Vasily Podkolzin | #92 | RW

[VegasCanuck]

Should he be back in Prospects as he's currently playing in the AHL? We know he's going to be back in the NHL next season, but for now, he's in the A.

[Locke Lamora]

9 minutes ago, VegasCanuck said:

Should he be back in Prospects as he's currently playing in the AHL?

No.

[-Vintage Canuck-]

 

[RomanP]

Russian hockey vlogger Cherkas Atlant travelled this season through various NHL cities that have Russian players and created long episodes about them. A few days ago he released first episode about Vancouver Canucks and Podkolzin. Unfortunately, there are no English subtitles for it and with it being almost 2.5 hours, it'll take a long time to translate. But Vasiliy proved again his great character, praising Vancouver as a city to live in, Boudreau as a great coach, knowing the things he needs to work on. His self-assessment of what he achieved in his first season was 70% overall, about 35% for scored points and 75% for settling in the city. If you know Russian - it's here: 

 

[Captain Canuck #12]

14 hours ago, RomanP said:

Russian hockey vlogger Cherkas Atlant travelled this season through various NHL cities that have Russian players and created long episodes about them. A few days ago he released first episode about Vancouver Canucks and Podkolzin. Unfortunately, there are no English subtitles for it and with it being almost 2.5 hours, it'll take a long time to translate. But Vasiliy proved again his great character, praising Vancouver as a city to live in, Boudreau as a great coach, knowing the things he needs to work on. His self-assessment of what he achieved in his first season was 70% overall, about 35% for scored points and 75% for settling in the city. If you know Russian - it's here: 

 

благодарю вас!

 

[Boudrias]

21 hours ago, RomanP said:

Russian hockey vlogger Cherkas Atlant travelled this season through various NHL cities that have Russian players and created long episodes about them. A few days ago he released first episode about Vancouver Canucks and Podkolzin. Unfortunately, there are no English subtitles for it and with it being almost 2.5 hours, it'll take a long time to translate. But Vasiliy proved again his great character, praising Vancouver as a city to live in, Boudreau as a great coach, knowing the things he needs to work on. His self-assessment of what he achieved in his first season was 70% overall, about 35% for scored points and 75% for settling in the city. If you know Russian - it's here: 

 

My fear is that he will return to Russia and that is the last we see of him. Why would a vindictive and desperate Putin continue to allow citizens to travel abroad.? Seriously, why would he? If the situation in Ukraine escalates even further by Putin doing even more desperate things I can see the country being shut in. It could easily be years before we see Podz again.  

[JM_]

22 minutes ago, Boudrias said:

My fear is that he will return to Russia and that is the last we see of him. Why would a vindictive and desperate Putin continue to allow citizens to travel abroad.? Seriously, why would he? If the situation in Ukraine escalates even further by Putin doing even more desperate things I can see the country being shut in. It could easily be years before we see Podz again.  

If Russia starts closing the border to this kind of movement, they are going to lose all their best talent. They can't stop everyone from leaving, its a big country and I'm sure there's a border guard somewhere who'd be happy to take a bribe. Podz lives in St. Petersburg, its a short boat ride or walk through the first to Finland or Latvia that no one can stop. 

[Boudrias]

Just now, JM_ said:

If Russia starts closing the border to this kind of movement, they are going to lose all their best talent. They can't stop everyone from leaving, its a big country and I'm sure there's a border guard somewhere who'd be happy to take a bribe. Podz lives in St. Petersburg, its a short boat ride or walk through the first to Finland or Latvia that no one can stop. 

That's why they keep family has hostages. I hope your right. 

[spook007]

23 hours ago, RomanP said:

Russian hockey vlogger Cherkas Atlant travelled this season through various NHL cities that have Russian players and created long episodes about them. A few days ago he released first episode about Vancouver Canucks and Podkolzin. Unfortunately, there are no English subtitles for it and with it being almost 2.5 hours, it'll take a long time to translate. But Vasiliy proved again his great character, praising Vancouver as a city to live in, Boudreau as a great coach, knowing the things he needs to work on. His self-assessment of what he achieved in his first season was 70% overall, about 35% for scored points and 75% for settling in the city. If you know Russian - it's here: 

 

Love Podz... so down to earth and humble... what a man... 

[Darius]

Just watched some of the video roman posted above, even though i dont understand Russian, seems very interesting and PODZ seems like a very personable guy.

