Tiger-Hearted

Gaunce → After 15 playoff games: 4 g, 5a, 9pts, +4, 8 pim. He's looking very, very good for a 20-year old AHL rookie. Love that Gaunce is a solid playoff performer. You can never have enough of these kinds of players and right now, they are coming in bunches in the club's prospect pool.

Opps! Previous response intended for this post.

Irrelevant to the thread but man, did I ever dislike Rick Ley. Very mild version of Torts. Sorry, but I just had to get that off my chest. Back to the thread.

Virtanen had a very disappointing season based on what he did in his draft season. However, when you look at what he went through with his shoulder surgery and the recovery time, he had a modestly good season. I hope he spends a lot of time during the off-season to work on getting his timing back. I think, with Tambellini gone, Virtanen will get more offensive starts next season...if he is sent back to junior. Many of us forget(myself included) that Virtanen was one of the youngest players in last year's draft.

Exactly. Amen. As a big supporter of Virtanen and how happy I was when the Canucks picked him at 6th overall, I was starting to get critical of his lack of production in the playoffs. Virtanen had been playing undisciplined hockey with untimely penalties. However, I have been fully aware that having shoulder surgery had a created a dominoes effect on his overall season performance. I give Virtanen credit for having a much better game and I get accused of being "back on the bandwagon". Very classy. Bottom line is this: people are entitled to their opinions and viewpoints. Just because one disagrees with another, one doesn't need to use condescending and trolling behavior.

Virtanen is looking a lot better! Looks like he's finding his groove. Hope he gets the hat-trick in ot.

Much better game for Virtanen.

I take it that you haven't read my support towards Shinkaruk in the Hunter Shinkaruk thread this season, eh? Virtanen's shoulder injury has played a huge role in his drop in offensive consistency, I totally agree. However, the rust from being off the ice is no longer an excuse. He had a nice stretch in late January, which included his last multi-goal game vs the woeful Giants, had a nice run in late February but has had a lousy month of March. For a guy who has the skill set that he does, Virtanen has just 3 goals in his last 19 games. That includes the regular season and the playoffs. That's not good nor acceptable for a goalscoring power forward in junior hockey. Getting assists is a nice bonus and so is putting opponents over the boards and into the team benches. It could be possible that his shoulder might still be bothering him or he may have an undisclosed injury that may be hampering his deadly shot that usually results in turning the red light on. Hopefully, we will know more about Virtanen's situation after the Hitmen's season is over and done with.

Actually, with McCann, defence is a nice bonus.

I said Virtanen is having a "Kyle Beach" performance in this year's playoffs. I did not say that Virtanen will be the next version of Chicago's '08 bust. And I already stated that I like Virtanen. But ONE playoff goal and all these penalty minutes are unacceptable. Especially, for a player who played in the WJC. Furthermore, Calgary has proven to be a good offensive team.

I'm very curious what Benning has to be thinking. I'm still happy about taking a local power forward, even at sixth overall. However, when you look at the monster performance that Nick Richie is showing with S.S. Marie compared to Virtanen's "Kyle Beach" performance in the WHL playoffs, you really have to wonder. I like Virtanen and I just hope Benning and Linden get to the bottom of Virtanen's problematic season.

I wonder what Jake's facial expression was after he finally scored his first of the playoffs. Lol. Let's hope it's the start of things to come. Keep it up, Jake!

In other words, Jake won't be like another local boy, ie. his trade out of Winnipeg helped get the Jets into the playoffs. Thankfully, his trade was to Buffalo and not here.

As thrilled as I am to be seeing guys like McCann and Cassels racking up the goals and points compared to Virtanen but if I were GM and could do last year' s draft all over again, I would pick Jake in a heartbeat. I can't wait to see him at this year's prospect camp and at the prospects tournament in Penticton. A good summer of training and fine-tuning his scoring touch will help him big time compared to the lack of off-season training last summer.

Forget the goose egg. Ousted gets the Easter Egg! Seeing the 'Caps in first place overall makes for a "Hoppy" Easter.

2009 was a weak draft year and I couldn't even find Rodin's name in The Hockey News's Draft Preview. He wouldn't even cut it with Kalamazoo today so if we can say goodbye to Schroeder, we can say goodbye to Rodin as well.

The only way I could ever envision Virtanen being like Booth is if he took up hunting as an off-season passion.

If Virtanen can develop future chemistry with the likes of McCann, Horvat or even Cassels, there is no reason why he can't be a 40-goal scorer in the NHL. A player with his size, strength, speed and lethal shooting ability should have the ability to be a big-time goalscorer. More importantly, Jake has the heart and maturity to succeed - no matter what is going wrong in Calgary.

Nice! But what if the club decides to keep Ryan Stanton?

You're being argumentative without even trying to counter with a valid argument as to why it's better for Jake to struggle in Calgary then get his feet wet in Utica. And for the record, Hodgson and Jensen went straight to the Manitoba Moose and Chicago Wolves respectively after their post-draft seasons in juniors were over.

I wonder if Virtanen is playing with an undisclosed injury. Because last season, he was very consistent with 45 goals in 71 games. Last year in the playoffs, he had 1g 3a in 6 games. Let's hope the Hitmen get knocked out so Green can work with Virtanen in Utica and give us a better idea on what Virtanen really needs to work on. So far, we really don't know what is really going on in Calgary other than looking at the constant zeros in Virtanen's scoreline. There has to be more than what meets the eye.

It's great to read that Virtanen has a great wrist shot. I thought it was just his slapshot that was powerful. Here's hoping that he has a strong post-season.

Getting points is part of Virtanen's game and his offence has been terribly inconsistent since the beginning of February. However, as I had mentioned in earlier posts, his timing is off this season because of his shoulder surgery recovery, which prevented him from off-season training. I'm still very thrilled to have a local power forward as one of our prospects. Even when Virtanen's not putting the puck in the net, at least, he's putting opponents over the boards and into the bench. Just to let everyone know, Virtanen has been ranked 15th out of the top 60 NHL prospects in The Hockey News's Future Watch issue. https://secure.thehockeynews.com/online-store/index.php?cat=S&=&feature=THNS15FUTRW1&&utm_source=thn.com&utm_medium=redirect&utm_campaign=special_issues

A good solid off-season to work on his offensive ability will be very beneficial as well. Virtanen will also get far more offensive starts with the departure of Calgary's overagers next season.

I'm hoping that Virtanen plays another season in Calgary. The overage players will be gone and JV's offensive game will be as consistent as it was last season due to a complete summer of training. Should the above happen, I'm hoping the Hitmen make two stops to the Coliseum next season. I cannot understand why the Giants played two games in Calgary this season instead of splitting the two games home/away. Therefore, costing us a chance to watch JV live.