<p>It felt like the Edmonton Oilers were building momentum overall—until the last game <a href="https://oilersnation.com/news/can-edmonton-oilers-survive-without-connor-mcdavid">when an early injury to Connor McDavid</a> against the Columbus Blue Jackets set them back. After their captain left the game, the team looked completely out of sync. Losing the best player in the world is a tough blow to recover from—and it showed in the 6-1 loss.</p>
<p>The positives aren’t exactly glaring after losing your captain and also <a href="https://publish.oilersnation.com/2024/10/29/oilers-fall-6-1-to-the-blue-jackets-but-all-anyone-cared-about-was-what-happened-to-connor-mcdavid/">getting shellacked by the Blue Jackets</a>, but heading into that game, newcomers Ty Emberson and Vasily Podkolzin had been trending in a promising direction despite recording just a single assist between them through the Oilers first ten games. If you judge them by points alone, their impact may seem underwhelming; however, below, we dive into some underlying stats to show how they’re contributing in other positive ways.</p>
<h2>Ty Emberson</h2>
<p>When the Oilers <a href="https://oilersnation.com/news/edmonton-oilers-trade-defenceman-cody-ceci-to-sharks-for-ty-emberson">traded Cody Ceci to the San Jose Sharks</a> in exchange for Emberson, many in the hockey world believed the 24-year-old could step into a second-pair role alongside Darnell Nurse from the get-go of the 2024-25 season.</p>
<p>Yet, that level of pressure seemed quite optimistic in hindsight. When considering the bigger picture, the expectation was for a young D-man with <a href="https://oilersnation.com/news/opportunity-knocks-this-upcoming-season-for-oilers-new-addition-ty-emberson">just 30 NHL games under his belt</a> before the season began to fill an important role on the blue line of a team that was only a save and a couple of goals away from winning the Stanley Cup last season. That’s a significant amount of pressure for anyone.</p>
<p>The result at the start of the season seemed to align with a more reasonable expectation. He started on the second pairing in <a href="https://oilersnation.com/news/instant-reaction-oilers-drop-season-opener-for-second-straight-year-lose-6-0-to-the-jets">the season opener against the Winnipeg Jets</a>, and he, along with the rest of his teammates, had a tough go. Emberson was on the ice for three goals against and was outshot 4-9 at 5v5 in the 6-0 defeat. In the next game against the Chicago Blackhawks, he was dropped to the third pairing with Brett Kulak and was on the ice for two goals against in another loss.</p>
<p>He&#8217;s settled in since then, gradually looking more comfortable in his role on the third pairing. He’s played in eight of the team’s ten games, mostly with Kulak, and his defensive game has noticeably improved. Before the recent game against the Blue Jackets—where the whole team was a mess, likely shaken by <a href="https://oilersnation.com/news/edmonton-oilers-captain-connor-mcdavid-leaves-monday-game-with-lower-body-injury-after-first-shift">McDavid leaving early due to an injury</a>—that pairing posted 2GF and 1GA over the previous five games. However, they were on the ice for two goals against in the loss to Columbus, and the last one was likely due to the whole team being mentally clocked out already late in the game.</p>
<p>Additionally, Emberson has shown more poise with the puck over the last stretch of games and transitioning it better to his forwards, as highlighted by a series of posts by Oilersnation&#8217;s Bruce Curlock below:</p>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="550" data-dnt="true">
<p lang="und" dir="ltr">7/10 <a href="https://t.co/pTOmLxdijd">pic.twitter.com/pTOmLxdijd</a></p>
<p>&mdash; bcurlock (@bcurlock) <a href="https://twitter.com/bcurlock/status/1850267521372537087?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 26, 2024</a></p></blockquote>
<p><script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></p>
<p>Moreover, he ranks second on the team—trailing only <a href="https://oilersnation.com/news/4-interesting-facts-about-oilers-new-addition-vasily-podkolzin">Vasily Podkolzin</a>—with five hits per 60 minutes. Also, an emerging aspect of his game is his physicality in breaking up the cycle, as evidenced when he earned the &#8216;Hit of the Game&#8217; on the Sportsnet broadcast against Columbus.</p>
<p>That said, overall, the duo of Emberson and Kulak has formed good chemistry and advanced stats from <em>Natural Stat Trick</em> place them within top 10 in the league among defensive pairings in several categories. With a minimum of 50 minutes played together, they rank:</p>
<p>-3rd in the league in Scoring Chances for percentage at 67.07% (SCF%)<br />
-5th in the league in Shots For percentage at 61.54% (SF%)<br />
-5th in the league in Expected Goals for percentage at 74.08% (xGF%)<br />
-8th in the NHL in Corsi at 64.20% (CF%)<br />
-8th in the NHL in High-Danger Chances for percentage at 66.67% (HDCF%)</p>
<p>All in all, among players who aren’t bonafide staples on the Oilers&#8217; blue line, I feel Emberson has the highest ceiling at just 24 years old and is looking progressively comfortable out there—the Blue Jackets game aside. Let him continue developing on the third pair, with the potential to gradually increase his ice time as the season progresses.</p>
<h2>Vasily Podkolzin</h2>