Funny at 1 hour 33 minutes - he walks into the Canucks merchandise store and gets ID'd  lol...i know its for vaccine passport but still kinda funny.

[JM_]

3 hours ago, Boudrias said:

That's why they keep family has hostages. I hope your right. 

I would think he'd be looking to bring his family with him, and I suspect Aquilini would be happy to help on the housing part of that. 

 

But I don't think its going to come to this, if Putin starts restricting Russians from free movement that should be the end for him, at some point Russians will begin to figure out whats really happening. 

[-Vintage Canuck-]

 

[-Vintage Canuck-]

Vasily Podkolzin on trusting Bruce Boudreau, life in Vancouver, and adjusting to the NHL:

 

Vasily Podkolzin is coming off a rookie season that saw him score 14 goals and add 12 assists in 79 games. He acclimated himself to the NHL and what it’s like to live in North America.

 

Now, after a 36-hour travel day that saw him deal with a lengthy delay in Istanbul, Turkey — Podkolzin is back home in Russia. Podkolzin said that he brought so many bags home that he had to pay $300 in baggage fees.

 

After getting a chance to see his family and friends, Podkolzin spoke with Daria Tuboldseva of the Russian sports website Sport24. We translated the article and found some interesting answers from the 20-year-old winger.

 

He spoke about his living situation for the offseason and mentioned he and his wife heading their separate ways to see all of their family before meeting up in their offseason home.

 

“I will be in Moscow with my grandparents, aunts and uncles,” said Podkolzin. “My wife went to her home in Yaroslavl, then I will go to her, and from there we will go to St. Petersburg together, we will live there.”

 

Podkolzin was on his way back home just four days after the Abbotsford Canucks were eliminated from the playoffs. He said that packing up in half a week was not easy but he is now happy to be back home and be able to see all of his family and friends. He’s working on planning a vacation with some of his best friends and is excited to take a deep breath and relax with his friends after the demanding NHL season.

 

“Everything was intense and I was tired,” said Podkolzin when asked about how he felt physically after the season. “I asked the guys from Vancouver how they prepare for the season and they only start going to the gym and on the ice in mid-August. Then, when they come to Vancouver, they begin to train intensively. I started in mid-July, so, maybe I started early. On the other hand, I felt great throughout the season except for the ending.”

 

Podkolzin mentioned that he will be training in St. Petersburg this summer. He says that they have a great training facility with easy access to ice and he will be around some of his former teammates. The plan is to return to Vancouver three weeks before training camp and get back into a routine with the Canucks.

 

Though we were all impressed with Podkolzin’s English at the end of the season, the beginning of the year was tough for him.

 

“When it was my first trip of the season, Hughes took me to the movies,” said Podkolzin. “Back then, my English was just terrible. We went to the movie “Dune” and I didn’t understand anything at all. I sat for 2.5 hours and couldn’t understand anything. Hughes then said, ‘well that was hard to understand even for me.'”

 

Movies weren’t a good start for him and his wife as they adjusted to Vancouver but Vasily praises his wife for getting him out of the apartment and exploring the city.

 

“I’m not a fan of walking or doing anything at all, but, thank god, at least my wife pulled me out, otherwise it would definitely be sour. I lived in an apartment in the arena building, if it wasn’t for her, I wouldn’t have gone outside at all. Now we want to make visas for our parents. When they come to visit us, I think our life will be more diverse.”

 

The adjustment wasn’t easy but Podkolzin viewed it as part of the challenge of becoming an NHL player.

 

“Over the course of the season, I’ve grown as a hockey player and as a person,” said Podkolzin. “Living 8.5 months in another country where everything was new for me is helpful — I’m happy with that. In hockey terms, it could have been better. But I talked a lot with the coach, with the management, and with the guys. Everyone says, ‘just keep working and it’s going to be okay. You have everything you need to be a good player in this league.’ I live with this thought.”

 

Now let’s really dive into the hockey talk.

 

The confidence level is high with Podkolzin. He had high expectations for himself and accomplished a lot of the goals that he had set for himself. The thought of being sent down to the AHL to begin the season was not something he believed would happen.

 

“Maybe it will sound arrogant, but I didn’t go with the idea that I could be sent to the AHL,” said Podkolzin. “I went with the thought of showing that I could play in the NHL. I was very happy when they called me before the first departure and said that they were leaving me on the [NHL] team. I, like many Russian players, had fears that they could go down. But somehow, in this regard, the season passed smoothly for me. There was clarity about where I was and what I was — that was great.”

