Vasili Podkolzin was kept off the scoresheet but he looked tenacious (Video included)

As the KHL season comes closer to the beginning, the competition is heating up and Vasili Podkolzin is shining for his KHL team.

Podkolzin and SKA played in a Champions Cup game against Metallurg Mg on Saturday morning (Saturday night in Russia). This game featured some fans in the stands even with news of a COVID-19 death in the KHL just hours before puck drop.

I’m not sure what the KHL is going to do to deal with the COVID-19 situation as we also heard that Nikita Tryamkin’s coach Bill Peters contracted the virus earlier in the week.

As for Podkolzin, he came out of the gate firing. He had a scoring chance on his first shift of the game. Podkolzin deked past two defenders before making a power move to the net that almost resulted in a goal.

Podkolzin went back to one of his power forward moves later in the period before sending the puck towards the net once he noticed he was in too deep. Early exampled of Podkolzin’s game is showing that he is more confident in his strength this season. He will lean on defenders more and trust that he has the speed and strength to get into scoring positions.

You see him use his strength on the powerplay a lot when he is battling for position. Now we are seeing more and more of these power moves to the net at even strength and that should excite Canucks fans.

The most noticeable thing about Podkolzin on Saturday was his motor. His coach called a timeout when they went down 4-1 and Podkolzin immediately responded.

He came out with so much energy on this shift and was all over the play. If you can’t spot number 92, just keep your eyes on the most active player in a blue jersey. He backchecks with 110% effort, then comes in flying to aid on the forecheck and finished with what looked like a tipped puck on net.

He looked very quick on the big ice on Saturday. Always skating with authority and getting in hard on forechecks. The more and more I watch of this kid makes me think a good NHL comparable for Podkolzin is a winger version of Ryan Kesler.

Podkolzin is in the opponent’s face with so much speed it just makes me think of the havoc that Kesler used to wreak while forechecking. Podkolzin has the stick skills of an elite player and that is something that he may be better than Kesler at. Kesler was pretty good with his hands in tight but Podkolzin looks a lot tighter when handling the puck. Another noticeable comparison is how he does never backs down from any type of physicality. Even if it is away from the puck.

Here’s an example of Podkolzin not backing down from a battle on the boards and even adding some extra stuff as the play went down the ice.

This might have been my favourite run of events in this game for Podkolzin. Keep an eye on him behind the play mixing it up with the larger opponent.

It seems like he’s got a lot of confidence like Kesler too. We will see how he acts as the season goes on. I think we may also begin to see the “Pod Stare” as a regular occurrence.

Podkolzin was not used on either powerplay unit on Saturday. A place where he reminds me of Kesler the most actually. I’ve waxed on about his powerplay game in the past and I have some video included in this article if you want to read about why I love him on the powerplay.

As I’ve mentioned, the thing that stuck out in his game was his quickness and tenacious forechecking. His coach would go on to trust him late in the game when his team pulled their goalie. We saw a bit of time shorthanded and Podkolzin was scored on during that. He was also on the ice for a 5-on-5 goal against in the second period.

Neither goal was really his fault at all.

As you can see here, he first clears the puck and then is all over the puck as he tried to retrieve it once again. The defenceman gets off a quick shot and it’s redirected in.

In the end, he played another great game for his KHL team in preseason action. The preseason has looked like a success for Podkolzon so far and hopefully, his effort level has left an impression on the coaching staff. It was unfortunate to not see him on either powerplay units, but that will come. He was kept off the scoresheet on Saturday but he looked good on most of his shifts.

He’s making positive steps to becoming an NHLer very soon.

We will continue to follow Podkolzin throughout the preseason action with continued coverage when the KHL regular season begins in just two weeks.