{"id":677494,"date":"2026-10-03T07:36:24","date_gmt":"2026-10-03T07:36:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/677494\/"},"modified":"2026-10-03T07:36:24","modified_gmt":"2026-10-03T07:36:24","slug":"oilers-vasily-podkolzin-is-off-to-a-hot-start-and-it-comes-as-no-surprise","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/677494\/","title":{"rendered":"Oilers\u2019 Vasily Podkolzin is off to a hot start and it comes as no surprise"},"content":{"rendered":"

When the Edmonton Oilers\u2019 schedule<\/a> was released for the 2026-27 season, Vasily Podkolzin\u2019s eyes must\u2019ve lit up.He was probably excited to see that the first two games of the season were against his former team, the Vancouver Canucks<\/a>, because he was likely eager to show them all the skills he worked on this past summer. And after two games, you can already see the impact of that off-season work. And boy, did he, as he put up three goals, four points and a team-leading 11 shots on goal on the Canucks.That said, most of you know I\u2019ve been in talks with Podkolzin\u2019s skills coach, Ned Lukacevic<\/a>, and I may have mentioned that one too many times, to the point where the fellas on \u2018PreGaming<\/a>,\u2019 Aaron Bordato and Michael Menzies, have turned it into a drinking game whenever I mention Ned\u2019s name.But when I talked with Lukacevic in August<\/a> about his off-season training sessions with Podkolzin, he shared the type of drills they worked on. There were three things they focused on: using the Power Edge Pro training aid to work on agility, doing a lot of wall work, and working on picking up pucks quickly.<\/p>\n

They also worked on shooting drills and what he called \u201cHyman-esque\u201d drills, both of which are skills that have stood out in Podkolzin\u2019s play through two games.<\/p>\n

Ned Lukacevic sent me a peek at him and Vasily Podkolzin working on one-timers.<\/p>\n

Nobody does it quite like Draisaitl from his office, but perhaps Podkolzin could give the Oilers another option on PP2 from that spot.<\/p>\n

Regarding the shooting drills, Lukacevic said they not only worked on shooting in general, but they put a lot of work into shooting one-timers. He mentioned that Podkolzin focused on shooting the puck like Leon Draisaitl<\/a>, not the full wind-ups, but the quick snapshots, emulating him to the point of even holding his stick like his centreman.That said, Podkolzin hasn\u2019t buried one off a one-timer yet, but that repetition of doing shot after shot paid off in the season opener. He received a pass from Draisaitl with under a minute left in the game and quickly unleashed a laser that beat Kevin Lankinen to tie it<\/a> and send the game to overtime.<\/p>\n

ROGERS PLACE ERUPTS AS VASILY PODKOLZIN TIES THE GAME 5-5!!<\/p>\n

As a side note, when that goal went in and Rogers Place went wild, I was so excited for him, knowing how much work he\u2019d put in. Also, based on the insight I\u2019ve gathered from Lukacevic about how important confidence is for \u2018Pods\u2019, I couldn\u2019t help but think that tally had to have been huge for him mentally.<\/p>\n

The \u201cHyman-esque\u201d drills are paying off earlyPodkolzin once said that if there\u2019s a player he\u2019d like to be like five years from now, it\u2019d be his teammate Zach Hyman<\/a>.<\/p>\n

And the Muscle from Moscow took a step toward that goal, as mentioned, by working on \u201cHyman-esque\u201d drills this past summer.<\/p>\n

Lukacevic shared those details, saying<\/a>, \u201cWe did a lot of work on wall play and down-low play. Very Zach-Hyman-esque type of work. So with that, we worked on a lot of deflections, a lot of tips, and working in the tight areas.\u201d He added that it was Podkolzin who specifically referred to those drills as \u201cHyman-esque,\u201d and those hours of work have already translated to the scoresheet.In the first game, Podkolzin\u2019s first goal came from parking his body at the side of the net and redirecting the puck past Lankinen. Then, before the second game of the season, news broke that Hyman would be out of the lineup due to injury<\/a>, which opened the door for Podkolzin to showcase his net-front work on the power play, and he didn\u2019t disappoint, doing his best Hyman impression later that night.<\/p>\n

