Edmonton Oilers forward Vasily Podkolzin hosted a Thanksgiving dinner with the Russian players on the Philadelphia Flyers on Monday.

Matvei Michkov, Ivan Fedotov, and Egor Zamula are in town during the Flyers’ Western Canada road trip, which makes a stop in Edmonton as the two teams are set to square off later tonight. The three players must have felt homesick given they were on the road during the holiday weekend, so Podkolzin opted to have them over for Thanksgiving.

A gesture like this shows the type of person the recently acquired forward is because Podkolzin decided to go out of his way to invite some of his fellow countrymen over for dinner, even if they were going to be his opponents the following night. It is also a way to help Michkov and Fedotov feel more comfortable in North America given the two of them are in their rookie seasons and having spent the past few years on the other side of the pond.

The start of the 2024-25 campaign has not been kind to Podkolzin and the Oilers as he has gone scoreless through the first three games and his team has not come close to recording their first win of the regular season. The 23-year-old forward was seen on the second line at the morning skate with Ryan Nugent-Hopkins and Viktor Arvidsson so the opportunity is there for him to get on the scoresheet for the first time this campaign.

Originally selected 10th overall in the 2019 Draft by the Vancouver Canucks, things have not quite panned out for the Russian forward so far in his career. Podkolzin has bounced back and forth between the NHL and AHL in his three years with the organization, where he put up 25 points (18 goals and 17 assists) in 140 games with the Canucks.

Podkolzin was acquired by the Oilers this past offseason in exchange for a 2025 fourth-round pick, which was seen as a way to fill the void left by Dylan Holloway who was offersheeted by the Blues. He is on the first year of a two-year contract with an AAV of $1 million that he inked with Vancouver before his move to Edmonton.