<p>Don’t let Podkolzin’s single assist in 10 games deceive you; he’s adding value on the ice in ways that don’t always appear on the scoresheet.</p>
<p>The former 10th overall draft pick is leading the Oilers with 25 hits this season, and he’s using his solid frame to create space for his linemates, effectively protecting the puck and driving hard to the net—something the Oilers as a whole should be doing more with many players currently snake bit.</p>
<p>Podkolzin has spent most of the season on the fourth line but was elevated to <a href="https://oilersnation.com/news/oilers-game-notes-8-0-edmonton-looks-to-get-back-on-track-vs-sidney-crosby-and-the-penguins">the left side on the second line</a> with Leon Draisaitl against the Pittsburgh Penguins on October 25. This move was puzzling at first, as Jeff Skinner—who many had pencilled into that spot initially—was finally starting to develop a bit of chemistry with his centerman in the previous game against the Carolina Hurricanes.</p>
<p>However, you could call it a good hunch by head coach Kris Knoblauch, as Podkolzin’s elevation has mostly paid off. He picked up his first point in an Oilers uniform against Pittsburgh, assisting on <a href="https://oilersnation.com/news/the-day-after-8-0-viktor-arvidsson-arrives-and-so-does-the-oilers-offence">Evan Bouchard’s</a> booming goal. What went unnoticed in that entire sequence—where the Oilers controlled the puck before the goal—was that the Russian forward created havoc in front of the net, made space for his teammates, and then broke free to keep the play alive along the boards before making a pass and earning the assist. Additionally, he had seven high-danger scoring chances in that game, and with a few more bounces, he could have ended up with a two- or three-point night.</p>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="550" data-dnt="true">
<p lang="en" dir="ltr">Podkolzin led the Oilers with a 71.43 SCF% tonight.</p>
<p>He&#39;s been helping the 2nd line by using his big body to create space and an underrated part of his game is his ability to keep plays alive + getting the puck back into the hands of Draisaitl- which I think his centerman likes <a href="https://t.co/wEcfArIHFP">pic.twitter.com/wEcfArIHFP</a></p>
<p>&mdash; seanpangs (@seanpangs) <a href="https://twitter.com/seanpangs/status/1850743307640418631?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 28, 2024</a></p></blockquote>
<p><script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></p>
<p>In the next game <a href="https://oilersnation.com/news/the-day-after-9-0-birthday-boy-leon-draisaitl-does-it-all-as-oilers-beat-red-wings">against the Detroit Red Wings</a>, he continued his solid play on the second line, where his line controlled play, with the shots 8-2 in their favour at 5v5, and he looked at ease making plays and playing fetch with his linemates. That said, as I alluded to earlier, the game against the Blue Jackets was a total mess for the majority of the team. With <a href="https://oilersnation.com/news/oilers-fall-6-1-to-the-blue-jackets-but-all-anyone-cared-about-was-what-happened-to-connor-mcdavid">McDavid out of the lineup</a>, Podkolzin played with a mix of players and was shuffled up and down the lineup. Despite his team losing 6-1, he still posted a 2-0 edge in high-danger chances at 5v5.</p>
<p>Yet, it&#8217;s impressive to see where the 23-year-old ranks in several categories among all forwards in the NHL with a minimum of 50 minutes played at 5v5:</p>
<p>-2nd in the league in Corsi at 67.45% (CF%)<br />
-5th in Shots For percentage at 64.15% (SF%)<br />
-12th in Scoring Chances For percentage at 67.42% (SCF%)<br />
-14th in Expected Goals For percentage at 65.50% (xGF%)<br />
-18th in High Danger Chances For percentage at 68.57% (HDCF%)</p>
<p>Yes, I understand there’s a difference between being good with the fancy stats and actually contributing on the scoresheet, but the 6-foot-1 forward is creating momentum for his team by hitting and driving the puck to the net and he’s also keeping plays alive with smart, subtle moves with the puck and he&#8217;s also maintaining offensive zone time — these are all attributes Draisaitl likes in his wingers.</p>
<p>With McDavid out of the lineup for the foreseeable future, it’s uncertain who Podkolzin will play with. Perhaps he could emerge as a longer-term solution for the second line if he starts to produce points; after all, he<a href="https://oilersnation.com/news/getting-to-know-vasily-podkolzin-the-winger-the-oilers-acquired-from-the-canucks"> scored 14 goals in his rookie season</a> with the Vancouver Canucks. However, even if he only slightly improves from his current form—being a big body that can occasionally fill in the top six, create space, and keep plays alive—he would still represent good value for the intangibles he brings at $1 million a season.</p>
<p>With that in mind, what are your impressions of Emberson and Podkolzin&#8217;s play so far this season?</p>
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It felt like the Edmonton Oilers were building momentum overall—until the last game <a href="https://oilersnation.com/news/can-edmonton-oilers-survive-without-connor-mcdavid">when an early injury to Connor McDavid</a> against the Columbus Blue Jackets set them back. After their captain left the game, the team looked completely out of sync. Losing the best player in the world is a tough blow to recover from—and it showed in the 6-1 loss.

