With the Edmonton Oilers trading for Russian winger Vasily Podkolzin, the former first-round pick of Vancouver Canucks on Sunday, is that a tip-off they won’t be matching the St. Louis offer sheet for Dylan Holloway?
Or is it just because they see a high-pedigree player they’re getting for chump change?
Giving up a fourth-round draft pick for Podkolzin, who was the best player in the 2018 Hlinka-Gretzky Cup here — the same tournament in which Oilers D-man Philip Broberg starred for Sweden — is virtually nothing. Podkolzin, the 10th player taken in the 2019 draft, two picks after the Oilers chose Broberg, also comes cheap, signing a two-year contract with the Canucks this summer at $1 million AAV.
His salary is about what the Oilers were offering their restricted free-agent Holloway last month until the Blues swept in last week with their $2.29-million AAV over two years for left winger Holloway and $4.58 million for Broberg. The Oilers have until Tuesday morning to decide whether to match or walk away on one or both.
Again, maybe the addition of Podkolzin, 23, is cover in case they walk away from Holloway and would rather keep Broberg, even though he’s twice as expensive on a squeezed salary cap. There is a thought the Oilers are still investigating trading a veteran defenceman, either left D Brett Kulak, who has two years remaining at $2.75M AAV or right D Cody Ceci at $3.25 million for this upcoming season, only to free up money for Broberg. The feeling is Broberg and his agent Darren Ferris see him as a left D, even though he played right D with Darnell Nurse in the playoffs. If so, maybe Kulak is more vulnerable than Ceci.
Podkolzin has had a spotty start to his NHL career. The left-shot right-winger who looks like a bottom six player right now, has played 137 regular-season games but this past season he spent all but 19 games in the AHL at Abbotsford. He’s had only one full season (2021-22) in the NHL (79 games, 14 goals, 26 points).
Podkolzin did play in two Canucks playoff games against the Oilers last spring, but those were his only two (7:47 ice-time in one game, 9:16 in the other). He had a couple of concussions the past two seasons — once from a fight against the Bruins, once after a dirty hit in a game against Colorado. He was a star as a junior but in Russia in the KHL he was a fourth-liner before coming to the Canucks. He was basically a bottom six winger in Vancouver, too, and couldn’t get any traction with coach Rick Tocchet this past season.
Podkolzin is a strong winger, with some flair to his game, but it didn’t work with the Canucks, who have Brock Boeser and Jake DeBrusk as their top two RWs, along with Kiefer Sherwood and Daniel Sprong right now. In his time in Vancouver, Podkolzin averaged 12 minutes a game.
In some ways, this trade is akin to the Oilers trading for Blues winger Klim Kostin, also a sputtering first-round draft pick forward in 2022 (for Dmitry Samorukov). Kostin was a big body, too, looking for a change of scenery. He responded with 11 goals here but signed in Detroit in the summer of 2023 and was traded to San Jose where he’s now finding his way with the Sharks.