 

Getting comfortable in Vancouver seemed to happen around the turn of the calendar. Podkolzin said that he began to feel like himself more in January and that he was able to understand more of the jokes from teammates at that time. As his English improved, Vancouver became much more like a home to the kid. Podkolzin’s ability to improve with the English language even surprised him a little bit.

 

“If I had been told at the beginning of the season that at the end I would go out to journalists and give an interview in English, I would not have believed it. I felt comfortable because around me this comfort was created by my teammates. All the guys took me under their wing and took care of me.”

 

Podkolzin was asked about the 10-game stretch where he had no points as well as the 17-game stretch where he went without a goal.

 

“It was very difficult,” said Podkolzin. “It seems that time has passed [just] a little, but you look, and 17 matches have passed. It’s terrible. I didn’t even want to watch. But there’s nothing you can do about it. If you think about it all the time, it’s only going to get worse. As soon as you stop thinking about it and switch to other things, you start working differently, in defence, for example, and goals immediately come. In this regard, it became a little easier for me in the second half of the season. I let go of the situation and played, tried to do the right thing and quit more. In general, I need to shoot more, from all positions, because the area is small, there is practically no space, you can play [a] passing [style], but it is already harder.”

 

He spoke about when Bruce Boudreau made him a healthy scratch.

 

“I wasn’t playing well at the time,” said Podkolzin. “There’s a trick in the NHL: you have to look at your game from the outside, watch your team’s game from the stands. And that really helped. I watched the game against Chicago with the coaches, we discussed the moments, how and where to play, and I came out with a different understanding. Being sent to the reserve is an unpleasant moment but Bruce explained everything to me. He said ‘I have no doubt that you will be a good player, just that’s what you need.’ When I met Alex Ovechkin, he told me: “Listen to Bruce and everything will be fine, he will help you as a hockey player.”

 

Bruce Boudreau was a big help for Podkolzin this season. When talk about going down to the AHL came about for Podkolzin, he was confused and worried.

 

Being papered down to the AHL on the trade deadline didn’t make sense to Podkolzin so he went to speak with Boudreau and he explained the whole situation. Boudreau told him that this was usual practice for young players and that he would benefit from getting playoff experience in the AHL. Podkolzin said that Boudreau explained the situation to him and calmed him down as he wasn’t sure what was exactly happening with the papering down to the AHL.

 

“Bruce does not care who you are,” said Podkolzin. “Me, Horvat, or Pettersson, if you play well, you will play. Bruce has a good connection with the youngsters.”

 

It’s clear that Podkolzin became more comfortable as the season went on and he spoke very highly of his coach Bruce Boudreau. Podkolzin has always looked up to Ovechkin and seeing the relationship between Boudreau and Ovechkin made Podkolzin confident to listen to everything Boudreau said to him.

 

It was good to hear Podkolzin’s thoughts on the season and how his first year in Vancouver went. There’s a very bright future in his game. We also love to hear his insight into the game and life in general. Podkolzin is going to be a big piece for the Canucks in the coming years and it’s great to see that he has a great head on his shoulders.

 

https://canucksarmy.com/2022/05/24/vasily-podkolzin-trusting-bruce-boudreau-vancouver-nhl/

[RomanP]

5 hours ago, -Vintage Canuck- said:

Vasily Podkolzin on trusting Bruce Boudreau, life in Vancouver, and adjusting to the NHL:

 

Vasily Podkolzin is coming off a rookie season that saw him score 14 goals and add 12 assists in 79 games. He acclimated himself to the NHL and what it’s like to live in North America.

 

Now, after a 36-hour travel day that saw him deal with a lengthy delay in Istanbul, Turkey — Podkolzin is back home in Russia. Podkolzin said that he brought so many bags home that he had to pay $300 in baggage fees.

 

After getting a chance to see his family and friends, Podkolzin spoke with Daria Tuboldseva of the Russian sports website Sport24. We translated the article and found some interesting answers from the 20-year-old winger.

 

He spoke about his living situation for the offseason and mentioned he and his wife heading their separate ways to see all of their family before meeting up in their offseason home.

