Philadelphia Flyers 2019 NHL Draft Spotlight: Vasily Podkolzin

The well-rounded Russian winger doesn’t possess a lot of weaknesses in his game and should make the Philadelphia Flyers ecstatic if he’s still on the board at 11.

Vasily Podkolzin is a 17-year-old winger who has the ability to play in every zone, no matter if it’s on the power-play, penalty kill, or at even-strength. He also rises to the occasion when the lights shine the brightest, showing out for Team Russia in international junior tournaments.

Podkolzin posted 11 points (8 Goals, 3 Assists) in five games at the 2018-19 Hlinka-Gretzky Cup, which tied with top 2020 draft prospect Alexis Lafreniere for the lead in the entire tournament, and four points (1 Goal, 3 Assists) in the Under-18 World Junior Championships. He also showed he could hang around with older competition, netting three assists in seven games at the Under-20 World Juniors. As far as his play in Russia, Vasily posted eight points (6 Goals, 2 Assists) in 12 games in the MHL and five in 14 in the VHL.

Prominent TSN draft analyst Craig Button said it best when describing the Russian winger’s game in that “He’s a complete winger with all of the qualities you want in a player” and even went as far as to say he has a few similarities to Pavel Datsyuk when he was Poskolzin’s age in his early analysis of the 2019 draft class last year. The Moskva, Russian native always seems to have the puck on his stick and can make plays out of practically nothing, as seen on this rush and eventual assist.

While Podkolzin can dominate the opposition with his strength, speed, puck skills, and plays a ferociously physical game, he does come with a bit of risk. He’s stated that he doesn’t want to leave Russia until he thinks he is ready for the NHL, which could mean he would rebuff the AHL to stay in the comfort of his home country. I don’t mind these comments for the most part because I don’t think the drop between the AHL and KHL is too steep, and given that he’s already seen three games of KHL action at 17, I think he will see significant time in Russia’s highest league sooner rather than later. He’s also signed with SKA St. Petersburg through the 2020-21 season, which means the Flyers would have to wait a little bit of time to come over to the United States.

Philadelphia already has a deep farm system, so I think that they can take the risk of drafting Podkolzin if he’s there at 11th overall. There’s no questioning as to whether or not he wants to play in the NHL, just when. General Manager Chuck Fletcher and the Flyers can afford to wait on Podkolzin’s services and should reap the benefits when he eventually makes the leap.