Through Vasily Podkolzin’s first 13 Edmonton Oilers games, we have become enamoured of his work ethic, his strength and desire to out-muscle defenders for loose pucks along the boards, his fists, his hitting, his first-round draft pick smarts to find linemates with passes, his willingness to learn, for the first time, how to play on the penalty-kill.
Alas, we are still waiting to see if he can score.
His last NHL goal was March 23, 2023 against San Jose’s James Reimer.
A very nice rush up ice, a little shimmy-shake at the blueline to elude a checker, and a 30-foot ripper off Reimer’s glove, the puck tumbling into the net, the fifth goal in Vancouver’s 7-2 win over the Sharks. His fourth goal of a struggling second NHL season, after 14 in his rookie year with the Canucks.
He hasn’t scored in 593 days, but who’s counting?
Podkolzin, most likely. He had a yawning net off a Leon Draisaitl pass against New Jersey Monday, and, while being bothered by a checker, shovelled it wide of Jake Allen, his shoulders slumping enough, that fans in the upper bowl at Rogers Place may have seen the angst.
“I have to score there. I feel bad for Leon and for myself,” he said.
Podkolzin looks like a good fit for Draisaitl with his doggedness, also a player with instinctual skill that comes from being the 10thplayer taken in the 2019 draft. Connor McDavid, the captain, loves his play. So does Kris Knoblauch, the coach.
But, Podkolzin, even with his 33 hits, badly wants to score, to celebrate.
“I need to learn to be more consistent in this game, to be more useful for my linemates. Sometimes it is your turn (a goal), and sometimes it is not,” he said.
“Tomorrow will be a new day.”
Indeed. Podkolzin could be back on Draisaitl’s left side Wednesday here when the Vegas Golden Knights come to town. And maybe when he will play his former Canucks team for the first time in league play Saturday, back in Vancouver, where he would certainly love to score.
He lost the trust of the Canucks’ head coach Rick Tocchet, unfortunately, and the management out there. He had become a safe, think-too-much player, not moving his feet enough, reacting instead of acting. So, feeling there wasn’t room for him on their 2024-25 roster in a bottom six role, and also knowing he would have to clear waivers to go back to AHL Abbotsford, where he spent last season, they up and gave him away for a stocking stuffer, fourth-round draft pick, strangely trading him to a playoff and division rival. Were there no other suitors for the Russian winger?
“Sometimes I need to create more,” he said after Monday’s loss to the Devils. “I need to be a little more physical.”
Maybe yes to the first quote.
Absolutely not to the second.
McDavid loves Podkolzin’s game, which goes a long way.
“He does so many good things. He wins battles, keeps the puck alive for that line (Draisaitl and Viktor Arvidsson), he makes great little plays, the play (Calgary) to Leo (first goal 20 seconds into the game) and the one (along the board, digging out the puck) in Nashville in the first minute,” said McDavid.
“Those are things that can go unnoticed sometimes but when you’re playing with a guy like that (Draisaitl), it’s a lot of fun. He plays physical, works his tail off. He’s been great.”
‘He’s a first-round pick for a reason’
Podkolzin, like so many high-end juniors, hasn’t found consistency, yet, though. You can see the talent, plus the sweat equity. But, the offence hasn’t come. If it doesn’t, he won’t stay in the top six, but he brings enough to be a bottom six player here.
“He’s a first-round pick for a reason. Confidence is half the battle, maybe even more,” said McDavid. “In this league, everybody can skate, everybody can make plays and work hard but if you don’t have confidence that can be pretty tough. That’s something he’s searching for but he should feel really good about himself now.”
Knoblauch, who makes out the nightly line-up cards, agrees.
Same story, different voice.
“What we’ve really liked about Pods playing with that group (Draisaitl and Arvidsson) is he gets to the net,” said Knoblauch. “You need a net presence. There may be a better player for that role on that line but everyone has to bring something to the table, and he goes to the net and that’s important when we have possession in the offensive zone.”
“Another thing I like is his creating turnovers off the forecheck. You look at the goal in Nashville (Arvidsson, off a feed from Draisaitl) and in Calgary. Those intangibles are really important,” said Knoblauch.
“The other importance is the break-out, getting it into a skilled centerman’s hands, like Leon. Breaking the puck out cleanly rather than just chip, chase, get in on the forecheck all the time. I think he’s done a good job of balancing when to make the pass and when there’s nothing there, chip it in. He’s made good decisions.”
Now, when he finally scores…the full package.
This ‘n that
- The Oilers moved left-shot farmhand defenceman Ben Gleason to Philadelphia Monday for their AHL right-shot D Ronnie Attard. Attard joins Phil Kemp, Sam Carrick, Josh Brown and Max Wanner as right-shot D in Bakersfield, too many, but unlike Gleason, he doesn’t qualify as an AHL veteran. AHL teams can only dress five players in games with 300 or more pro games. That was Gleason, Carrick, Brown and Cam Dineen on the back-end. Attard, a former third-round pick with 22 goals the past two AHL seasons, and 29 total NHL games, will be UFA next July if he doesn’t play 51 NHL games…
- Drake Caggiula, after two Oilers games, has been loaned back to Bakersfield. Caggiula showed good speed and energy and assisted in Noah Philip’s first NHL point in Nashville.
- Former Oilers defenceman Vincent Desharnais, who has struggled some in Vancouver with his coverage and zone exits after signing a two-year, $2 million AAV free-agent contract, still feeling his way clearly on a new team, has been a healthy scratch for four Canucks’ games. But the big man was back in against Anaheim Ducks Tuesday…
- Tampa Bay GM Julien Brisebois was here Monday scouting for Canada’s 4 Nations Face-off team. He’s part of the management team picking the roster. Oiler winger Zach Hyman and goalie Stuart Skinner, who didn’t play against Devils but will against Vegas, are possibles on the roster…
- Vegas captain Mark Stone is riding high with 20 points in their 12 games. The Golden Knights could have four players on Canada’s 4 Nations Face-off team—Stone, Alex Pietrangelo and Shea Theodore on defence and Adin Hill in goal.
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