‘I had two methods to go. Hand over or work. And it was good for me to get some AHL video games to recollect who you’re and begin appreciating.’ — Vasily Podkolzin on Abbotsford demotion.
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We’re wanting again on the 2022-23 Vancouver Canucks with a spotlight as we speak on Vasily Podkolzin. Within the coming weeks, we’re breaking down the season and looking at how participant conditions undertaking going into 2023-24.
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Vasily Podkolzin
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Age: 21.
Place: Left wing. Proper wing.
Profession stats: GP: 118. G: 18. A: 15. Pts: 33.
Contract standing: Closing yr of three-year, two-way, US$5.325 million contract signed with Canucks on Might 30, 2021. Annual wage cap hit is $925,000 at NHL stage.
Expiry standing: Restricted free agent.
Vasily Podkolzin is an animal.
The Vancouver Canucks winger was labelled a moose and a bull this Nationwide Hockey League season by head coach Rick Tocchet. There have been indicators that he might flip right into a menacing Russian bear subsequent fall, if bettering facets of his sport are extra seen regularly.
For now, Podkolzin is a wounded beast with a wonky left wrist.
He was injured March 25 in Dallas whereas blocking a shot with 11:07 remaining within the third interval to assist protect a 3-1 victory over the Stars to stretch the Canucks’ success streak to 9 wins in 11 video games.
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The excellent news was the 21-year-old Moscow native gained confidence in being deployed to discourage the Stars. The dangerous information was he missed the ultimate 10 video games of the common season with the harm. And when dispatched to Abbotsford for the American Hockey League playoffs, he practised however didn’t play.
And when he did take pictures, they had been neither heavy nor correct.
“He was getting nearer,” Abbotsford common supervisor Ryan Johnson mentioned Tuesday. “We’d have beloved for him to expertise what our different gamers went via.
“Have a look at Nils Hoglander. What he skilled in playoff hockey with how laborious it was with the nastiness and compete and the combat, I might have beloved to have Pods expertise that as nicely.
“Watching these guys battle will give him a special outlook going into the summer season. I count on huge issues from him at coaching camp.”
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So long as that wrist heals and doesn’t have an effect on his shot and battle stage — Elias Pettersson and Brock Boeser have had adventures with the same ailment — then the beast must be again with some snarl.
“When he strikes his toes, he’s actually a bull,” mentioned Tocchet. “The place he and a few of our younger guys get in hassle is with reads, however I prefer to get Podkolzin on the market in sure conditions.”
That’s good as a result of Podkolzin wants to point out one thing. He had however seven factors (4-3) in 39 NHL video games this season, with simply 41 pictures and a 9.8 taking pictures proportion.
How 2022-23 went: Sophomore droop, AHL bump
After a powerful NHL rookie marketing campaign with 26 factors (14-12) in 79 video games, he hit the wall. With simply three assists in 16 video games to begin this season — together with six wholesome scratches — he was shipped to fishing college in Abbotsford on Nov. 28.
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“The primary two weeks had been actually laborious,” Podkolzin instructed Postmedia. “You begin considering an excessive amount of. What ought to I do? What’s occurring? I had two methods to go. Hand over or work. And it was good for me to get some AHL video games to recollect who you’re and begin appreciating.”
With participant improvement tutelage from Henrik and Daniel Sedin, he received a fast grip what it means to be a consummate skilled every single day, not just a few days.
It resulted in 18 factors (7-11) in 28 video games and a Canucks recall in early February to maintain listening and studying and be accountable like he was that night time in Dallas.
“There have been two minutes left within the sport and the puck got here across the wall and he reverse-pinched a man and received the puck out with them urgent on us,” recalled Tocchet.
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Two nights earlier, Podkolzin took a go at pace within the impartial zone, deked a defender after which ripped dwelling a glove-side shot from the slot in a 7-2 romp of the San Jose Sharks.
How the long run seems to be: The knock of alternative
The Canucks have a glut of wingers, are salary-cap challenged, and must play a heavier sport on the within and dominate board battles. For the 6-foot-1, 190 pound Podkolzin, that must be music to his ears as a result of he has been teased at as being laborious to play in opposition to.
With the way forward for Conor Garland, 27, and Brock Boeser, 26, in fixed debate — the Canucks might making an attempt to unload Garland’s wage that has three extra years at an annual US$4.95 million cap hit — there might be a brand new strategy to wing it for Podkolzin amid competitors.
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Ilya Mikheyev returns from knee surgical procedure, Anthony Beauvillier wants consistency, Vitali Kravtsov must to seek out his sport, Hoglander will attempt to be a presence and Jack Studnicka might be an additional ahead.
Best strengths: Scored 14 objectives as a rookie. Measurement and pace excite teaching employees about being good in all zones.
Best weak spot: Consistency. Can’t be gaps in sport consciousness and energy.
Is he commerce bait?: No. He’s a part of the long run, not the previous.
The massive query: Is there 20-goal potential?
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Originally posted 2023-05-10 21:48:55.
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