Yahoo Sports Oilers' Knoblauch Sings New Forward's Praises
EDMONTON -- Favorites, everyone's got them.
Food, music, movies - everyone has something that they like more than others.
Whether he wants to admit it or not, Edmonton Oilers head coach Kris Knoblauch has his favorite players that he coaches. You can tell who they are by how he talks about them and how much ice time he dishes out.
One newcomer certainly appears to be in his good books, so much so that with Tuesday night's game against the Ottawa Senators, he gave them a big stamp of approval.Knoblauch played him with Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl.
Of course, the player in question here is Vasily Podkolzin.
Podkolzin was acquired because he has many good tools, and those tools have been noticed since day one.
"He's hard on the forecheck," Knoblauch said to the media after last night's win, "he's able to make a nice pass on the breakout. He goes to the net when it's in the offensive zone, so those guys can play with the puck and make those passes.
"We want him to continue and play that way."
Sergei Belski-Imagn Images
He's been learning to play with Draisaitl, and Knoblauch has kept them together. The line of Viktor Arvidsson, Draisaitl, and Podkolzin was together for 92 even strength minutes before the Swede's injury.
"He's been playing with Leon for quite some time," Knoblauch said, "and now playing with those two (Draisaitl and McDavid) creates a little space for them to do their thing."
And he was rewarded for letting them "do their thing" last night. Podkolzin recorded two assists in a season-high 16:04 of ice time.
"He's been doing all the little things," Knoblauch told the media, "right from day one...usually the first guy on the ice, usually the last guy on the ice. Always working on his game.
"We have a lot of faith in him."
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