in parts of following players: Zetterbergs battle and intensity. Rantanens abilty and strength to play in traffic. Landeskogs subtlety and defensive awareness. (not saying he’ll ever be as good as those players, and likely not. But just the similarities I saw from these games)

He’s nothing like Virtanen or Kane IMO (for better or worse)

 

[lush]

He is presumably going to have a pretty good KHL body of work by the time he signs an NHL contract, plus a bunch of international games. It will be... entertaining to see the debate in this thread for another 24 months...

 

[Bgav]

More than TEN posters post essentially "Hey, no points, but that's okay, looks great" TWO posters post essentially "Hey, no points, I'm disappointed. He should get points" And all you guys are "Toxic! Negativity!"

The irony of calling others negative while only focusing on two people that are clearly not putting much thought into their post.

If you have a room with 100 people, you'll always have people that will take the same view, a realistic view, a pesimistic view, a bat**** crazy view, and a neutral view. You want to focus on the two bloody posters who are clearly misevaluating this and call it "agendas!" then go nuts. When I read this board, I ignore 20%-50% of the posters, and I'll just add that to the pile too.

EDIT: The remainder are insightful, well thought, and interesting posts if you're just see the positive.

Fair point

 

[PavelBure10]

I was really content with this pick due to Podkolzin's raw potential. I really don't know much about this player, but from what I see from the highlights, he looks like a pitbull. Always winning puck battles, and great in the corners. Could compliment Pettersson nicely two years down the road.

 

[Diversification]

From those highlights, was really impressed with his play away from the puck and his timing on when to engage. He's going to win a lot of puck battles even at the NHL level playing that way. Very mature playing style for a player his age.

However, I was a bit concerned with his timing offensively. Seemed a beat too late in getting the shot off or passing it. That seemed to be a factor in his being off the score sheet IMHO.

 

[bandwagonesque]

And all you guys are "Toxic! Negativity!"

This isn't what anyone did. They saw an isolated example of an attitude that is increasingly prevalent on the board, and therefore increasingly likely to draw attention anywhere it appears, and identified it as an example of that attitude because it's a particularly obvious and typical one, not because it's common in this thread.

 

[Pip]

This isn't what anyone did. They saw an isolated example of an attitude that is increasingly prevalent on the board, and therefore increasingly likely to draw attention anywhere it appears, and identified it as an example of that attitude because it's a particularly obvious and typical one, not because it's common in this thread.

What does it accomplish

 

[krutovsdonut]

from what i have seen, he thrives on take aways more than break aways. selfless player who does not think of himself as a finisher but now finds himself with the skills to be one and needs to adjust his mental game to bring the same focus to scoring he does to stripping pucks.

with his motor and mobility and the way he stands out, i think worst case scenario he's an awesome energy guy.

 

[F A N]

from what i have seen, he thrives on take aways more than break aways. selfless player who does not think of himself as a finisher but now finds himself with the skills to be one and needs to adjust his mental game to bring the same focus to scoring he does to stripping pucks.

with his motor and mobility and the way he stands out, i think worst case scenario he's an awesome energy guy.

Perceptions can win the day and the the Raging Bull moniker can affect perceptions. Some see him as a great skater with high end skill level who creates offense for himself and his linemates. Others think his skating stride is ugly and has a tendency to have the blinders on instead of utilizing his teammates well.

It seems like that Podkolzin is capable of finding his linemates with passes although they might be a bit on the hard variety. Like I said before, it will be interesting to see how he develops. Statistically he appears to be more of a scorer than playmaker but a lot of times a player can have pretty good playmaking skills and not get a ton of assists.

 

[racerjoe]

Perceptions can win the day and the the Raging Bull moniker can affect perceptions. Some see him as a great skater with high end skill level who creates offense for himself and his linemates. Others think his skating stride is ugly and has a tendency to have the blinders on instead of utilizing his teammates well.

It seems like that Podkolzin is capable of finding his linemates with passes although they might be a bit on the hard variety. Like I said before, it will be interesting to see how he develops. Statistically he appears to be more of a scorer than playmaker but a lot of times a player can have pretty good playmaking skills and not get a ton of assists.

He has an exceptionally high pass% rate, the issue from scouts was that he made the easy pass far too often and wasn't looking to create from passes enough. This would keep things to the outside.

This should not be confused with his tendency to drive the net.

His stride is chopping making it awkward, when up to speed he has decent speed, but there is room to improve, and honestly the room to improve should be looked at as a positive. If he improves to the level he can it will make him that much more dangerous.

 

[krutovsdonut]

Perceptions can win the day and the the Raging Bull moniker can affect perceptions. Some see him as a great skater with high end skill level who creates offense for himself and his linemates. Others think his skating stride is ugly and has a tendency to have the blinders on instead of utilizing his teammates well.

It seems like that Podkolzin is capable of finding his linemates with passes although they might be a bit on the hard variety. Like I said before, it will be interesting to see how he develops. Statistically he appears to be more of a scorer than playmaker but a lot of times a player can have pretty good playmaking skills and not get a ton of assists.

keeping in mind i am mostly looking at highlights he reminds me of mike peca and matt cooke when they broke in. disrupters who are constantly making things happen in all three zones, but seeming to lack offensive skill, finish and polish. maybe even a further throwback to a guy like john tonelli.

 

[Johnny Canucker]

At least we can have a debate on whether we made a good pick in the first round. We can’t even have that debate next year.

 

[Orca Smash]

At least we can have a debate on whether we made a good pick in the first round. We can’t even have that debate next year.

We cant have that debate if we miss the playoffs?

 

[F A N]

At least we can have a debate on whether we made a good pick in the first round. We can’t even have that debate next year.

You seem certain that the Canucks will make the playoffs next season.