Fighting and the Edmonton Oilers have gone together like PB and J to begin the 2024/25 season. The Oilers are now 5-0 when fighting and haven’t won a game when they haven’t.
Unexpectedly, Troy Stecher was the first to drop the mitts in a spirited tilt with Sean Couturier. From there, Darnell Nurse and Corey Perry have carried the bulk of the load.
Two fights occurred last night against the Nashville Predators, with Ty Emberson taking on Cole Smith for his first NHL fight. However, while that tilt was a fun one, it wasn’t the one that got fans in Edmonton talking. Later in the game, Jeremy Lauzon took exception to Vasily Podkolzin’s physicality by challenging the young Russian to a fight.
Lauzon is no stranger to dropping the gloves going up against Nicolas Deslauriers, Sam Carrick and Radko Gudas last season, to name a few. On the flip said, Podkolzin isn’t as experienced in the role. The Oilers forward did fight former Edmonton prospect Raphael Lavoie last season but his only NHL fight came in 2022 against AJ Greer. He was able to hang in there but the judges would definitely give Greer the win in that contest.
After watching Podkolzin take on Lauzon last night, it’s safe to say he’s learned a thing or two. Lauzon got the first few shots in, but Podkolzin fought through the punches and landed a huge shot square into the Predators’ defenceman’s face knocking him to the ice. Oilers fans loved seeing that power from Podkolzin, who is quickly becoming a fan favourite in Oil Country.
Klim Kostin was a young unproven talent that came into Edmonton and won over the city with his physicality and personality. Brett Jeffrey put it out on X stating: “Podkolzin is the new Kostin.” To prove how much this city loved Kostin too, many of the comments from that post are about the former Oiler returning next summer as a free agent despite not having a point for San Jose this season.
The Nation staff loved to see the tilt from Baggedmilk saying: “Vasily Podkolzin just killed a man. Wow. What a scrap,” and Zach Laing asking the ultimate question, “Was that Vasily Podkolzin or Dave Semenko? My god.”
Podkolzin even had Bob Stauffer tweeting about him: “Vasily Podkolzin lands a bomb!” Jeff Marek posted on X too, saying: “Secret’s out about Podkolzin now.“
My favourite post of the night came from Soups on Hockey, who said: “Can’t spell Podkolzin without KO.”
Podkolzin was able to contribute offensively last night too, picking up an assist on Viktor Arvidsson’s opening goal. He’s still looking to find the back of the net himself but there’s no doubt the effort is there every night with him. For only $1 million, the Oilers may have found themselves a quality top-six player.
