I'm not saying Podkolzin is like a "carbon copy" of Virtanen, they have a lot of different elements to them, obviously. But like Virtanen, he's got quite a bit of "straight line player" and "tunnel vision" to his game. A lot of the same sort of, "drive down the wing and take a shot or loop around" north-south, and skating himself out of opportunities. He is better than Virtanen along the wall and on the cycle. But i think there's still room to question how well he really sees the ice consistently.
Though you're probably right, in that a lot of people are just writing him off on box score scouting. That's pretty typical.
Yeah. Virtanen was always a swing for upside type pick. I think a lot of people got crossed up on the idea that as a toolsy guy, he had a seemingly higher "floor" as a 4th line crash and bang grinder at worst. But you don't pick in the Top-10 for "floor". He was the guy, because he had big upside as a freakish fast, physical goal-scorer. Hasn't really materialized, but that was obviously the "boom" scenario.
It's where the Russian factor carries some more risk with Podkolzin i think. If he's going to take time to really find a scoring touch at the NHL level when his tools no longer set him apart so much, and doesn't get the icetime and paydays, that's where guys like that seem to find their way back home. Like Nichushkin for example. Who also, unlike Virtanen...doesn't necessarily have the physical energy player game to plug right into that sort of role if it doesn't work out as a scorer either.
