Podkolzin's two-way game is nearly NHL ready
The 2020 NHL Entry Draft is just days away.
The Vancouver Canucks don't have a pick until the third round this year. As they prepare for the draft, we're evaluating the top 10 prospects in their system. Today, at No. 1, is Vasili Podkolzin.
The Canucks have hit home runs — Brock Boeser, Elias Pettersson, Quinn Hughes — in the draft's first round in recent years. Will the big Russian winger they drafted in 2019 be the next to shine?
Even at last year's draft, the chatter was that if Podkolzin didn't already have a two-year contract with the KHL'S SKA St. Petersburg in his back pocket, he could step into an NHL lineup right away.
In the year since, his game has improved a lot.
NHL teams have been shy about drafting Russians over the last two decades. The appeal of playing at home in the KHL for big sums of money, plus the reality of culture shock between Russia and North America, have played a deciding role. None of these concerns appear to apply to Podkolzin.
From the moment he appeared on the NHL'S radar, the questions
were there and he was ready with his answer: “I want to play in the NHL.”
The caveat, of course, was that suitors would have to wait two years since he was under contract to SKA St. Petersburg, the heavyweight of the KHL. That didn't deter the Canucks from picking him a year ago and their enthusiasm is even stronger today, general man
ager Jim Benning said this week.
“He's a power forward, he's strong in the corners, he'll take the puck to the net, he can recover pucks in the corners,” the GM said. “He can play with good players. He's got good vision.”
Podkolzin is a player who likes to attack defenders when he has the puck, putting them into scramble mode as quickly as possible.
He's now in his third season playing professional hockey against men. In the KHL, young players are usually put in fourth-line roles, but Podkolzin and his linemates Ivan Morozov and Kirill Marchenko — two other young forwards with NHL aspirations — performed well late in the 2019-20 season and in the playoffs.
“I thought his line was one of the better lines in the KHL,” Benning said.
This season, Podkolzin is getting plenty of ice time, but not necessarily in a way he would have expected.
The KHL has been hard hit by the COVID-19 pandemic, with several games postponed because of outbreaks on teams. Some players and a number of coaches on the SKA squad have tested positive and are in quarantine, but Podkolzin isn't one of them. So he's getting plenty of ice time.
Friday, he played more than 20 minutes and was the team's leader in offensive zone time. He also killed penalties.
The fact Podkolzin is a power forward who already has a lot of polish on his all-around game was one of the major attractions for the Canucks at last year's draft.
Going back to the 2019 world juniors, where Podkolzin made the team as a 17-year-old, Benning said he and his scouts saw an important level of trust placed in him by Russian head coach Valeri Bragin.
“In the worlds, as a 17-year-old, the coach didn't feel out of place playing him in the last minute,” he said.
“That doesn't usually happen with a young player.”
And his development as a trustworthy player has continued.
“He's an important prospect for us, there's nothing that we're going to be concerned about. He protects the puck well, he's a big strong kid, he's not afraid to go to the net and play in the hard areas,” Benning said.
“His details defensively are good, he can kill penalties, he's a guy who can play up and down the lineup.”
He's still a year from playing in the NHL, but clearly Benning can't wait to see him in blue and green.