[Report] Canucks assign Vasily Podkolzin, Jack Rathbone to Abbotsford

[wildcam]

1 hour ago, Coconuts said:

Because it's better for his development than being stapled to the fourth line or sitting in the press box. They'll have control over how Podz is deployed in Abbotsford, he's more likely to get a larger role in Abbotsford than he would in Vancouver. Same goes for Rathbone. Vancouver has a logjam of forwards up front and it just hasn't been beneficial. 

 

Canucks fans have been spoiled in recent years by having players like Boeser, Pettersson, and Hughes jump in and immediately make an impact at the NHL level but that just isn't realistic for every first round pick. Even top ten picks. Podz isn't too good to see AHL time, it may very well be better for his development. If they want him to to be more than a middle six player perhaps giving him a top six role in Abbotsford will help.

Abbotsford has 4 home games in 5 nights.. By Monday December 5th Podkolzin will be recalled back to big club..

Great plan Podkolzin plays 17--19 mins each of the next 4 games gains some confidence.

[Coconuts]

22 minutes ago, wildcam said:

Abbotsford has 4 home games in 5 nights.. By Monday December 5th Podkolzin will be recalled back to big club..

Great plan Podkolzin plays 17--19 mins each of the next 4 games gains some confidence.

If they don't plan on using him in a meaningful role he may be better suited just staying there and racking up points imo. Nucks need to figure their forward logjam out.

[thrago]

On 11/28/2022 at 8:14 PM, Devron said:

Excellent news. Would be nice to have an explanation of why they kept them up so long 

Because Alvin was assessing them, and we all know that takes 10x longer then any normal GM in the league.

[JeremyCuddles]

5 hours ago, thrago said:

Because Alvin was assessing them, and we all know that takes 10x longer then any normal GM in the league.

He also has to wait for old man Rutherford to wake up from his naps.

[Fred65]

I've never posted this but I never saw brilliance from Podkolzin, he's certainly a gamer but seems to have lost his confidence and that's hard to get back maybe Abby will do it for him. Fingers crossed. Rathbone it seems fairly certain won't be in a rush to resign in Vcr

[Fred65]

7 minutes ago, 6of1_halfdozenofother said:

Who would he displace though?  And who can we spare to be his partner that would complement his playing style to be an effective D-pairing?

 

He's really better off getting more icetime in Abbotsford for now.

You're lkely right, but Vcr/BB has jerked him around.IMO

[King Heffy]

12 minutes ago, Fred65 said:

You're lkely right, but Vcr/BB has jerked him around.IMO

If anything, the Canucks were overly generous by sending Breezer down after he badly outplayed Rathbone.  Not playing a massive defensive liability is not jerking anyone around; Rathbone needs to stay in the AHL until he learns how to play defence.

 

[Fanuck]

5 minutes ago, King Heffy said:

If anything, the Canucks were overly generous by sending Breezer down after he badly outplayed Rathbone.  Not playing a massive defensive liability is not jerking anyone around; Rathbone needs to stay in the AHL until he learns how to play defence.

 

Don't disagree.

Couldn't the same argument be applied to Hogs - his sole purpose on this team is to generate offence and he clearly hasn't/can't do that - should he be in the AHL until he proves he can do that consistently? 

[JeremyCuddles]

I honestly never seen the hype with Rathbone. Feels like a Gaudette situation. A college kid that CDC hyped up but literally nothing about Rathbone's game stands out. He's literally the defensive Gaudette. If anything, management disrespected Breezer by keeping Rathbone around so long. Not to mention, where does Rathbone fit even if he reached the expectations? He's a left handed defensive liability that brings no physicality. We have a bunch of them already, even before you include our right handed defensive liabilities. We should have packaged him in the offseason to be completely honest. Now his trade value is non existent.

[Fred65]

1 hour ago, N7Nucks said:

I honestly never seen the hype with Rathbone. Feels like a Gaudette situation. A college kid that CDC hyped up but literally nothing about Rathbone's game stands out. He's literally the defensive Gaudette. If anything, management disrespected Breezer by keeping Rathbone around so long. Not to mention, where does Rathbone fit even if he reached the expectations? He's a left handed defensive liability that brings no physicality. We have a bunch of them already, even before you include our right handed defensive liabilities. We should have packaged him in the offseason to be completely honest. Now his trade value is non existent.

Yes and No. No one can quibble Rathbone has top end skills and skates effortly. Briesbois is a very steady player IMO but he doesn't drive the game forward. He is not physical (neither he or Rathbone) so there are some parts missing certainly better than Stillman  who lest we forget actually traded for

Edited November 30, 2022 by Fred65

[RolexSub]

I personally thought Podz has been developing well until Coach started putting him on the 4th line and not utilizing his full potential. He works hard, skates hard, hits and can make plays. I rather see Podz develop here with the 2 other Russians on our team can create better chemistry for him. I think he is a much better player over Dries. Some decisions that coach Bruce makes sometimes doesn't make a lot of sense to me. 

[saucypass]

12 minutes ago, RolexSub said:

I personally thought Podz has been developing well until Coach started putting him on the 4th line and not utilizing his full potential. He works hard, skates hard, hits and can make plays. I rather see Podz develop here with the 2 other Russians on our team can create better chemistry for him. I think he is a much better player over Dries. Some decisions that coach Bruce makes sometimes doesn't make a lot of sense to me. 

I agree except Dries plays center and wins faceoffs. 

