Oilers acquire Vasily Podkolzin from Canucks in exchange for 2025 fourth-round pick

The Edmonton Oilers acquired forward Vasily Podkolzin from the Vancouver Canucks in exchange for a 2025 fourth-round draft pick that was previously acquired from the Ottawa Senators, the teams announced Sunday.

🔁 TRADE 🔁

The #Oilers have acquired forward Vasily Podkolzin from Vancouver in exchange for a 2025 fourth-round draft pick that was originally acquired from Ottawa.#LetsGoOilers pic.twitter.com/kS8aHMDpOl

— Edmonton Oilers (@EdmontonOilers) August 18, 2024

Podkolzin, 23, appeared in 137 career regular-season games with the NHL club and recorded 18 goals and 35 points, including two points in 19 games last season. The Canucks drafted Podkolzin with the No. 10 pick in the 2019 NHL Draft.

The Oilers obtained the Senators’ 2025 fourth-round pick along with forward Roby Jarventie in July for forwards Xavier Bourgault and Jake Chiasson.

Edmonton must also decide ahead of Tuesday morning whether to match offer sheets tendered to defenseman Philip Broberg and forward Dylan Holloway by the St. Louis Blues last Tuesday.

What the Oilers are getting in Podkolzin

Podkolzin has a strong, athletic frame, a high work rate and embraced a more physical role as he notched 71 hits in the 19 NHL games that he played last season. Those tools could help him develop into a useful bottom-six energy forward, but he struggled to carve out a distinct role/identity with the Canucks.

Offensively, he’s produced at a pedestrian rate in the AHL and has only scored nine points in his last 59 NHL games. If a bottom-six forward can’t contribute offensively, they need to provide defensive value and that’s where Podkolzin failed to gain Rick Tocchet’s trust.

Can a fresh start help Podkolzin hit the reset button on his confidence? That will be an intriguing angle to follow because Podkolzin appeared to lose confidence at times in Vancouver. Podkolzin plays timid and slow — as if he’s overthinking every play — when he lacks belief in himself or doesn’t feel trusted. When he’s feeling confident, he trusts his reads, puckhandling and plays a fast, assertive, physical style that could make him an effective NHL grinder. — Harman Dayal, Canucks staff writer

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(Photo: Ronald Martinez / Getty Images)