On Sunday afternoon, the Vancouver Canucks announced the trade of Vasily Podkolzin to the Edmonton Oilers in exchange for a 2025 fourth round pick.
The Canucks ultimately decided that there was no room for Podkolzin in their lineup and that they’d rather trade him for something now as opposed to losing him for free on waivers in the fall.
But how did we get here?
How did a player at drafted 10th overall in 2019, who just turned 23, fizzle out with the Canucks? Here is a complete timeline of Vasily Podkolzin’s career to this point.
Draft Hype
Heading into his draft year, the consensus seemed to have Podkolzin locked in as a top five or ten pick, with some even putting him in the number three spot behind consensus top two picks Jack Hughes and Kaapo Kakko. Here’s what some public scouts were saying about Podkolzin ahead of the draft:
“An absolute pit bull. Podkolzin offers high-end offensive awareness, lightning quick hands and a confrontational style. Despite some muted point totals coming from his club team, he’s made a habit of showing up in a big way on the international stage.” — Cam Robinson
“One of the most controversial prospects for the 2019 NHL Entry Draft is Vasili Podkolzin. He doesn’t have earth-shattering numbers but it’s hard to find anyone who doesn’t like his tools… What my eyes are telling me about Podkolzin is that he’s a power winger who works and competes extremely hard. He never quits on a play even when others do. If you don’t want to give your 100% playing against him, he’s going to win. He’s a well-rounded player who doesn’t cheat for offence but has lots of offensive abilities. He has good leadership qualities, and he leads by example on the ice. He’s capable of energizing the entire team with his play.” — Jokke Nevalainen
On draft day, Canucks’ head of amateur scouting Judd Brackett said:
“His value at #10 was too much to pass up. He hits on so many things that we’re looking for in terms of his compete level and his size and the determination to go with the skill.”
Make no mistake about it — Podkolzin’s tournament-leading performance at the 2018 Hlinka Gretzky tournament skyrocketed him up most draft boards.
Post Draft Season(s)
One of the things thought to make teams a bit bullish on selecting Podkolzin was the fact that he was signed to play with SKA St. Petersburg in the KHL for two more seasons. Not to mention that Podkolzin turned down a contract extension from SKA and made his desire to play in the NHL well known, which some worried could hurt his ice time while in SKA.
What followed was low ice time and bench riding for Podkolzin, who got very few opportunities to play for the two seasons that followed his draft year. In those seasons, Podkolzin was often the team’s 13th forward and only got the chance to move up the lineup when the team lost multiple players for a few games due to COVID. Even with some VHL and MHL time mixed in there, Podkolzin’s time in the KHL following his draft year was a bit of a mess.
What he did do in his final year in Russia was produce in the playoffs, which was obviously a great sign as Podkolzin took advantage of the opportunities he was getting.
One important thing to note about Podkolzin’s time in Russia is that he was quite clearly focused on making the safe play and never making a mistake so as not to lose what little ice time he was already getting. This will come up later on the timeline.
First Season in Vancouver: A fine rookie year among dysfunction
The Canucks’ organization was at one of its lowest points ever when Vasily Podkolzin debuted as a rookie. They were coming off of a disaster of a shortened 2020-21 campaign, and everybody was on the chopping block. They had a coach in Travis Green who clearly wasn’t getting through to his players, and with no real support from management, players didn’t have to worry about any consequences.
Podkolzin jumped up and down the Canucks’ lineup during this time, and even after the Canucks hired Bruce Boudreau and started playing an ultra-offensive system, Podkolzin still struggled to find a steady h0me in the lineup. He played 79 games in his rookie year and tallied 14 goals and 12 assists. Again, a fine rookie year amid some serious organizational dysfunction.
Second Season in Vancouver: More dysfunction, first AHL demotion
The dysfunction didn’t stop there, as the shine on Bruce Boudreau’s Canucks quickly wore off. President Jim Rutherford made it clear that he didn’t even hire Boudreau as head coach, and that he wasn’t aware Boudreau had language in his contract that would mean he coached the Canucks beyond 2021-22. And of course, he made all this clear while Boudreau was still behind the bench, leading to more dysfunction.
Eventually though, Rutherford got his man in Rick Tocchet, who replaced Boudreau in late January. For the first time in a while, there was organizational alignment in Vancouver as Tocchet started the process of rebuilding the team’s habits. While that was happening though, it was still unclear for Podkolzin what his role was going to be on the team. The Boudreau Canucks demoted him in November to go work things out in the AHL and stay away from the situation in Vancouver.
Tocchet’s Canucks recalled Podkolzin in February, and Tocchet certainly made it clear how much potential he felt Podkolzin possessed to play the North-South game that the Canucks’ bench boss wants to see. Podkolzin finished out the year with the big club, tallying four goals and zero assists through the final 23 games of the season. Nonetheless, Podkolzin finally looked primed to take a full time job with a coach who believed in him.
Third Season in Vancouver: A golden opportunity, a quick demotion
Now we’re at this past season, when Podkolzin began training camp in the Canucks’ top six alongside JT Miller and Brock Boeser. Unfortunately, it was abundantly clear that Podkolzin wasn’t going to be able to hold down that spot, and the Canucks made Podkolzin one of the earliest cuts in camp with the goal of going down to Abbotsford and tuning up his game.
Really, it was the first time in Podkolzin’s career to go be “the guy” for a team. No fluctuating ice time, just going out and playing. Unfortunately, that AHL time didn’t seem to loosen up Podkolzin’s game, as he basically looked like the same player upon his NHL return later in the season.
Podkolzin traded to Edmonton
Podkolzin departs Vancouver as a player who appeared to have plenty of potential but could never quite live up to his draft billing. He’s a player who may greatly benefit from a change of scenery, as it really felt like the thing holding him back was not understanding how to play a free-flowing offensive game.
It didn’t work out in Vancouver and it may not work out in Edmonton, but what we do know is that the timeline of Vasily Podkolzin as a Canuck has officially come to a close.
Hopefully the Oilers let him kill penalties.