The positives aren’t exactly glaring after losing your captain and also <a href="https://publish.oilersnation.com/2024/10/29/oilers-fall-6-1-to-the-blue-jackets-but-all-anyone-cared-about-was-what-happened-to-connor-mcdavid/">getting shellacked by the Blue Jackets</a>, but heading into that game, newcomers Ty Emberson and Vasily Podkolzin had been trending in a promising direction despite recording just a single assist between them through the Oilers first ten games. If you judge them by points alone, their impact may seem underwhelming; however, below, we dive into some underlying stats to show how they’re contributing in other positive ways.
<h2>Ty Emberson</h2>
When the Oilers <a href="https://oilersnation.com/news/edmonton-oilers-trade-defenceman-cody-ceci-to-sharks-for-ty-emberson">traded Cody Ceci to the San Jose Sharks</a> in exchange for Emberson, many in the hockey world believed the 24-year-old could step into a second-pair role alongside Darnell Nurse from the get-go of the 2024-25 season.

Yet, that level of pressure seemed quite optimistic in hindsight. When considering the bigger picture, the expectation was for a young D-man with <a href="https://oilersnation.com/news/opportunity-knocks-this-upcoming-season-for-oilers-new-addition-ty-emberson">just 30 NHL games under his belt</a> before the season began to fill an important role on the blue line of a team that was only a save and a couple of goals away from winning the Stanley Cup last season. That’s a significant amount of pressure for anyone.

The result at the start of the season seemed to align with a more reasonable expectation. He started on the second pairing in <a href="https://oilersnation.com/news/instant-reaction-oilers-drop-season-opener-for-second-straight-year-lose-6-0-to-the-jets">the season opener against the Winnipeg Jets</a>, and he, along with the rest of his teammates, had a tough go. Emberson was on the ice for three goals against and was outshot 4-9 at 5v5 in the 6-0 defeat. In the next game against the Chicago Blackhawks, he was dropped to the third pairing with Brett Kulak and was on the ice for two goals against in another loss.

He's settled in since then, gradually looking more comfortable in his role on the third pairing. He’s played in eight of the team’s ten games, mostly with Kulak, and his defensive game has noticeably improved. Before the recent game against the Blue Jackets—where the whole team was a mess, likely shaken by <a href="https://oilersnation.com/news/edmonton-oilers-captain-connor-mcdavid-leaves-monday-game-with-lower-body-injury-after-first-shift">McDavid leaving early due to an injury</a>—that pairing posted 2GF and 1GA over the previous five games. However, they were on the ice for two goals against in the loss to Columbus, and the last one was likely due to the whole team being mentally clocked out already late in the game.

Additionally, Emberson has shown more poise with the puck over the last stretch of games and transitioning it better to his forwards, as highlighted by a series of posts by Oilersnation's Bruce Curlock below:

https://twitter.com/bcurlock/status/1850267521372537087

Moreover, he ranks second on the team—trailing only <a href="https://oilersnation.com/news/4-interesting-facts-about-oilers-new-addition-vasily-podkolzin">Vasily Podkolzin</a>—with five hits per 60 minutes. Also, an emerging aspect of his game is his physicality in breaking up the cycle, as evidenced when he earned the 'Hit of the Game' on the Sportsnet broadcast against Columbus.

