On the Edmonton Oilers, there's a reason why you don't see Leon Draisaitl or Connor Mcdavid on the penalty kill (PK). They're capable of performing this function, but it gives head coach Kris Knoblauch a reason to give them a rest for at least two minutes, and considering how much time they spend at evens and on the power play (PP), that's a good thing. Let's take a look at six guys who don't get a lot of publicity but maybe they should.
1. Vasily Podkolzin
Vasily Podkolzin might just be this seasons's poster boy for what a trade as a fresh start gets you. After being drafted 10th overall by the Canucks in 2019, he spent the first three seasons of his NHL career bouncing back and forth between the NHL and the AHL. The Oilers, seeing a need for a fresh start, in the offseason then sent a fourth round pick to the Canucks for him.
He has covered that bet in spades, starting out the season as a regular on the fourth line, then moving up to the third. He then earned a spot on the second line next to Draisaitl, where he's stayed ever since with the brief exception of now as Draisaitl's line becomes the first line, as McDavid's suspension forces Knoblauch to rejig the lines temporarily.
Podkolzin's proven that he's not much of a scoring juggernaut at this point, as just over halfway through the season he's at a modest 6-13-19 in 47 games (that projects out to 33 points unless his scoring drops off). However, he provides value in other ways to this line, primarily as a defensive presence with an ability to muck it up physically. At the time of this writing Podkolzin is tied-sixth on the team in +/- with +9, not a standout per se but still a very solid number and nothing to complain about.
He also leads the team in hits with 101 at the time of this writing, also the only player on the team with over 100 hits right now. He's ninth on the team in blocked shots with 28 at the time of this writing. This has definitely helped to open up the ice for Draisaitl to do his thing, who would be the first one to tell you that the play of Podkolzin is a big reason why Dr. Drai currently leads the NHL in goals scored. It's also nice to see an internal option fill the vacuum of second line left winger created when Jeff Skinner stumbled so badly this season.
It certainly doesn't hurt that Podkolzin has only has a cap hit of $1 million for this season and next. This trade will likely go into the vault as Stan Bowman's best under the radar trade of his Oilers GM career. It's going to be hard to top getting a top six forward with that low of a cap hit for only a fourth round pick. The best part is Podkolzin is only 23, so he has time still to work on his offence and figure out how to ride shotgun next to Draisaitl and turn more of his plays into goals and assists.
I look forward to seeing Podkolzin in the lineup for the rest of the season, and can't wait to see what he'll do next season. Evander Kane's return to lineup, even if it's only for the playoffs, will complicate things for young Podkolzin (this spot was Kane's regular position last season), but in the meantime he can bask in the following accomplishments - he's become an NHL regular, he's a regular top six forward at least for now, and he's made Bowman looking very good for trading for him at such a paltry sum going the other way. Not bad for a 23-year-old struggling with confidence in the Canucks organization. Fantastic under the radar pickup by Bowman.
2. Mattias Janmark
They don't nickname this guy "The Janitor" for nothing. Mattias Janmark's calling card is mainly his defensive presence. Although you wouldn't know it this season by the fact that he's -3 so far after having been even and +9 his previous two seasons respectively for the Oilers. This is also the first season he's been in the minus category since he played for Chicago in the 2020-21 season. I'm hoping that will even out over the season.
Janmark is even capable of delivering secondary levels of offence, after having put up 25, 12, and 14 so far this season - although it's worth noting he only has a 3.4 percent shooting percentage so far this season (10.2 percent career average) so he has more in the bank to give. This is mainly due to him shooting a lot less than previous seasons, having put up 29 shots in 47 games this season vs. 67 in 71 games last season. If you want to do the math of averages that means Janmark is shooting just over 30 percent less this season than last.
Still, even with this discrepancy Knoblauch is not afraid to play Janmark in the top six for spells. This is illustrated by the fact that he was elevated to the top six during McDavid's suspension on the left of Ryan Nugent-Hopkins on the second line. Maybe this spell with give Janmark a chance to bolster those shot metrics as he gets more plum offensive time.
Every team needs a glue guy like Janmark, who might not excel at any one NHL skill, but has a great variety of tools in the toolbox. He even takes more faceoffs than almost any other winger on the team, and has done time at centre in the bottom six as well for spells. He's not super great at faceoffs, but he does at least okay at 43.9 percent overall. Probably what he's best at is PK. He has a regular spot on the second PK unit and is eighth on the team in PK ice time with 1:21 on average per game, roughly about 10-15 percent of his total ice time.
There's a reason Janmark's contract is unusual for a bottom six forward. Signed on the first day of free agency in 2024, he's making $1.45 million for this season plus two more with a 10 team NTC to boot. It's highly unorthodox for a bottom six forward to get close to $1.5 million a season, more than two seasons, or a contract with any special clauses, but Janmark has all three of those. In my opinion he's earned it; then-interim GM Jeff Jackson made a great signing here.