Two years ago in August 2024, the Vancouver Canucks traded Vasily Podkolzin to the Edmonton Oilers for a 2025 fourth-round pick, one that was used on David Lewandowski.
The Canucks would surely take that back now.
Podkolzin is off to an incredible start to the 2026-27 season, looking like a guy who might finally be realizing his potential.
Edmonton sure is glad to have him.
Vasily Podkolzin Stats
Podkolzin, still just 25 years old, has already scored nine points through six games this season.
He has seven goals and two assists. He’s a plus-9.
His goals have come four at even strength and three on the power play, while one assist is even strength and the other is on the man-up.
Podkolzin has fired 20 shots on goal through six games. He also has a whopping 27 hits already.
He’s always been a physical player — he had 242 hits last season — but he has never scored at this rate before.
Podkolzin played 82 games each of the past two seasons, but it was just 24 points in 2024-25 (8 goals, 16 assists) and 37 points in 2025-26 (19 goals, 18 assists).
It’s not totally clear whether he can stay even close to a point per game pace, but the Oilers are unleashing him more than ever before. He is averaging 19 minutes and 2 seconds of ice time per game, which explains at least in part how productive he’s being. Podkolzin is getting a chance to fully spread his wings.
How Canucks Messed Up
The Canucks had drafted Podkolzin with the No. 10 overall pick in the 2019 NHL Draft out of Russia.
The impressive right winger came to the NHL for the first time in 2021-22 for his age-20 season, and he played in 79 games. Vancouver gave him a chance to sink or swim early, and he scored 14 goals with 12 assists in relatively limited playing time. It certainly wasn’t a bad season for a 20-year old.
But then the Canucks got just 58 games out of Podkolzin in the next two seasons — and he had just nine total points (four goals, five assists) across those two years.
That’s when Vancouver gave up on him.
The Oilers, already one of the league’s top teams, had nothing to lose by giving up a late-round pick for a player with Podkolzin’s pedigree. They were highly unlikely to lose the deal unless the Canucks drafted an improbable gem.
Lewandowski, the player the Canucks picked, has played one AHL game so far and is currently playing in the WHL for Saskatoon. He’s still just 19, so he could pan out, but he’s a long way from really contributing.
And in the meantime, a rebuilding Canucks team is watching one of their recent first-round picks shining bright for the Oilers. That can’t be too fun.
Oilers’ Vasily Podkolzin On Fire, Makes Canucks Trade Look Baffling