That said, overall, the duo of Emberson and Kulak has formed good chemistry and advanced stats from <em>Natural Stat Trick</em> place them within top 10 in the league among defensive pairings in several categories. With a minimum of 50 minutes played together, they rank:

-3rd in the league in Scoring Chances for percentage at 67.07% (SCF%)
-5th in the league in Shots For percentage at 61.54% (SF%)
-5th in the league in Expected Goals for percentage at 74.08% (xGF%)
-8th in the NHL in Corsi at 64.20% (CF%)
-8th in the NHL in High-Danger Chances for percentage at 66.67% (HDCF%)

All in all, among players who aren’t bonafide staples on the Oilers' blue line, I feel Emberson has the highest ceiling at just 24 years old and is looking progressively comfortable out there—the Blue Jackets game aside. Let him continue developing on the third pair, with the potential to gradually increase his ice time as the season progresses.
<h2>Vasily Podkolzin</h2>
Don’t let Podkolzin’s single assist in 10 games deceive you; he’s adding value on the ice in ways that don’t always appear on the scoresheet.

The former 10th overall draft pick is leading the Oilers with 25 hits this season, and he’s using his solid frame to create space for his linemates, effectively protecting the puck and driving hard to the net—something the Oilers as a whole should be doing more with many players currently snake bit.

Podkolzin has spent most of the season on the fourth line but was elevated to <a href="https://oilersnation.com/news/oilers-game-notes-8-0-edmonton-looks-to-get-back-on-track-vs-sidney-crosby-and-the-penguins">the left side on the second line</a> with Leon Draisaitl against the Pittsburgh Penguins on October 25. This move was puzzling at first, as Jeff Skinner—who many had pencilled into that spot initially—was finally starting to develop a bit of chemistry with his centerman in the previous game against the Carolina Hurricanes.

However, you could call it a good hunch by head coach Kris Knoblauch, as Podkolzin’s elevation has mostly paid off. He picked up his first point in an Oilers uniform against Pittsburgh, assisting on <a href="https://oilersnation.com/news/the-day-after-8-0-viktor-arvidsson-arrives-and-so-does-the-oilers-offence">Evan Bouchard’s</a> booming goal. What went unnoticed in that entire sequence—where the Oilers controlled the puck before the goal—was that the Russian forward created havoc in front of the net, made space for his teammates, and then broke free to keep the play alive along the boards before making a pass and earning the assist. Additionally, he had seven high-danger scoring chances in that game, and with a few more bounces, he could have ended up with a two- or three-point night.

https://twitter.com/seanpangs/status/1850743307640418631

In the next game <a href="https://oilersnation.com/news/the-day-after-9-0-birthday-boy-leon-draisaitl-does-it-all-as-oilers-beat-red-wings">against the Detroit Red Wings</a>, he continued his solid play on the second line, where his line controlled play, with the shots 8-2 in their favour at 5v5, and he looked at ease making plays and playing fetch with his linemates. That said, as I alluded to earlier, the game against the Blue Jackets was a total mess for the majority of the team. With <a href="https://oilersnation.com/news/oilers-fall-6-1-to-the-blue-jackets-but-all-anyone-cared-about-was-what-happened-to-connor-mcdavid">McDavid out of the lineup</a>, Podkolzin played with a mix of players and was shuffled up and down the lineup. Despite his team losing 6-1, he still posted a 2-0 edge in high-danger chances at 5v5.

Yet, it's impressive to see where the 23-year-old ranks in several categories among all forwards in the NHL with a minimum of 50 minutes played at 5v5:

-2nd in the league in Corsi at 67.45% (CF%)
-5th in Shots For percentage at 64.15% (SF%)
-12th in Scoring Chances For percentage at 67.42% (SCF%)
-14th in Expected Goals For percentage at 65.50% (xGF%)
-18th in High Danger Chances For percentage at 68.57% (HDCF%)

Yes, I understand there’s a difference between being good with the fancy stats and actually contributing on the scoresheet, but the 6-foot-1 forward is creating momentum for his team by hitting and driving the puck to the net and he’s also keeping plays alive with smart, subtle moves with the puck and he's also maintaining offensive zone time — these are all attributes Draisaitl likes in his wingers.

With McDavid out of the lineup for the foreseeable future, it’s uncertain who Podkolzin will play with. Perhaps he could emerge as a longer-term solution for the second line if he starts to produce points; after all, he<a href="https://oilersnation.com/news/getting-to-know-vasily-podkolzin-the-winger-the-oilers-acquired-from-the-canucks"> scored 14 goals in his rookie season</a> with the Vancouver Canucks. However, even if he only slightly improves from his current form—being a big body that can occasionally fill in the top six, create space, and keep plays alive—he would still represent good value for the intangibles he brings at $1 million a season.

With that in mind, what are your impressions of Emberson and Podkolzin's play so far this season?
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