Vasily Podkolzin is currently at the NHL intersection of Faith Avenue and Hope Street on Second Chance Road after the 2019 first-round draft-pick winger was sent on his way from Vancouver to Edmonton in August for a 2025 fourth-rounder.
While history says 74 per cent of first-round draft picks become NHL players, the 10th overall selections have run the gamut from booming Teemu Selanne/Mikko Rantanen home runs to the 1,000-gamers like Bobby Holik, to the middling Nik Andropov, to the swings and misses of Boris Valabik and Dylan McIlrath.
And of course, the big hit in Evan Bouchard, the Oilers 10th selection in 2018.
And now we have Podkolzin, who dazzled for Russia at the Hlinka-Gretzky U18 tournament here in the summer of 2018, which put him on every scout’s radar, and then was excellent at the U20 World Junior in Vancouver a few months later to reinforce their opinions. But, alas, it didn’t work out for the 23-year-old forward in his 137 Canucks games, so now he’s here on his second team.
He’s pencilled in for a fourth-line left-wing spot because he’s got young power forward skill and a very heavy shot, and he’s also got a one-way, two-year contract for $1 million a season.
Basically, the Canucks traded Podkolzin because he’s waiver eligible this season and after working with him, they just didn’t see him making their team after spending all of last season in Abbotsford in the AHL. Podkolzin was told he was traded to the Oilers on Aug. 21 when he was driving with his wife Sasha and daughter Alisa to Ikea to get some furniture — fitting, because his NHL career has been one of baby steps.
The Canucks said goodbye, in part because of confidence issues. He was thinking too much on the ice, reacting rather than acting out plays, but the Oilers jumped at him, and who knows, maybe he will be the second coming of fellow Russian Klim Kostin, who had his best NHL season with Oilers in 2022-23 (11 goals in 57 games) after St. Louis moved him to Oilers for Dmitry Samorukov.
“Sometimes with a second team, you are more free out there. You aren’t thinking so much and sometimes you need to be in the minors,” said Podkolzin, who in a twist had a big fight with Oiler farmhand Raphael Lavoie while in the AHL. “When you are down there and you are watching the NHL, watching your main team (Vancouver) you are thinking I’m never going back to the minors.”
Oilers coach Kris Knoblauch, who coached several first-round draft picks on the New York Rangers AHL farm club in Hartford, knows the path to the NHL is not always linear, even with players who have a skill pedigree.
“You have to build up the things they’re doing well. Players often do more good than bad, but coaches tend to point out the bad,” said Knoblauch, a smile on his face.
“He’s an exceptional young player. He had a strong first year (with 14 goals),” he said, “but things didn’t go as well after that. We’re going to build him back up.”
Like Oilers did with Kostin two years ago after his rough go in St. Louis.
“Kostin and I are good friends. We were roommates in the world (U20) championship in Vancouver. I was the youngest player and Kostin was the captain,” said Podkolzin, whose English is excellent after learning quickly when he joined Canucks.
“My rookie year I really didn’t speak English but six months later I was better. Now? I’m not perfect but I can have conversations,” said Podkolzin, who was playing for SKA in St. Petersburg in Russia before being drafted, but wants no part of the KHL.
He’s dying to prove he’s an NHLer here, after he dressed for two playoff games against the Oilers last spring but only played 7:47 and 9:16.
“When I was sent down to Abbotsford there were tough times but I never said, ‘I want to go back to Russia.’ I didn’t want to give up here (NHL),” said Podkolzin, who signed with Canucks right after the 2019 draft and after that 14-goal first season, showed flashes of his skill but scored only four times in the next 58 games.
He had trouble with consistency and confidence, not playing instinctively as he did when younger. Now he has another set of eyes on him, on a new team, wanting to be an NHL regular.
“This a great opportunity for me. This city is special for me. I played (the U18) world juniors here and my first NHL game,” said Podkolzin, conceding the Canucks gave him lots of rope but his game fell back after the first season, agreeing he needs to work on the mental side of his game, not worry about mistakes, probably be more assertive as he was in junior.
He met his wife in the Russian city of Yaroslavl seven years ago and now he’s married with his young daughter, and the NHL is where they all want to be.
“One of the greatest things I’ve ever done. My daughter is 14 months old. Maybe a little more responsibility, not just for my wife, but for my kid. It’s crazy how fast she is growing up. When she was born, time was flying for me. She’s walking already,” he said.
At the Hlinka-Gretzky tournament, Podkolzin was the best player, not just on the Russian team, but all the teams, going end-to-end to score highlight goals. The Russians lost to Sweden and ex-Oilers defenceman Philip Broberg in the semifinal.
“They got lucky,” joked Podkolzin, who had Yegor Chinakhov, now with the Columbus Blue Jackets, as a teammate along with Nashville’s new goalie Yaroslav Askarov.
While he wore 92 in Vancouver and will do so here, he wore 19 for much of his time in Russia until an older guy joined his team. “We had a good dinner and I, uh, gave it up for 92. I also like (Evgeny) Kuznetsov. He’s a pretty good player, I would say.”