Vancouver Canucks ink winger Vasily Podkolzin to two-year extension

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In the midst of all this playoff hoopla, the Vancouver Canucks showed they’re eyeing the future as well, announcing Thursday that they had signed forward Vasily Podkolzin to a two-year extension. He was set to become a restricted free agent at the end of the campaign

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CapFriendly has him at a $1 million cap hit on the new deal. That’s up from the $925,000 cap hit for this season and the two previous.

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Podkolzin, 22, split the 2023-24 season between Vancouver and Abbotsford (AHL), recording two points (0-2-2) and six penalty minutes in 18 games at the NHL level before Thursday’s season finale versus Winnipeg and 28 points (15-13-28) and 15 penalty minutes in 44 AHL games.

Podkolzin was originally selected by Vancouver in the first round, No. 10 overall, in the 2019 NHL Entry Draft.

“We are happy with how hard Vasily has worked on his game to try and become a more consistent player,” Canucks general manager Patrik Allvin was quoted as saying in a press release. “While there is still room for him to grow, starting the year in Abbotsford and working his way back up to Vancouver shows the type of commitment and dedication we want in all our players. Our group looks forward to helping Vasily continue to improve and get better.”

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Podkolzin played all of 2021-22 with the Canucks but then split the next season between Vancouver and Abbotsford and the team had him start this year with Abbotsford, looking to build up his confidence and remake parts of his game. It was a similar tact to the one the franchise took with Nils Hoglander, and they saw it flourish with Hoglander in Vancouver this season.

“It was hard on Hoggie coming down, but once he got on board, we just kept preaching, ‘You’re not going up. You’re going to stay here and work on the management of the game,’” Abbotsford GM Ryan Johnson explained earlier this season when Podkolzin was in the AHL. “You look at where he sits now and how valuable he is to our team, and it’s great for Podz to be able to know we’ve go the same plan for him.”

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Johnson went on to stay that Podkolzin was playing a “safe game, trying to just stay in the lineup,” in the first turn with Vancouver but that “hesitation” had come out of his game in his time with Abbotsford.

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