Podkolzin\u2019s offseason work continues to pay off.<\/p>\n

His skills coach, Ned Lukacevic, sent me these videos of Podkolzin working on \u201cHyman-like drills.\u201d<\/p>\n

And then, fittingly, Podkolzin did his best Hyman impression with his first-period goal on the power play.<\/p>\n

On the Oilers\u2019 second power play of the evening, the Oilers\u2019 forward set up shop in front of the net; Kasperi Kapanen<\/a> found him in tight, and the Moscow native buried his third goal of the season in a nearly identical fashion to what he and Lukacevic worked on in August. And he almost had another one a couple of minutes later, ringing one off the post, before picking up an assist on Draisaitl\u2019s power-play goal<\/a> in the third period.Ned Lukacevic shares his thoughts on PodkolzinAfter last game, I caught up with Lukacevic and asked him what he thought of Podkolzin\u2019s hot start<\/a>. He mentioned:<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s incredible, just incredible. His hard work is paying off. He put in the work this past summer, and kudos to him for getting off to a great start. And if I know Pods, he\u2019ll keep working hard to continue his opportunity playing with those two guys [McDavid and Draisaitl].\u201d<\/p>\n

I also asked him what he\u2019s noticed from Podkolzin this season compared to last season, as well as how he feels the Oilers forward has looked on the power play:<\/p>\n

\u201cThe difference I\u2019m seeing this season, two games in, in comparison to last season, is that he has that killer instinct.<\/p>\n

And he also has confidence. But I\u2019ve always said this. Even though he has confidence, he\u2019s still as humble as they come. And he knows that regardless of how well he\u2019s playing today and that the puck is going in, he still knows that he has to get better every single day.<\/p>\n

First game, he played good. Second game, even better. Next game? Keep growing.<\/p>\n

He has to build off of every game. He\u2019s never going to be satisfied. He might not keep this scoring pace up, it\u2019s just not possible, but he\u2019ll continue to produce in different ways, hitting, battling, grinding.<\/p>\n

On the power play, he just looks confident. He knows he belongs now, not that he never thought he did. He also sees the opportunity that\u2019s ahead for him. He understands he has to make those quick plays in those tight areas, and he knows what\u2019s expected of him.<\/p>\n

Overall, I\u2019m just so elated for him. I\u2019m so happy to see him have success this early, especially the last two games against his old team. Let\u2019s call a spade a spade, [the Canucks] wrote him off. They had him in the minors. They traded him away. He\u2019s fought back and revitalized his career when he was down and out, so I\u2019m super proud of him.\u201d<\/p>\n

And so far, the numbers back up what Lukacevic is seeing in his friend. Through two games, Podkolzin has four points, seven hits, and his five-on-five metrics have been superb.<\/p>\n

According to Natural Stat Trick, he\u2019s posted a 78.72 per cent shot attempt share, 82.14 shot percentage share, 74.23 per cent expected goal share, and 80 per cent scoring chance share. That said, with the way he\u2019s playing and how high his confidence must be, he\u2019s making my 50-point projection<\/a> for him look quite low.<\/p>\n

Still, it\u2019s very early in the season, and anything can happen over the remaining 82 games. Nevertheless, Lukacevic is proud of Podkolzin, and all of Oil Country is proud to see him off to such a hot start.<\/p>\n

PRESENTED BY YELLOW CAB\"\"<\/p>\n

Daily Faceoff Edmonton fans save 20% on their next Yellow Cab ride! Use code NATION in the Greater Edmonton Yellow Cab app. From Oilers games and airport trips to nights out and everyday rides, Yellow Cab makes getting around Edmonton easy. Ride local with a name Edmonton knows and trusts.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"When the Edmonton Oilers\u2019 schedule was released for the 2026-27 season, Vasily Podkolzin\u2019s eyes must\u2019ve lit up.He was…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":677495,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5125],"tags":[198,146,5300,5,4,24],"class_list":["post-677494","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-edmonton-oilers","tag-edmonton","tag-edmonton-oilers","tag-edmontonoilers","tag-hockey","tag-nhl","tag-oilers"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nhl\/117375833751502898","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/677494","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=677494"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/677494\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/677495"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=677494"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=677494"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=677494"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}