Confirmed Trade: [EDM/VAN] Vasily Podkolzin for OTT '25 4th

[TheNumber4]

He seems like the perfect Tocchet type of player too.

Doesn't have the unsustainable shooting percentage that Tocchet needs though.

 

[mriswith]

Pod in his first year in Van was already a decent third liner and looked primed to break out. but then for whatever reason his play declined and he never made it back to that level of play here.

Not surprised he's doing well since he already had hit this level of play before. Looks like an extended opportunity without getting jerked around was exactly what he needed to thrive.

 

[5 14 6 1]

I love this dude

 

[Reverend Mayhem]

Feels more like a young Zach Hyman to me. Has the same endless motor and work ethic, defensively responsible, and a slowly developing offensive touch.

Best thing about this trade is he's fitting in well in the top 6 and he has another year at 1M cap hit. That's the exact value contract the Oilers needed in the top 6, and what Holloway was supposed to provide before he was making more than double that. Not that Holloway isn't worth it, and I'd obviously still like to have him on the team, but Oilers needed some value contracts like this really bad.

This could be a player IMO who is an investment. I never saw his upside, but his floor was worth the 10th in my opinion. Young Zach Hyman though, is about what you should expect. I think he'll be a very streaky scorer as well. His confidence is shot from being a Benning holdover and I'm not sure he'll get it back. Prime/ceiling is 25-25-50, every situation, coaches dream. Not a bad player at all, he gets it more than Yak ever did. I wish we had tried to milk more out of that asset.

 

[Jumptheshark]

good pick up. Will be interesting when the Oilers get healthy again where does he play?

 

[Norwegianoiler]

I love this dude

Fair enough, but I have it on good account that the guy isn't very good.

 

[Sergei Shirokov]

That’s the baffling part. How does a guy who’s decent defensively, plays hard, and always stays out longer at the end of practice end up in a coaches dog house? That should be the last guy on a team that coaches don’t like

He really had plateaued. He came into camp last season & was given a shot in the top 6 alongside JT Miller & Brock Boeser (kind of the situation he's in now with Drai, toolsy compliment to good players) and he just didn't do anything with it. Worked hard but wasn't effective.

He went down to the AHL, started out fantastic then got a concussion, came back & played well in the A but when he was called up later in the year seemed to be playing very safe.

I've always liked Podz & hated the trade, but after his rookie year he really hit a wall. Always worked hard but often played timid & for whatever didn't make much happen at the NHL level.

I wish we had kept him for another go but glad to see he's re-establishing his NHL game with a fresh start. Awesome kid, tons of tools.

 

[VainGretzky]

good pick up. Will be interesting when the Oilers get healthy again where does he play?

Drai is having a career year with him he stays where he is

 

[La Bamba]

good pick up. Will be interesting when the Oilers get healthy again where does he play?

Gotta keep him with Drai. He's getting the best out of Drai on a 4th liner salary and it allows for more depth throughout the lineup

Kane - McDavid - Hyman
Podkolzin - Draisaitl - Arvidsson
Skinner - RNH - Perry/Kapanen
Janmark - Henrique - Brown
Ryan

 

[biturbo19]

30-game update: Podkolzin has grown into a regular presence in Edmonton’s top six, namely on Leon Draisaitl’s line. His work ethic is second to none and it shows in the way he is always on or around the puck. He’s finally started to produce which was the missing piece, and now has more points in Edmonton than his last 60 games in Vancouver.

All in all well worth the pick and Pod is a big reason why Drai is having the year he is. Just such a relentless forechecker and phenomenal teammate.

The interesting thing about this with Podkolzin, is that it seems like he's re-found that form he had as a rookie. That is largely what he looked like at that point. Not a world beater, but just a great "complementary winger" for more skilled linemates. Did a lot of the spadework. Forechecking, digging in the corners, protecting the puck, and making those smart "easy" passes to get the puck to linemates so they can create chances. Hustling and working hard defensively, and seemed to have a decent head for that work.

Then he got really timid and ineffective. Got jerked around but also never really seized any of the opportunities he was given.