 

“I will be in Moscow with my grandparents, aunts and uncles,” said Podkolzin. “My wife went to her home in Yaroslavl, then I will go to her, and from there we will go to St. Petersburg together, we will live there.”

 

Podkolzin was on his way back home just four days after the Abbotsford Canucks were eliminated from the playoffs. He said that packing up in half a week was not easy but he is now happy to be back home and be able to see all of his family and friends. He’s working on planning a vacation with some of his best friends and is excited to take a deep breath and relax with his friends after the demanding NHL season.

 

“Everything was intense and I was tired,” said Podkolzin when asked about how he felt physically after the season. “I asked the guys from Vancouver how they prepare for the season and they only start going to the gym and on the ice in mid-August. Then, when they come to Vancouver, they begin to train intensively. I started in mid-July, so, maybe I started early. On the other hand, I felt great throughout the season except for the ending.”

 

Podkolzin mentioned that he will be training in St. Petersburg this summer. He says that they have a great training facility with easy access to ice and he will be around some of his former teammates. The plan is to return to Vancouver three weeks before training camp and get back into a routine with the Canucks.

 

Though we were all impressed with Podkolzin’s English at the end of the season, the beginning of the year was tough for him.

 

“When it was my first trip of the season, Hughes took me to the movies,” said Podkolzin. “Back then, my English was just terrible. We went to the movie “Dune” and I didn’t understand anything at all. I sat for 2.5 hours and couldn’t understand anything. Hughes then said, ‘well that was hard to understand even for me.'”

 

Movies weren’t a good start for him and his wife as they adjusted to Vancouver but Vasily praises his wife for getting him out of the apartment and exploring the city.

 

“I’m not a fan of walking or doing anything at all, but, thank god, at least my wife pulled me out, otherwise it would definitely be sour. I lived in an apartment in the arena building, if it wasn’t for her, I wouldn’t have gone outside at all. Now we want to make visas for our parents. When they come to visit us, I think our life will be more diverse.”

 

The adjustment wasn’t easy but Podkolzin viewed it as part of the challenge of becoming an NHL player.

 

“Over the course of the season, I’ve grown as a hockey player and as a person,” said Podkolzin. “Living 8.5 months in another country where everything was new for me is helpful — I’m happy with that. In hockey terms, it could have been better. But I talked a lot with the coach, with the management, and with the guys. Everyone says, ‘just keep working and it’s going to be okay. You have everything you need to be a good player in this league.’ I live with this thought.”

 

Now let’s really dive into the hockey talk.

 

The confidence level is high with Podkolzin. He had high expectations for himself and accomplished a lot of the goals that he had set for himself. The thought of being sent down to the AHL to begin the season was not something he believed would happen.

 

“Maybe it will sound arrogant, but I didn’t go with the idea that I could be sent to the AHL,” said Podkolzin. “I went with the thought of showing that I could play in the NHL. I was very happy when they called me before the first departure and said that they were leaving me on the [NHL] team. I, like many Russian players, had fears that they could go down. But somehow, in this regard, the season passed smoothly for me. There was clarity about where I was and what I was — that was great.”

 

Getting comfortable in Vancouver seemed to happen around the turn of the calendar. Podkolzin said that he began to feel like himself more in January and that he was able to understand more of the jokes from teammates at that time. As his English improved, Vancouver became much more like a home to the kid. Podkolzin’s ability to improve with the English language even surprised him a little bit.

 

“If I had been told at the beginning of the season that at the end I would go out to journalists and give an interview in English, I would not have believed it. I felt comfortable because around me this comfort was created by my teammates. All the guys took me under their wing and took care of me.”

 

Podkolzin was asked about the 10-game stretch where he had no points as well as the 17-game stretch where he went without a goal.

 

“It was very difficult,” said Podkolzin. “It seems that time has passed [just] a little, but you look, and 17 matches have passed. It’s terrible. I didn’t even want to watch. But there’s nothing you can do about it. If you think about it all the time, it’s only going to get worse. As soon as you stop thinking about it and switch to other things, you start working differently, in defence, for example, and goals immediately come. In this regard, it became a little easier for me in the second half of the season. I let go of the situation and played, tried to do the right thing and quit more. In general, I need to shoot more, from all positions, because the area is small, there is practically no space, you can play [a] passing [style], but it is already harder.”

 

He spoke about when Bruce Boudreau made him a healthy scratch.

