Hockey

Vasily Podkolzin in Edmonton: what impact on offer sheets?
Jennifer Davis
Vasily Podkolzin in Edmonton: what impact on offer sheets?
Credit: Capture d'écran / Screenshot

The Edmonton Oilers have been in trouble since last Tuesday.

The St. Louis Blues surprised them with a hostile offer sheet for two of their players: Philip Broberg and Dylan Holloway.

Edmonton needs to make room on the payroll to match the Blues' two hostile offers, if they're willing.

On this Sunday evening, Stan Bowman decided to make a move, but not to make room under the salary cap.

Instead, he decided to acquire Vasily Podkolzin from the Vancouver Canucks, in exchange for the Ottawa Senators' 4ᵉ round pick in 2025.

Remember that Podkolzin is the 10ᵉ total pick of the 2019 auction.

Although Podkolzin doesn't command a hefty salary (2 x $1M), it says a lot about young forward Holloway's future in Edmonton.

This acquisition suggests that the Oilers wanted at least a cushion if they are unable to match the Blues' offer for Holloway.

According to PuckPedia (the new CapFriendly), the Oilers are now over $8 million over payroll.

However, if we look at the site's list of contracts, we see that the contracts awarded to Holloway and Broberg by St. Louis are counted against the payroll.

This would take away exactly $6,871,374 if the two players finally go to St. Louis. On the other hand, there would still be nearly $1.5 million to free up to meet salary standards for next season.

Although Holloway's departure for St. Louis seems more certain, Broberg would be a good loss to the Oilers' defensive brigade.

Will they be tempted to acquire another young left-handed defenseman rather than make room for Broberg?

At this point, the Montreal Canadiens could be an ideal target for the Oilers, with the array of (mostly left-handed) defensemen in the organization.

A guy like Jordan Harris could interest Bowman, if he doesn't want to pay too much.

On the other hand, Kent Hughes would get the short end of the stick in this situation. He could ask for a higher return than Harris is actually worth.

Podkolzin accumulated 35 points in 137 NHL games. He's been shuttling back and forth between the NHL and the AHL for the past few years, but this breath of fresh air could help him find his feet again.


Overtime

– This is going to be scary.

– Ilya Kovalchuk is still very strong physically.

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– Well.

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