If Russia were eligible to play in the 2026 Olympics, Vasily Podkolzin would have a strong case to make the team.

Among Russian players, he is tied with Alex Ovechkin and Kirill Kaprizov for the second most five-on-five goals with nine, with Ivan Barbashev (10) just ahead. Podkolzin is +11 at five-on-five (29-18), and he’s been on the ice for more goals for than any Russian forward.

Only Ovechkin (27-14) has a better GF% (65.8 percent) and is +13. Podkolzin has always been a relentless forechecker and responsible defensive player, but he’s worked diligently on improving his offensive play, and the results are coming.

Podkolzin has five goals in his last seven games playing beside Leon Draisaitl, the newest member of the 1,000-point club. Draisaitl loves playing with Podkolzin because he’s excellent at retrieving pucks, is physical, reliable defensively, and Podkolzin doesn’t give the puck away often.

Podkolzin leads the Oilers in hits with 102, followed by Trent Frederic (86), Darnell Nurse (48), Ty Emberson (41) and Curtis Lazar (35). Podkolzin is responsible for setting the tone physically in most games, but he’s much more than a hitter. He’s dogged on pucks. He’s excellent at pressuring the opposition into making bad passes and creating turnovers, but the biggest improvement we are seeing now is his offensive finish.

The Vancouver Canucks drafted Podkolzin 10th overall in 2019. He was a consensus top-10 pick among all of the draft prospect rankings, so this wasn’t a reach by the Canucks. Podkolzin spent two more seasons in Russia before debuting in the NHL as a 20-year-old with Vancouver. He has a solid rookie campaign, scoring 14 goals and 26 points while averaging 12:48 time on ice per game. The next two seasons, he split time between the NHL and AHL. He produced only four goals and nine points in 58 NHL games and 22 goals and 48 points in 72 AHL games. He and then-Canucks head coach Rick Tocchet didn’t see eye-to-eye and Stan Bowman acquired Podkolzin from Vancouver for a fourth-round pick late in the summer of 2024.

Podkolzin had a solid first year with the Oilers. His consistent effort and work ethic, along with his reliable defensive play, earned him a spot on Draisaitl’s left wing. Podkolzin didn’t produce much offence, however, scoring only 8-16-24. He played over half the season with Draisaitl, because of his forechecking prowess and ability to get Draisaitl the puck. But Podkolzin and the Oilers wanted more from him offensively.

“I worked on my offensive skills the most,” Podkolzin said in training camp earlier this season in regard to his off-season training. And he has continued to work on it during the season. Podkolzin is often the first player on the ice before practice. There are days I’ve seen him on the ice 20-30 minutes before practice starts working with skills coach Conor Allen. And other days I’ve seen Podkolzin working with Draisaitl after practice on his one-timer or taking shots from sharp angles like Draisaitl does.

Podkolzin scored eight goals in 82 games last season, but he’s already surpassed that with nine in 34 games and is on pace for 21 goals. Only 39 forwards in the NHL have nine five-on-five goals this season and Podkolzin is one of only 24 wingers who have nine goals at five-on-five. He’s starting to produce like a legit top six winger while still developing his game and he’s one of the best value contracts in the NHL this season with a $1m AAV. Next year when his salary moves up to $2.95m he would still be a bargain.

Podkolzin’s desire to improve combined with his endless work ethic before and after practice is allowing the Oilers to have a second line forward develop internally. It is something they’ve needed for a long time.

— Matt Savoie has five goals and seven points in his last 11 games. He had two goals and five points in the first 23 games, but like Podkolzin he is staring to find his offensive confidence. Savoie has played quite well all season, he just wasn’t producing much, but you can see his confidence with the puck has increased recently. Since being put together as a line the past few weeks, Savoie, Podkolzin and Draisaitl have outscored opponents 5-0 and outshot them 42-28 at five-on-five.

