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Former Canuck Vasily Podkolzin has more than found a home in Edmonton

Photo credit: Bob Frid-Imagn Images

By Arielle Lalande

Nov 7, 2026, 18:30 ESTUpdated: Nov 7, 2026, 18:31 EST

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The Vancouver Canucks are set to face off against the Edmonton Oilers for the third time this season on Saturday night, with some familiar faces once again expected to be in the lineup.

Former Canuck Vasily Podkolzin has spent a little over two years with the Oilers since he was traded in August 2024 in exchange for a fourth-round pick in the 2025 NHL Draft. In that time, the Russian forward has reached new heights in his game.

To put his growth in perspective, the Canucks selected Podkolzin 10th overall in 2019, and between 2021 and 2024, he played 137 regular-season games with Vancouver and 72 with Abbotsford. He had a fantastic rookie season, scoring 26 points (14G, 12A) in 79 games, but struggled to produce and make the NHL lineup full-time thereafter. He is now 25, has had two straight seasons of career-high point-scoring, and is set to have another career year after an explosive start to the 2026-27 season.

Vasily Podkolzin’s Points Per Season as an Oiler

2024-25 (82 GP): 24 (8 G, 16A)
2025-26 (82 GP): 37 (19G, 18A)
2026-27 (17 GP): 14 (9G, 5A)

The Canucks front office, under Jim Rutherford and Patrik Allvin, chose to move on from Podkolzin rather than try to fit him into Rick Tocchet’s coaching system. Needless to say, this choice has aged poorly, but it would be lessened if the Canucks had anything left to show from the deal. The fourth-round pick involved in the trade was originally from the Ottawa Senators and was sent to Edmonton, who then proceeded to play some ping-pong with the pick with Vancouver. The Oilers sent it to Vancouver for Podkolzin in the 2024 offseason, and Vancouver sent it right back to Edmonton days before the 2025 draft for veteran forward Evander Kane.

So, the Canucks, ostensibly, gave up Vasily Podkolzin in exchange for Evander Kane’s mediocre play – Kane closed out his time in Vancouver this year with little fanfare and recently shared his intentions to depart North America for the KHL – and nothing else.

Heading into Saturday night, the Oilers are growing antsy after losing two straight games. The last two times these teams met in back-to-back games to launch the season, the Canucks beat the Oilers 6-5 in Edmonton’s home opener, and the Oilers responded by beating Vancouver 9-7 in their home opener two days later.

Needless to say, the matchup is set to be intense. “Intense” can also describe Podkolzin’s rise on the Oilers.

Just this week, Podkolzin made hockey headlines after he was ejected from Edmonton’s most recent game against the Anaheim Ducks. Podkolzin received a five-minute fighting major, a two-minute instigation minor, a game misconduct, and a rare “one-man fight” referee comment for retaliating against Anaheim’s Drew Helleson after a nasty-looking hit on Podkolzin’s linemate and captain Connor McDavid. And retaliate, he sure did. Looks like Podkolzin can add “enforcer” to his resume right underneath “first-line power forward.”

McDavid supported Podkolzin in his postgame comments. “I’ve never seen that call before,” said McDavid. “Obviously, I appreciated the response from Podzy. As I said, I thought it was an unfortunate call…Podzy’s always been that guy for us. He’s, you know, always responded, and guys love him for it. He’s loved in our room.”

That’s a strong endorsement from one of the most prominent players in hockey.

How Podkolzin worked his way into becoming a first-line player

On Friday, Daily Faceoff Edmonton’s Tyler Yaremchuk joined David Quadrelli and Harman Dayal on West Coast Conversation and unpacked Podkolzin’s major progress since he arrived in Edmonton, his process, and his elevation to the first line next to McDavid and Leon Draisaitl.

“It’s been awesome just to see his development…this wasn’t an instant smashing success…that first year there were some growing pains, but you saw a guy that had a lot of skill and seemed pretty committed to doing things the right way.”

Yaremchuk pointed to skills coach Ned Lukacevic, with whom Podkolzin has worked during the offseason on the details that can make or break a winger’s success at the NHL level – building confidence with shooting the puck and winning board battles, especially.

“Because he worked on all those little things and learned how to play with Connor and Leon, he’s a lock to stay on their line…he’s been awesome to watch; he’s an absolute fan favourite. You go to Rogers Place, you see a ton of Vasily Podkolzin jerseys. He’s just easy to root for.”

Podkolzin once again becoming a favourite of fans and teammates alike matters more than some might think. Podkolzin had his moments as a Canuck – whether it’s the famous story of how he, still learning English, and Quinn Hughes, a native English speaker, both struggled to comprehend the Dune film adaptation, how he welcomed his first child while in Vancouver, or how he found out he was traded while he and his wife were en route to IKEA to furnish their new Vancouver apartment. He was sent packing just as he seemed to finally be settling into the city and the team culture. But perhaps the change in scenery and opportunity to play in Stanley Cup Final games has allowed him to emerge as a legitimate top-six player in ways that would not have been possible had he remained in Vancouver. It’s impossible to say for certain.

The more Podkolzin continues to grow, the more questionable his trade out of Vancouver becomes. Hindsight is 20/20, but Podkolzin’s trade even garnered some criticism at the time for jumping the gun on moving a young Russian player still adjusting to the NHL and North America. Even with the Canucks in a full rebuild, Podkolzin in his current state could have fetched a decent return package for Vancouver – or at least been a solid piece on a young team that is struggling to string together wins at the moment.

Ultimately, the hypotheticals of what Podkolzin’s future would have looked like in Vancouver are endless, but to his credit, he has been able to flourish elsewhere in the Pacific Division.

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