Vancouver Carnacs aren’t making the playoffs this year, but fans can cheer on some former players who have won games in three rounds of the playoffs and are now on the cusp of raising the Stanley Cup. They are not audiences for their respective teams, either, as these five significantly impacted the Edmonton Oilers and the Florida Panthers’ journey back to the Stanley Cup finals. Let’s look at them now.
Edmonton Oilers
Vasily Podkolzin
The Canucks never really gave Vasily Podkolzin a chance to build himself in the NHL and now, he is in the Stanley Cup final with the Oilers. Essentially, they gave him up before the season when they traded him as a fourth-round pick and the Oilers are reaping the benefits of this mistake as he has become a valuable member of the top 9. Although he still hasn’t reached the 10th pick, his impact on surpassing the scoring piece is far beyond that. Not only is he a physical strength (211 hits in the regular season and 74 in the playoffs so far), but his relentless pre-review, energy and overall sports have also made a huge difference in the composition of forwards that surpass superstars Leon Draisaitl and Connor McDavid.
Podkolzin has also been a versatile forward in the Oilers, playing up and down in the lineup and killing free throws. He spent a lot of time with a grinder like Mattias Janmark and even rode a shotgun with Draisaitl. In both cases, he played the same way in the same way, using the “his dog” play style to create space for his circle length.
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Canucks fans who have been following Podkolzin since being drafted know he can one day have such an impact in the playoffs. He showed this in the 2021 Kontinental Hockey League (KHL) playoffs, when he scored six goals and 11 points in 16 games, while the 2020 World Junior was captain of the Russian team. His efforts in the NHL playoffs were only one goal and six points, but I think everyone around the Oilers and the hockey world could agree that he gave the lineup more than it was shown on paper.
Troy Stecher
Troy Stecher played for the 2019-20 Canucks for the then-existing offseason season, when then-general Jim Benning failed to re-sign him, Chris Tanev, Tyler Toffoli and Jacob Markstrom. Instead of focusing on the unresolved unrestricted free agents (UFAS), he decided to chase Oliver Ekman-Larsson for trade. Tanev and Markstrom eventually signed with the Calgary Flames, Toffoli fixed the Montreal Canadaens, while Stecher landed in Detroit with red wings.
Throughout his journey with Canucks, Stecher is a reliable defensive player who often ranks in the top four with Alex Edler. While he doesn’t offer a lot of offense, he is a great hockey and penalty kicker who ends up being a fan favorite of personality and courage. Despite being less than 5-foot-10, he wasn’t afraid to put his body on the way he hurt, recording 322 hits and 307 blocks with the Canucks during his tenure. He has bounced across the league and became a deeper defender since heading to Detroit, but the team still finds the value it brings to the Blue Line.
Stecher played only six games with the Oilers in the playoffs, but in those six games he was quiet and effective, recording an average of 15:57 ice time and with six hits and seven blocks. He was sent back to the news box along with Mattias Ekholm’s return lineup since then, but the Oilers always knew they had him in the back pocket when they needed it.
Florida Black Panther
Gustav Fork
Gustav forsling never played a game in the Canucks organization, but he was always called the game of escape. After taking the World Youth team as Sweden in 2014, he ranked 126th in 2014 and traded to the Chicago Blackhawks, and has since become one of the top two-way defenders in the NHL. While the Canucks weren’t the only decision that regrettable didn’t let him go into the players we saw today, it still hurts to see that he now occupy the blue line for the Panthers.
Related: Escaped Ganak Prospects: Gustav
Since being claimed off waivers from the Carolina Hurricanes in 2020, Forsling has become one of the anchors of the Panthers’ Stanley Cup-winning defense corps, hitting double-digits in goals in four of the five seasons he’s been in South Florida, along with being a rock defensively (425 blocked shots, 338 hits, and a ridiculous plus-166 in the plus/minus He has been a big part of the Panthers’ advance to their third straight Stanley Cup final, with seven goals and 25 points on the field, as well as 88 blocks, 84 hits and plus 30 points. Last year, he was even discussed as a Conn Smythe Trophy candidate when he scored four goals and 13 points in his first championship game.
Nate Schmidt
Nate Schmidt will one day be the focus of the Forgotten Karnak work. During his time in the Washington capital, Las Vegas Golden Knights and the Winnipeg Jets, he spent just 54 games in the weird 2020-21 season. In 2022, a third-round draft pick was obtained from the Golden Knights hat, when the Canucks were a huge winner in the deal, gaining a mobile top four defensive player who could be on two special teams, blocking, shooting and delivering physically. Unfortunately, he never really had a system that fits Travis Green and was traded to the Jets the next offseason to get another third-round pick.
Schmidt returned to the form he showed in Las Vegas in 2021-22 and spent three seasons in Winnipeg before the Jets sold him last year. He locked the Panthers on a one-year contract in the offseason, like another former Karnak Oliver Ekman-Larsson, who has become a valuable defender for the defending champion in the 2024 playoffs. Not only did he excel in defense, he also added three goals and seven points, which has become a very productive Panthers defense.
Jonah Gadjovich
Finally, we have another short-term gangster at Jonah Gadjovich (this draft pick, this time the second round pick in 2017). So short that he only played one game and recorded a 4:55 ice time in his first memorable NHL debut against the Calgary Flames in 2020-21. He didn’t score or score, but after he drove Matthew Highmore into the board from behind, he threw his gloves off with another rookie Connor Mackey. Gadjovich won two, one-fifth and 10 fights and incitement and was abandoned by the game for his only appearance in the Canucks.
The San Jose Sharks were exempted next season when Canucks tried to send him to the American Hockey League (AHL), and the San Jose Sharks were exempted since then, playing 160 games in the NHL games with the Sharks and their current team, Panthers. As always expected, he has established his modern executor who can make regular shifts in the fourth line and occasionally score goals. Offense is always a reward for your fourth line, and Gadjovich has given the playoffs two goals and threes in 10 games, as well as his trademark body and mean man (52 hits and 18 free throw minutes).
The Stanley Cup Final will begin on June 4
Panthers-Oilers Remutch started on June 4, with four of the five players in action. Now that the Blue Line of the Oiler is healthy, Stile may be the weird guy again, but we will see Pod Corzin, Stitcher, Folsling and Schmidt fight against it for the final award. Will Podkolzin and Stecher be part of the team that will eventually bring the Cup back to Canada, or will Will Forsling, Gadjovich and Schmidt help keep it south of the border? We will find the answer in a few weeks.
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