Thoughts from Vasily Podkolzin’s skills coach, Ned Lukacevic, on the recent flashy play of the Oilers forward |
There are some aspects of Edmonton Oilers forward Vasily Podkolzin’s game that don’t necessarily make the highlight reels, like his hard work, the big hits, and the board battles he wins time and again.
But lately he’s scored some very nice goals and made some very pretty plays as well, with his last two tallies being of the highlight-reel variety, setting a career high in goals in the process. With that in mind, we caught up with his skills coach, Ned Lukacevic, to get his thoughts on the flashy play of his friend, Podkolzin, in recent games.
Q: Podkolzin has been pretty hot lately and is making some nice plays. What are your thoughts on his play as of late?
“It’s amazing. You can see how much his play has grown, and I’m not just talking about his offensive side — he’s just a wrecking ball out there too. He’s playing hard all over the ice, fighting and standing up for teammates, and it’s nice to see him having some success offensively. It always helps players build their confidence.
And this is the most important part of the season right now. So I think he’s hitting his stride, not just in the season but also in his career. He’s really making a name for himself, not just as an NHL player, but as a really good NHL hockey player.”
Q: From the beginning of the season, I could immediately tell — and I said, Podkolzin looks better. From my view, he seems almost even better than he did at the start of the season. Is he just playing with more confidence?
“Confidence is a big part of it, but I think that confidence comes from consistently doing the right things on the ice. And not just for a week or a month, but for a season, a season and a half, even two seasons.
Since he’s arrived in Edmonton, he’s really put his head down and just worked.
He knew with the Oilers that this was another opportunity — maybe his last opportunity — that he couldn’t let slip by. And I think he understood that this might be his last chance, as bad as it sounds, at 22 years old [when they traded for him].
He knew he had to do everything he could, and that started with just working — putting on the work boots in a mindset like, ‘I don’t care where I’m going to be. If I work hard, I’ll move up eventually.’ Over time, his play has grown, his confidence has grown, his game has grown, and it all started from the foundation of working hard.
Now the puck’s finding him more, and he has more opportunities and more chances. I’m not going to say he’s high risk, but he’s taking more risks. A year ago, we would never have seen him take the puck by the net and go end to end. He would’ve chipped it off the wall or looked for a pass. But I think now he sees that the coach has confidence in him, the group has confidence in him, and he feels like he belongs.
When a player — any player — feels like they belong, that sense of empowerment does incredible things for you, not just in hockey, but in life, period.”
Q: Podkolzin recently set a career high with his 15th goal of the season. What are your thoughts on that, and was scoring something he specifically told you he wanted to focus on doing more?
“I said to him in the summer, ‘You’re going to get 20 goals and 20 assists next season,’ and he kind of nodded his head and said, ‘Yup, let’s do it.’
When he first got traded from Vancouver, I called him and said, ‘Do you want to go on........