I think people need to let go of the the fact that he was drafted 6th and who was still on the board when he was taken. He is not going to live up to that and you are setting yourself up for disappointment if you have those expectations. Overall his season in the AHL has some positives but is still a bit of a disappointment. I can't remember the last time a top 10 pick averaged less than .30 ppg in the AHL in their D+3 season. I am hoping that had more to do with the lack of skill on the roster and I hope JB takes steps to correct that offseason. They need to look at all alternatives to improve the farm club. I would not be opposed to picking up a few free agents from Europe who had big seasons like Mark Arcobello or Brandon Kozun to provide the team with some high end (AHL) skill.
I have always believed that players improve more by playing beside good players. If nothing else it helps your confidence to pot a goal every now and then or even pick up an assist. I am not going to compare my playing days to professional hockey but I personally always gained a bit of confidence after a potting a goal or helping set up a teammate even if the goal was just a tap in or the assist rather unspectacular. So lets give the kid some good linemates, inflating his stats won't make him a better player but I still think it will help his confidence to have his name show up more on the stat sheet.
I don't know if he can ever generate offense on his own. The only time he looks really dangerous is when he can get a bit of a step on the defender but even then most of the time the defender can recover sufficiently enough to keep him on the outside. Even if you have a shot like Laine/Ovechkin you aren't going to have much success beating NHL goalies with shots from the outside. Goalies now days are skilled enough to easily parry away shots that they can see. His cycle game is still not quite up to mark, he needs to get much better at board battles if he expects a call up any time soon.
If you are having trouble scoring, then you have to muck it up and play a style of game that helps facilitate your linemates. You have to become a beast of a forechecker, he has shown the ability to do that in the past when he used to use his skill and size to get the jump on defenders to make them rush their passes or force a turnover. There is value in a player that can forecheck and dig the puck out to a more skilled linemate. Crosby with Kunitz, Datsyuk with Abdelkader, McDavid with Maroon, Matthews with Hyman. NHL coaches see value in playing a guy that is good at simply working the boards and playing hard to get the puck out to a far more skilled linemate. Gone are the days where there used to be loaded top 6, now days skilled players like to have the puck on their stick more often than not and its often more effective to spread your talent anyway. When Babcock was asked why Hyman continues to play with Matthews, he answered that there was only so much of the puck to go around and Hyman is one of the best players in the NHL at being effective without the puck.
That's what I hope Jake can turn into for us, an exceptional forechecker than can help facilitate the next star (Svechnikov? One can dream) that the Canucks draft.