The Vancouver Canucks have traded 23 year old forward Vasily Podkolzin to the Edmonton Oilers in exchange for a 2025 fourth-round draft pick the clubs announced.
The pick, which originally belonged to the Ottawa Senators, was acquired alongside Roby Jarventie in an earlier trade for Xavier Bourgault and Jake Chiasson.
“We would like to thank Vasily for his time here with the Canucks,” said GM Patrik Allvin in a prepared statement. “Podz put in a lot of work both on and off the ice and we wish him all the best in Edmonton.”
Podkolzin split time between Vancouver and their AHL affiliate in Abbotsford last season. At the NHL level he’s seen his production dip since joining the team in 2021-22 where he appeared in 79 games, scoring 14 goals and adding 12 assists along the way.
Since then the Moscow native posted 7 points across 39 games in 2022-23, and 2 points across 19 contests last year. Podkolzin did however rediscover his scoring touch to a degree in the AHL ranks, notching 15 goals to go along with 13 helpers in 44 games.
Originally selected 10th overall by Vancouver in the 2019 NHL Entry Draft, Podkolzin projected as top 6 producer at the NHL ranks following a solid junior career in Russia. However, given Edmonton’s existing roster construction, the 6’1″ winger could see a bottom 6 role in Edmonton, or begin the year in the AHL while the gets used to his new surroundings.
The deal comes on the heels of the St. Louis Blues sending two offer sheets to restricted free agents Dylan Holloway and Philip Broberg. The offers opened a 7 day window where Edmonton could either match or receive draft compensation from St. Louis, though it remains unclear which path the Oilers will ultimately choose.
Many outlets have already reported that Edmonton has been actively shopping some of their veteran pieces to free up cap space. However, with no takers to date, and the 7 day window coming to a close this week, a decision will need to be made sooner rather than later.
The acquisition of Podkolzin does little to shed light on which direction the Oilers could be leaning, as no salary is heading out west to Vancouver in the deal. Those who want to really try to read between the lines could say by acquiring the Russian forward, the club is insulating itself to potentially lose Holloway. However that remains pure speculation at this point.
Whatever occurs, this is likely just a precursor to a larger domino falling over the next few days, and at a minimum provides Edmonton with another young talent in their system.
Photo: Jenn G. This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 Generic license.