canuckistani

every player who creates space and spends extensive time in the offensive zone has to weave to create space. Its like virtanen is an interceptor but not a air superiority fighter- not yet- and we need air superiority fighters to spend extensive time in the enemy territory. 

I just don't see how Jake has earned elite O-zone starts. He is a North-South skater, with speed with a good shot. thats it. He does not deke, he does not weave in the offensive zone to create space. He can be a finisher, provided his defensive skills are good enough to play the off wing - which are getting there but not there yet. Or he can learn how to play his natural side and be effective with the undeniable tools he possesses. 

I said Godly.

?? Panarin has 19 career goals ? I am calling Panarin & Jagr elite scoring talent, not Jake. 

Panarin isn't Jagr level but they are both in the elite zone for scoring, no ?

1. his corsi dramatically decreases with Horvat in defensive deployment ( while Horvat's dramatically improves without Virtanen). This is the major reason i believe Horvat and Virtanen were split up a bit after Sutter went down.
2. He is not on the PK deployment, which indicates he is not considered in the top 30% of this club's PK - which is an ordinary PK in the league to begin with. 

i disagree. yes, it will massively improve him in the O-zone but also diminish him a lot in the D-zone when deployed in the off-wing. It can work in the future, once he is ( that is, if he is) good enough defensively to PK and make up for the d-zone shortcomming of the off-wing. But as it stands now and for the next season or two, our 2-4 line LW spots are in tight contest, while he is the only RW available to the team outside of Brock. So by necessity alone, he is a RW position for now. Usage-wise, it also makes more sense IMO.

almost any winger is way more dangerous in his off-wing due to a bigger angle available. Trouble is, it makes you a defensive liability along the boards, especially in your end. This is why almost all wingers play their natural side, unless they got Godly scoring talent to make up for their defensive weakness ( eg: Panarin, Jagr) or they are super defensively adept to overcome this weakness ( Motte, Burrows).

Jake needs to stick to his wing, especially given how clogged up the left side is right now with middling talent. We don't have a first line LW (we should go get one if we can afford to) and Baer, when healthy, is a lock for the 2nd wing LW slot. Even if he is not there, its a fight between Pearson, Leivo, Motte and Roussell for the last 3 LW slots, not to mention, LE is also a left wing dude and if we gotta hide him, we gotta hide him on the left side most of the time.