 

“I wasn’t playing well at the time,” said Podkolzin. “There’s a trick in the NHL: you have to look at your game from the outside, watch your team’s game from the stands. And that really helped. I watched the game against Chicago with the coaches, we discussed the moments, how and where to play, and I came out with a different understanding. Being sent to the reserve is an unpleasant moment but Bruce explained everything to me. He said ‘I have no doubt that you will be a good player, just that’s what you need.’ When I met Alex Ovechkin, he told me: “Listen to Bruce and everything will be fine, he will help you as a hockey player.”

 

Bruce Boudreau was a big help for Podkolzin this season. When talk about going down to the AHL came about for Podkolzin, he was confused and worried.

 

Being papered down to the AHL on the trade deadline didn’t make sense to Podkolzin so he went to speak with Boudreau and he explained the whole situation. Boudreau told him that this was usual practice for young players and that he would benefit from getting playoff experience in the AHL. Podkolzin said that Boudreau explained the situation to him and calmed him down as he wasn’t sure what was exactly happening with the papering down to the AHL.

 

“Bruce does not care who you are,” said Podkolzin. “Me, Horvat, or Pettersson, if you play well, you will play. Bruce has a good connection with the youngsters.”

 

It’s clear that Podkolzin became more comfortable as the season went on and he spoke very highly of his coach Bruce Boudreau. Podkolzin has always looked up to Ovechkin and seeing the relationship between Boudreau and Ovechkin made Podkolzin confident to listen to everything Boudreau said to him.

 

It was good to hear Podkolzin’s thoughts on the season and how his first year in Vancouver went. There’s a very bright future in his game. We also love to hear his insight into the game and life in general. Podkolzin is going to be a big piece for the Canucks in the coming years and it’s great to see that he has a great head on his shoulders.

 

https://canucksarmy.com/2022/05/24/vasily-podkolzin-trusting-bruce-boudreau-vancouver-nhl/

In case someone wants to google translate the entire interview - here’s the original https://sport24.ru/news/hockey/2022-05-18-intervyu-vasiliya-podkolzina-pervyy-sezon-v-nkhl-vankuver-zhizn-v-kanade-ovechkin

[higgyfan]

This is why the Canucks needed to bring Bruce back as coach.  I think he should be here for a couple of years.  He

communicates so well with the young players and knows when to push and when to back off. 

 

The team will bringing in younger players for the next few years, so it will be great to have a head coach like

Boudreau helping them along.  He's a bit of a 'teaching coach', which is perfect for a young team.

[Alflives]

31 minutes ago, higgyfan said:

This is why the Canucks needed to bring Bruce back as coach.  I think he should be here for a couple of years.  He

communicates so well with the young players and knows when to push and when to back off. 

 

The team will bringing in younger players for the next few years, so it will be great to have a head coach like

Boudreau helping them along.  He's a bit of a 'teaching coach', which is perfect for a young team.

What shocks me is how the Canucks management didn’t talk to Pods BEFORE HE WAS PAPERED DOWN, so he understood what was going on.  That’s inexcusable.  No way should the communication be that bad.  Just friggin’ stupid.  

[McBackup]

11 hours ago, -Vintage Canuck- said:

 

“When it was my first trip of the season, Hughes took me to the movies,” said Podkolzin. “Back then, my English was just terrible. We went to the movie “Dune” and I didn’t understand anything at all. I sat for 2.5 hours and couldn’t understand anything. Hughes then said, ‘well that was hard to understand even for me.'”

 

https://canucksarmy.com/2022/05/24/vasily-podkolzin-trusting-bruce-boudreau-vancouver-nhl/

Well, that wasn't a great idea. I'm a native, fluent English speaker who hasn't read those books and I had a hard time understanding what was going on too with all the unexplained nonsense words. I had to google a bunch of them after the movie.

[NucknAsia]

4 hours ago, Alflives said:

What shocks me is how the Canucks management didn’t talk to Pods BEFORE HE WAS PAPERED DOWN, so he understood what was going on.  That’s inexcusable.  No way should the communication be that bad.  Just friggin’ stupid.  

It amazes me the lack of 'awareness" of management on many teams. They seem to treat players like cattle. No wonder players don't have any allegiances to teams any more

[NucknAsia]

Podz is a beauty. Love his compete and he's going to be a big part of this team for a long time. Glad he fell to us.

[King Loui]

He's gonna be good.