Canucks recall former first-round pick

After being papered down to the minors on Friday, Vasily Podkolzin is back up with the Canucks as the team announced that they’ve recalled him from AHL Abbotsford.

The 22-year-old was the tenth pick back in 2019 and spent the entire 2021-22 season with Vancouver.  However, last season, he split the season between the NHL and the AHL, and this year, they decided he’d be best served playing big minutes in his final season of waiver exemption.

Podkolzin has played 44 games with Abbotsford this season, collecting 15 goals and 13 assists. He has seen action in three games with Vancouver this month but has been primarily limited to fourth-line duty, and that’s likely to continue.

Podkolzin had been shuffled repeatedly over the last week, but that should change now. With Vancouver having a dozen healthy forwards before this roster move, that means this will count as one of their four allowable post-deadline regular recalls so his stint with the Canucks should be longer this time around.  

Notably, his promotion effectively caps Vancouver out as they won’t be able to afford another recall. That likely played a role in their decision yesterday not to sign Phil Kessel as an extra-depth player after he had recently worked out with Abbotsford.