The Vancouver Canucks have taken care of a small spot of contractual housekeeping ahead of their final regular season game.
On Thursday morning the club announced a two-year agreement with 22-year-old forward Vasily Podkolzin, the club’s first-round pick at the 2019 NHL Entry Draft. The agreement carries a $1 million AAV through the 2025-26 NHL season.
Podkolzin, who has emerged as a fixture in the Canucks’ lineup down the stretch, hasn’t lit the world on fire offensively at either the American League level or in the NHL, where he’s managed 0 goals and 2 assists this season. His size has been a welcome fit in Vancouver’s forward ranks, however, and he’s been physically assertive in a bottom-six role.
Given that Podkolzin’s entry-level contract was expiring, coming to terms cap with an unproven young player on a two-year “show me” deal at a modest cap hit is a relatively standard second contract solution. It’s an agreement that closely mirrors the approach Vancouver took last season with fellow 2019 draft pick Nils Hoglander, who signed a two-year deal with a $1.1 million cap hit coming out of his entry-level deal.
While the likelihood of Podkolzin emerging as a top-six offensive threat is diminishing given his developmental track record, his rugged game and two-way impact make him very likely to be a bottom-six contributor over the life of this deal.
There will certainly be opportunity for him to carve out a role, given how many regular Vancouver forwards — Dakota Joshua, Teddy Blueger, Elias Lindholm and Sam Lafferty included — are pending unrestricted free agents.
And by doing the deal proactively, it’s possible that Vancouver saved $100k or so against the cap next year, versus what an agreement might’ve cost if Podkolzin goes on to produce at a higher clip in the postseason in the weeks to come.
(Photo: Andy Devlin / NHLI via Getty Images)
