Make no mistake about it Vasily Podkolzin was a bright spot early on this season for the Edmonton Oilers.
He came into training camp hungry, acquired by the team over the summer after fizzling out with the Vancouver Canucks, as Edmonton looked to pivot after offer sheets for Dylan Holloway and Philip Broberg landed in their mailbox.
Podkolzin shined in the pre-season and early on this season, quickly earning a spot in the Oilers top-six stapled to Leon Draisaitl, who surely wanted him to stick alongside him. Before practice and after, Podkolzin was the first player on the ice and the last to leave, something that anyone can appreciate.
A fight with Nashville Predators defenceman Jeremy Lauzon in which he laid a knee-buckling right-cross only earned him more brownie points with the teams and the Oilers fan base as a whole — and understandably so. The Edmonton market loves nothing more than a hard-nosed, bring-the-lunch-pail style of play, and that’s what Podkolzin, nicknamed “Podzilla,” did.
And for what feels like the first time in his tenure in Edmonton, he’s been bumped out of the Oilers top-six.
It came as Kris Knoblauch and co. loaded Draisaitl with Connor McDavid with the Toronto Maple Leafs coming to town over the weekend. While two game prior the coaching staff made that move, Podkolzin remained in the top-six, with Viktor Arvidsson on his opposite wing and Adam Henrique up the middle. Draisaitl slid back into the middle against Detroit, but in that Toronto game, Podkolzin slid to the third line alongside Henrique and Connor Brown.
What it led to was a season-low in five-on-five ice-time for Podkolzin, who has now gone five games without a point, taking just seven shots on goal on 10 attempts in that time. The previous 13 games, mind you, were some of his best with the Oilers so far in terms of scoring, putting up three goals and eight points, while taking 23 shots on goal.
Podkolzin wasn’t asked to come to Edmonton to be a point-per-game player, and it’s safe to say nobody expected him to come in and play as well as he has, even though six goals and 19 points in 52 games — a respectable 30-point pace which would be a career high. He was expected to come in and try and contribute on the Oilers third or fourth line as a physical presence.
Instead, his 200-foot game has been better than anyone expected it to be. He drives offence at a two percent rate above league average and defence at a seven percent rate above league average, according to Hockey Viz. With him on the ice, the Oilers offence has an expected goals for per hour rate 24 percent above league average, while defensively, opposing teams have an expected goals against per hour rate 18 percent below league average. When he’s off the ice, those numbers drop to 13 percent and five percent, respectively.
The numbers track at five-on-five, as his 3.1 expected goals for per hour are fifth among Oilers forwards while his 1.96 expected goals against per hour is the highest of Oilers forwards, according to Natural Stat Trick.
Even through his slump he’s still scoring 1.77 points per hour on the season at five-on-five, right around a league average rate for a second-line player. But there’s one thing he does a lot of, and that’s hitting people. At five-on-five, he’s laid far and away the most hits per hour, with his 10.5 towering Kasperi Kapanen’s 7.6, Noah Philp’s 5.1, Derek Ryan’s 4.9 and Adam Henrique’s 3.3.
The demotion down the lineup is probably a good thing for Podolzin as the coaching staff looks to give him a bit of a reset. He is, after all, still just 23-years-old, so it’s not as if we’re taking about a grizzled veteran or somebody who’s been around the game for a long-time.
His results in all facets have been strong this year, and he’s undoubtedly reset what his expectations are for him as a player. While some of that shine may have worn off for him, he proves to be a key piece of this forward group moving forward.
Zach Laing is Oilersnation’s associate editor, senior columnist, and The Nation Network’s news director. He also makes up one-half of the DFO DFS Report. He can be followed on Twitter, currently known as X, at @zjlaing, or reached by email at zach@thenationnetwork.com.