So it's hard to tell if this is something sustainable, and he really was just hindered by not being able to get into a groove with the Canucks...or if he's just a really "streaky" player who will regress back to that overly conservative, tentative sort of play that got him drummed out of Vancouver. It's kind of an odd skillset to actually be "streaky" if that's what it is. Like...i'm not sure how it's even possible to be a "streaky" grinding complementary winger doing yeoman's work. So i hated this trade when it happened. But i guess at some point, we'll find out if he goes ice cold and regresses back to that overly conservative play eventually, or not.

Even if he does turn back into a pumpkin though...what Edmonton is getting out of him right now, is easily "worth it" for his salary and acquisition cost, and then some.

 

[McFlash97]

Draisaitl is going to turn this guy into Hyman v2. It helps when Podz is playing with generational players. It will help him grow his game

Gotta keep him with Drai. He's getting the best out of Drai on a 4th liner salary and it allows for more depth throughout the lineup

Kane - McDavid - Hyman
Podkolzin - Draisaitl - Arvidsson
Skinner - RNH - Perry/Kapanen
Janmark - Henrique - Brown
Ryan

You can't move Kapanen off Draisaitls line. That's a bad move. Let them develop chemistry. They are starting to really read off each other now. Kapanen has the speed, size and skill to make it work.

 

[ChaoticOrange]

Drai is having a career year with him he stays where he is

Yep. No reason to move him anywhere, he’s good where he is.

When Arvidsson comes back they’ve got some interesting choices to make though. Kapanen’s speed has been a nice fit on that line too.

 

[LTIR]

Kapanen-Draisaitl is more of thing than Podkolzin-Drai. Both should remain on Draisaitls wing even with all healthy.

 

[FuryOfTheSwarm]

Surprised no other team beat this offer, he showed enough over his Vancouver career that should have made at least a few GMs take a flyer on him as a potential poor man's Nichushkin. Much better fundamentals for the NHL than Hoglander

 

[biturbo19]

Yep. No reason to move him anywhere, he’s good where he is.

When Arvidsson comes back they’ve got some interesting choices to make though. Kapanen’s speed has been a nice fit on that line too.

I don't really see why you'd want to mess with anything about that right now.

Though Podkolzin and Kapanen are also both liable to go ice cold at any moment. That'd be the only reason i'd tinker with that though. The old adage, "if it ain't broke, don't fix it".

Would also just let them roll a ton of depth and an actual third line that could be very effective, maybe even in the HBK Penguins line mold.

 

[TheNumber4]

Surprised no other team beat this offer, he showed enough over his Vancouver career that should have made at least a few GMs take a flyer on him as a potential poor man's Nichushkin. Much better fundamentals for the NHL than Hoglander

Waiver status might have scared teams off. If he super slumps and the details in his game drop, could be lost for nothing.

But I don't think this will happen with Podz. As you said, his fundamentals are NHL quality. So if you are a smart team and be patient with him, you will benefit.

 

[FuryOfTheSwarm]

Doesn't have the unsustainable shooting percentage that Tocchet needs though.

No idea how Tocchet is seen as some coaching guru now, he was positively braindead in Phoenix

 

[biturbo19]

No idea how Tocchet is seen as some coaching guru now, he was positively braindead in Phoenix

He's had the benefit of stepping in after Travis Green, who doesn't have the slightest clue how to coach effectively...and then Bruce There It Is who is very much just a "let 'em horses run" type coach. He's got a lot out of the Canucks roster and particularly, they've got a ton of value out of depth players in the bottom half of the depth chart and defencemen who seemed previously useless.

But most of all...he's installed what looks like an actual system. Where it looks like all 5 players on the ice are typically on the same page about what's supposed to happen.

 

[FuryOfTheSwarm]

He's had the benefit of stepping in after Travis Green, who doesn't have the slightest clue how to coach effectively...and then Bruce There It Is who is very much just a "let 'em horses run" type coach. He's got a lot out of the Canucks roster and particularly, they've got a ton of value out of depth players in the bottom half of the depth chart and defencemen who seemed previously useless.

But most of all...he's installed what looks like an actual system. Where it looks like all 5 players on the ice are typically on the same page about what's supposed to happen.

Yeah he seems like a system coach who can deliver as long as everyone buys in. From what I've seen he doesn't make many in game adjustments an can't adjust to players who aren't tailor made for what he wants to do and can execute on it as soon as they step on the ice. But he did make the right players (Zadorov, Blueger, Lafferty) look very very good for what they are.