Vasily Podkolzin
Podkolzin is playing the best role of his career: he skates on Edmonton's top line beside Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl, and the open question is whether coach Mike Babcock keeps that line together.
Role
Daily Faceoff's line page (fetched 26 October, last updated 25 October, sourced from the 24 October game against Toronto) has him at left wing on the first line with McDavid at center and Draisaitl at right wing. The same page puts him on the second power-play unit with Colton Dach, Filip Hallander, Ryan Shea and Kasperi Kapanen. The first unit is Zach Hyman, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, Draisaitl, McDavid and Evan Bouchard, so he is not on it. Our data lists him at RW, but current lines have him on the left side. A Frozen Tools snippet showed him with Kapanen and Dach for a short stretch of the 24 October game. I did not read that page, and I did not find his average ice time this season.
He has played the whole season next to McDavid and Draisaitl. Oilers Nation's 25 October Sunday Scramble said the trio was outscoring opponents 14-1 at five-on-five before the last week. Its 10-game preview said McDavid, Draisaitl and Podkolzin account for 25 of Edmonton's 46 goals. The same outlet's earlier lineup piece described him as hard on the forecheck and good at getting the puck to his linemates. Edmonton is 8-2-1, and the line has been shown to be productive in that spot. Last season he put up 12 points, 6 of them on the power play, in 11 games, and he has a second-unit power-play role again.
The hot start is already cooling. Oilers Nation says the line was outscored 5-1 and outshot 23-20 over the last three games. Toronto beat Edmonton 7-2 on 24 October, and a Leafs Nation recap credited Toronto's defense with limiting the McDavid-Draisaitl pairing. His power-play time is on the second unit, which is less valuable than the first. His spot also depends on Babcock keeping the two stars together. Opening night, a different lineup had Draisaitl and Podkolzin together on the second line with Kapanen, and Babcock could go back to that.
Where analysts split
The disagreement is whether Babcock keeps McDavid and Draisaitl together on one line. The Sunday Scramble column argued against splitting a line that was historically good early. An offseason Oilers Nation piece on the lines called the pairing one of the summer's biggest lineup debates, and a Hockey Writers preseason piece argued for the Draisaitl, Podkolzin and Kapanen second line. If the stars are split, Podkolzin's linemates would change and he might stay with one of them.
Research confidence: reported. Outlooks are grounded in web search over current reporting and refreshed through the season.
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