[Harold Drunken]

In my optimistic foolishness, I really thought Podz was going to break out this year based on his progression last year....you could see him getting more confident and being more of a factor game to game. Then this year started, and somehow it looks like he's regressed?

 

Why is this franchise where good young players go to die? Should he have spent a couple years in the minors? Probably, but this roster was so full of holes his name looked good on the depth chart. The biggest thing this franchise does that drives me crazy is our failure to draft and properly develop our talent, we seem to ruin them more than we groom them. I hope he turns a corner, I'm pulling for em. 

 

 

[Coconuts]

13 minutes ago, Harold Drunken said:

In my optimistic foolishness, I really thought Podz was going to break out this year based on his progression last year....you could see him getting more confident and being more of a factor game to game. Then this year started, and somehow it looks like he's regressed?

 

Why is this franchise where good young players go to die? Should he have spent a couple years in the minors? Probably, but this roster was so full of holes his name looked good on the depth chart. The biggest thing this franchise does that drives me crazy is our failure to draft and properly develop our talent, we seem to ruin them more than we groom them. I hope he turns a corner, I'm pulling for em. 

 

 

He could have stewed, he still could. I'm not against him stewing in a top six role I'm Abbotsford. 

 

Part of it is Canucks fans having been spoiled by Boeser, Pettersson, and Hughes. Lot of guys take longer to become impact players, if they ever do. Even first round guys.

 

But yeah, our historical track record of drafting and developing our own talent has been troubling over at least the last fifteen years. Particularly where D are concerned.

Edited December 2, 2022 by Coconuts

[JeremyCuddles]

17 minutes ago, Harold Drunken said:

In my optimistic foolishness, I really thought Podz was going to break out this year based on his progression last year....you could see him getting more confident and being more of a factor game to game. Then this year started, and somehow it looks like he's regressed?

 

Why is this franchise where good young players go to die? Should he have spent a couple years in the minors? Probably, but this roster was so full of holes his name looked good on the depth chart. The biggest thing this franchise does that drives me crazy is our failure to draft and properly develop our talent, we seem to ruin them more than we groom them. I hope he turns a corner, I'm pulling for em. 

 

 

Winger logjam squeezed him out. I know the NHL isn't a development league. But you can't have your top 10 pick playing 4th line minutes forever expecting him to develop. He should be 3rd line minimum. With some PK and PP time thrown in where possible. We are garbage. We should be playing our kids. He should be closer to Garland's 15 minutes a game. He played fewer than 10 minutes the last two games before being sent down. 

 

I also think it's a situation where we are really lacking a 3rd line center. Feel like a broken record but a 3rd line center has been a huge gap almost as long if not longer than our RD gap. We need a top 4 RD and almost as importantly we need a 3rd line preferably right hand center. The right hand center would free things up so much for our top 6 giving Petey fewer D starts, take the defensive pressure of Horvat to take everyone's faceoffs, and give our 3rd line an actual identity. And someone our hoard of wingers to play with that is actually legit. A 3rd line version of Lazar would be perfect. Or Sutter pre-coming to Vancouver.

[Harold Drunken]

5 minutes ago, N7Nucks said:

Winger logjam squeezed him out. I know the NHL isn't a development league. But you can't have your top 10 pick playing 4th line minutes forever expecting him to develop. He should be 3rd line minimum. With some PK and PP time thrown in where possible. We are garbage. We should be playing our kids. He should be closer to Garland's 15 minutes a game. He played fewer than 10 minutes the last two games before being sent down. 

 

I also think it's a situation where we are really lacking a 3rd line center. Feel like a broken record but a 3rd line center has been a huge gap almost as long if not longer than our RD gap. We need a top 4 RD and almost as importantly we need a 3rd line preferably right hand center. The right hand center would free things up so much for our top 6 giving Petey fewer D starts, take the defensive pressure of Horvat to take everyone's faceoffs, and give our 3rd line an actual identity. And someone our hoard of wingers to play with that is actually legit. A 3rd line version of Lazar would be perfect. Or Sutter pre-coming to Vancouver.

Yeah those are all good points for sure. Like you said a player like him playing 4th line minutes as a rookie or sophomore is fine, could still kill their confidence though depending on how that goes...depends on the player obviously. Maybe they were just asking too much too early and not giving him a proper linemate (s) etc..

Edited December 2, 2022 by Harold Drunken

[kanucks25]

Just play Pod @ 3C and watch magic happen. 

[Ray_Cathode]

On 12/2/2022 at 2:18 PM, kanucks25 said:

Just play Pod @ 3C and watch magic happen. 

When I watched him running the pp at the world junior cup for the Russians, and lead the pk, I thought he was a centre. But since then he’s been exclusively played as a winger. But, I agree that would be an interesting experiment - he’s very smart and defensively responsible - maybe he could become that 3C that we need in Van.

[Crabcakes]

9 minutes ago, Ray_Cathode said:

When I watched him running the pp at the world junior cup for the Russians, and lead the pk, I thought he was a centre. But since then he’s been exclusively played as a winger. But, I agree that would be an interesting experiment - he’s very smart and defensively responsible - maybe he could become that 3C that we need in Van.

Yep, groom him as a centre the rest of the season in Abby and see what we've got in camp next year.  A very important piece might be sitting right under our noses.

[Zfetch]

Man when Podkolzin and Arshdeep Bains come up and become 30G scorers for the club it will be an incredibly exciting time. Just need some conditioning and Peteys wrist to continue working for them to thrive under Bruce’s system.