Sorry Zaddy, but you just keep going after Podkolzin here....the hate is getting thick. When Podkolzin is on the ice the play goes through him to the net. He's not afraid to take it there, and is actually as elite as they come at that skill. Watch some of the highlight reels of Podkolzin...several highlights of him passing to teammates(he especially likes to go cross seam on the powerplay). His playmaking is underrated because he is so dominant with the puck on his stick, and his powerful skating along with elite ability to drive the puck to the net without hesitation often is the best play when you can do it. He causes defenses to back off, and he has as good a shot as anyone in the draft outside of Kaliyev, so when the defense backs off he can take advantage of the open space to get that lethal shot off. Because he can handle the puck and dominate physically with it on his stick he creates space and opportunity for his linemates. On top of it all, he never gets outworked. He competes at both ends of the ice. He's the guy you want on the ice whether up down or tied with little time left on the clock.
Any team that passes on this guy because of their own lack of ability to develop, train, assimilate a player into their culture is going to look awfully foolish 10 years from now.