Odd.

Good pick.

My oh my. I can't believe many of you guys are cancelling out Virtanen's performance. Virtanen is what we need next year. Virtanen has had a decent year in the W. Again, he missed many games due to the shoulder surgery and missed the first 10 games I believe. He didn't get much playing time under the management of the Calgary Hitmen yet he still put up a decent PPG and 20 goals. If anything, he's proved that he is not a one dimensional player many of you were claiming at the start of the year. He's proved his naysayers wrong that he doesn't have a knack for assisting. He's proven he can play on ALL LINES. He didn't have proper chemistry because he was bounced all over the lines in Calgary. Every line he was on, he made his shift better. When you are bounced around the line shifts nearly every 2 games, it's hard to get chemistry and it's hard to get points that way with the players your are unfamilar with YET he stills manages away to get points all year long. I've watched the Hitmens many times this year and I can confirm that Virtanen never always stayed on the same shift he started the game with. He got invited to the WJC which is a HUGE achievement and honor for him. You need skill, grit, passion, and commitment to be invited and he has just that. He won the WJC with Team Canada and put up very good points while playing on the fourth line with non playmakers. He made his shift better. He was hitting, checking, crushing his opponents with ease. He's got NHL size, NHL speed, and NHL shot. He's definitely ready to be put in the NHL, even if it's his 9 games. He deserves a chance. You guys seem to forget that already. And don't forget about this Calder Cup run the Comets are currently on. They are stacked as hell and Virtanen was picked over McCann to start a few games. He's in the playoffs ffs, and he's doing pretty good WHILE being on the second line already. That is a huge accomplishment itself. Yes, he's shifting between the second, third and fourth lines, but he's still doing jack and being around that level is a helluva an achievement to reach especially since he's bounced back from his shoulder surgery and rehab. But many of you don't know what it's like having surgery and having to bounce back asap and help your team. If anything, Virtanen had a very good year despite all of these roadblocks he had to overcome. I have no doubt he'll be given an opportunity next year.

I was only comparing Hossa's offensive game with Baertschi offensive game. Other than that, both are very much different players. They both are very electric with their speed in their offensive. Baertschi is nowhere near the size Hossa is, and he isn't comparable to Hossa in terms of defensive game albeit the fact that Baertschi can play defense better than most in Utica with what I've watched.

Baertschi never had defensive issues if I'm not mistaken. It's his compete level that was a major question mark. His defensive game is definitely decent. Not the best, but not the worst. When I see Sven's explosiveness in those archives/highlights, he really is damn electrifying. He really does make the crowd stand on their feet in Utica. Marian has this kind of explosiveness too and I immediately thought of Marian when Baertschi undressed this player (https://streamable.com/wv4q). We definitely have something to play around with here.

Sven Baertschi does resemble Marian Hossa game in my eyes. My god hes electric, fast, and very good at puck skills. We have something here in our grasp, boys and girls..

Virtanen playing = Calgary the best team! Virtanen not playing = Ew, Hitmen suck, no skill. lel

Jake Virtanen has his first goal in the playoffs. Finally Jake! Keep up the good work in both sides of the game! Scoring and assisting.

Great read. lol at the end

lul at those that say he cant pass for **** hes got 5 assists in 6gp in playoffs 14 pims in just 6 games. powerforward baby..

What? What?!?!??!?! Enough of this B.S. Hamhuis has been by far one of the best d-man in our line-up.

Saniel Dedins had two points yesterday vs the jets.