— Connor McDavid has 20 points in his last seven games. In that time, he’s gained eight points on Nathan MacKinnon and is now two back of him. This is the seventh time McDavid has scored 20 points in seven games, although two of those times included some overlapping. The last time he did it was between January 25th to February 15th, 2024. Remember earlier this season, even earlier this month, when some claimed McDavid was starting to slow down? I warned them it was a premature claim.

— The most points McDavid has produced in a 10-game span was 29 between April 19th and May 8th, 2021. He’s had 12 situations where he’s had 25+ points over a 10-game span, but seven of those were overlapping meaning they would overlap. For instance, April 21st to May 10th, 2021, he had 28 points and on April 17th to May 6th he had 27 points.

But he’s done it five separate times, including three different 10-games stretches with no overlapping in 2023-24 where he had 25+ points in 10 games. He could make it six this season with five points in his next three games against Boston, Minnesota and Vegas.

— Boston is 7-3 in its last 10 games and sit in second place in the Atlantic division. They are similar to the Oilers in they score a lot but give up a lot of goals. Edmonton ranks third in GF/GP at 3.41 while Boston is seventh at 3.26. The Oilers are 28th in GA/GP at 3.41 and Boston is 20th at 3.12.

In their last 10 games the Bruins are averaging 3.70 GF/GP and 2.90 GA/GP, while Edmonton averages 4.20 GF/GP and 3.10 GA/GP. We could see lots of offense tonight.

— Morgan Geekie continues to have an excellent season and sits second in the NHL with 24 goals. It is wild to see him have almost twice as many goals as David Pastrnak (13). Pastrnak leads the Bruins with 38 points while Geekie has 37. Geekie has been the sniper on their line so far this season.

— The Bruins are a physical team. They rank third in the NHL in hits, while the Oilers are 30th. Edmonton hasn’t been physical in the regular season for years, it isn’t their identity, but in the playoffs, they’ve shown they will increase their physicality. I wonder if they do tonight.

— Here’s a quick table outlining the different styles of play.

The Oilers haven’t had more than 25 hits in a game this season. I don’t expect them to suddenly change their style of play, but I do think it would help adding another physical forward with skill.

RNH – McDavid – Hyman
Podkolzin – Draisaitl – Savoie
Janmark – Henrique – Mangiapane
Jones – Frederic – Hutson

Ekholm – Bouchard
Nurse – Stastney
Stillman – Emberson

Jarry

The Oilers have made a few lineup changes. Max Jones will draw in for Curtis Lazar which means Trent Frederic will play centre, while Riley Stillman might play his first game as an Oiler. Alec Regula didn’t skate this morning and Spencer Stastney skated with Nurse, while Still man skated with Ty Emberson. It would be Stilman’s 164th NHL game, but only his sixth in the past three seasons. He’ll be amped up. Meanwhile, Jones and Frederic came to Edmonton from Boston in a trade last season and maybe a game against his former team will give Frederic the boost he is looking for.

Pastrnak-Lindholm-Geekie
Mittelstadt-Zacha-Khusnutdinov
Steeves-Minten-Eyssimont
Jeannot-Kuraly-Kastelic

Zadorov-McAvoy
Lindholm-Peeke
Lohrei-Soderstrom

Swayman

Swayman had an okay start, but since November 1st he’s been excellent going 11-4 with a .920Sv% and 2.42 GAA. The Bruins are getting good contributions throughout their lineup. They have nine forwards with 6+ goals and all are on pace for 15: Geekier (24), Pastrnak (13), Zacha and Mittelstadt (8), Arvidsson and Steeves (7), Eyssimont, Kastelic and Minten (6). Arvidsson is banged up again and will miss his third consecutive game and 10th of the season.

GAME DAY PREDICTION: Oilers continue their trend of win two, lose one. They win 4-3.

OBVIOUS GAME DAY PREDICTION: McDavid continues his heater and has his eighth multi-point game in the past 10 games.

NOT-SO-OBVIOUS GAME DAY PREDICTION: Trent Frederic scores against his former team.

DAY 14: Package #1: Catered 5-course meal with Jason Strudwick and Jason Gregor at your home

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