He does hit, it's not devastating though, he was trending pretty well after his rookie season, and then he somehow regressed under Tocchet. The problem is between his ears. He has no confidence to make offensive plays, but is very conscientious defensively. If he gets past his "afraid to make a mistake" mindset, he will strive with his physical sturdiness. He has leadership qualities and is loved by all his teammates.
There’s some of this with him but the real issue, is the same issue for most wingers who bust. They simply need more time to make decisions on the ice. Time that just doesn’t exist at the NHL level.
The good part, and why he’s probably worth the 4th Round pick is, it’s not getting his shot off, like it is with many players. He’s shown stretches where he gets his shot off in plenty of time. It’s the rest of his game, where he still needs that extra second, that just doesn’t exist in the NHL.
There’s a reason we see so many “very skilled” Russian and Czechs (especially) “Natural” wingers, bust in the NHL. The systems they grow up playing, give tons of space to wingers on the outside, because their systems have dmen collapse towards the net.
So they have all the time in the world to set things up. They’re not forced to “think the game” so quickly. Or just react “Naturally.”
They may even have initial success in the NHL. Guys like Yakupov for example. Because in the NHL, the dmen will give you the outside initially. Basically they’re cheating their angles, and daring you to create offense from the outside. Once a player proves he can score in that outside space though, NHL Dmen are so talented, they’ll take that space away from these players.
Once that happens, guys like Michkov (this coming season) for example, is gonna have to prove he can take his game to a whole new level, he’s never had to before. Took Nichushkin 5-6 years. Zadina still hasn’t figured it out. Neither has Podkolzin.
The thing is though, you just never know until they play in the NHL, because that part of the game, only exists in the NHL. NHL Dmen are very unique in this regard. They have insane “one on one” skills you just dont see in other leagues. There’s not KHL Dmen who can play this way. Exactly why they collapse towards the net and give the outside away. It’s also why we see so many Russian Dmen struggle defensively in the NHL as young players. They have to be broken from playing the way they always have.
Where here in NA and in Sweden now, we don’t see the busts as much anymore, because our kids play much more “one on one” hockey growing up now. The crazy thing is, it used to be the complete opposite. Until all those great skill oriented coaches from the Soviet Union, all left Russia and came over to coach in NA in the 1990s. They started developing a lot of very skilled kids in the States and USA Hockey took notice. We then seen USA Hockey, followed by Hockey Canada and then Sweden Minor Hockey as well, get away from systems and teach more “one on one” skills to our kids.. While back in Russia, systems took over. Those who now controlled Russian Minor Hockey, were the old rivals of the very skill oriented type coaches who controlled Soviet Hockey for decades, but left for America. Finland has finally switched in recent years as well. Russia and the Czechs though? They need big changes. We should see it soon though, because look at all those same very skilled players from the 1990s now coaching in Russia. Sergei Fedorov for example. His dad, was one of those coaches who came over and brought Russian training to the States.
Anyway. That’s how we got here with all these very skilled players busting in the NHL.
If you notice, most Russian and Czech wingers in the NHL, were also natural Cs back at home. They grew up playing in traffic, and naturally developed skills to create space and make decisions quickly. Most of these very skilled wingers we see bust in the NHL, never had to do so, and it’s a skill that has to come naturally because it’s like a muscle memory. Its done immediately when they get the puck. There’s no time to think.
Podkolzin is gonna have a nice hockey career. It’s just likely to be in the KHL, where he’ll have plenty of time to make decisions. Like it or not though, we have several GMs in the NHL who are almost scared to use a top pick on a Russian Winger. This is the reason why. They’ll use 2nd and 3rd round picks, but not high picks. Michkov for example, will have a lot of pressure on him to produce. He busts, guarantee the Flyers will be added to that list of teams who won’t touch Russian Wingers with a top pick for a long time.
