Jake Virtanen | #18 | RW

[Stelar]

17 hours ago, Where'd Luongo? said:

Maybe he thought he needed to get really big and it was muscle gains. It's possible, but either way maybe the Canucks should give their prospects a better guide of what is expected of them. If they gave him a target weight and specific goals for the off-season, this could have been avoided.

 

They bring all their prospects in the summer for a camp where they go through meals and diet.  Do you really think with a trainer on staff that they don't have individual plans for every player? Come on man.....

[terrible.dee]

On 1/1/2017 at 9:47 AM, vancan2233 said:

Then take this advise my young fan if you what to learn the game volunteer your time to help a coach out at a practice. Take the time to go to games and in between periods ask questions. You will find that their are only a few who actual know what their talking about. As soon as you hear the coach should do this!, this player sucks! walk away and start the questions with someone else.  The poster you quoted seems to me, to be the one you walk away from. A knowledgeable poster, with a post that long would have writing some good about a young player developing. Not just his negative bias opinion on what he thinks he is seeing.

Here another piece of advice very few fans are actually students of the game. Most love the game, but few understand the game within the game. They like goals, big hits and fights( who does not) but the true student see the little plays to be just as important. What "Bad Goalie" seems to have total lacking in his post is the little things Jake is starting to learn, like not going out of his way to make the big hit.

I know the kid is not developing at the pace people want and this is the problem, because when he has make mistakes people over react.

2

Ok, that does it

 

I'm calling you out for being on the payroll

 

Either your a top level troll who has invented this  to persona to make CDC squirm (in which case much respect, I salute) or you get paid to post this stuff (in which case ....nice gig)

 

But it's one or the other, and I'm pretty much convinced it's the latter.

 

All companies hire people to have a presence of their own on pertinent message boards. Hive mentality is alive and people will read an opinion and a minute later start spouting it off as if they are the ones who thought of it first. Doesn't matter what opinion, most people just want to identify with some side of an issue, talk radio being the prime example. If the Canucks didn't have people on these boards trying to keep their image up it would be negligent in this day and age.

 

I just wish they would hire better writers 

 

 

[terrible.dee]

On 1/2/2017 at 9:21 PM, ShakyWalton said:

Maybe Bartkowskis mom was referring to Jake on that mothers road trip last year...where she said everyone was great except for that little 18 year old.( I know Jake isnt little but it could of been a term for young)..we all assumed it was McCann....who knows..

 

I think it's a pretty safe bet that it was McCann

 

I've never heard that many complaints about a rookies personality, hockey people are so tight-lipped. Whatever McCann is like behind closed doors must be excruciating bad to get hockey people mentioning it in the media., where there's smoke there's fire and McCann was sizzling all summer. BTW I believe the one and only reason we have Gudbransson today, and why we saw the "once in a decade" trade  in the playoffs was because JB had one objective in mind from the day the Canucks season ended, an objective that Im sure most players screamed at him during their exit interviews: GET McCANN OFF THIS F$#KING TEAM! Some day I would like to know what he did to piss everyone off so badly, 

[terrible.dee]

On 1/2/2017 at 11:29 AM, elvis15 said:

You could be worried about a guy posting on CDC New Year's eve, or you could be worried about the guy posting two days later who hasn't bothered to read the replies in that conversation and still gets the story wrong.

 

I think I'll worry about neither thank you very much

 

I am however concerned with the surf break here at Rincon, blown out and choppy

 

The NY comment was uncalled for, so I'll apologize for that, 

 

Which story is that? That It's odd for someone to be so agitated at the mention of a trade rumor, and probably not healthy?

 

I'm up for a Pulitzer prize on that one 

[aGENT]

7 hours ago, SID.IS.SID.ME.IS.ME said:

I don't think anyone in the organization ever confirmed specific details. They'd just say "Jake's been working hard" and "he's looking good" and stuff like that. But there was definitely a lot of talk about Virtanen being on a regular training program under Canucks supervision. I heard the same details over the summer from someone I consider a good source on these types of things.

 

And by late-October 2016, it was getting reported in the mainstream press. Botchford had a story that was in The Province (and on several other Postmedia newspaper websites).

 

Bloggers like Canucks Army also reported it.

 

Here's the most detailed Botchford excerpt:

 

 

 

 

It is a bit odd that according to reports he was training hard, with Canuck staff all summer, and yet his fitness was (at least somewhat) still in question/an issue.

 

I don't think we're in Wellwood or a few years ago Byfuglien territory with Jake but it is certainly odd.

 

Some of that could be due to what I've talked about before on here that it can take his body type (I'm guessing endomorph) a LOT of work (and hence time) to get to what we consider 'good' NHL level fitness/stamina. We're talking years of hard work here. And if he's cheating, even a bit on diet, that's not going to help him. Particularly with his body type.

 

Combine that with what is (understandably at his age) some maturity issues and the (very common with younger players) issue with needing to constantly be moving your feet at the pro level we start to see more of the picture of what is likely happening with Jake.

 

He needs to keep working at his fitness, mature and learn (like a LOT of younger players) that he can't get by at the pro level on skill and size alone while coasting around and that he has to constantly be pushing out on the ice (which will require that aforementioned fitness). The shot, skating and skill are there. So long as he keeps working at those other things, he'll be fine IMO.

[Where'd Luongo?]

4 hours ago, Stelar said:

 

They bring all their prospects in the summer for a camp where they go through meals and diet.  Do you really think with a trainer on staff that they don't have individual plans for every player? Come on man.....

Yes but maybe their advice for him was to bulk up. Also, as others have stated, many players have their own trainers and don't rely on the Canucks for that. Come on man...

Edited January 4, 2017 by Where'd Luongo?

[SID.IS.SID.ME.IS.ME]

15 hours ago, J.R. said:

 

It is a bit odd that according to reports he was training hard, with Canuck staff all summer, and yet his fitness was (at least somewhat) still in question/an issue.

 

I don't think we're in Wellwood or a few years ago Byfuglien territory with Jake but it is certainly odd.

 

Some of that could be due to what I've talked about before on here that it can take his body type (I'm guessing endomorph) a LOT of work (and hence time) to get to what we consider 'good' NHL level fitness/stamina. We're talking years of hard work here. And if he's cheating, even a bit on diet, that's not going to help him. Particularly with his body type.

 

Combine that with what is (understandably at his age) some maturity issues and the (very common with younger players) issue with needing to constantly be moving your feet at the pro level we start to see more of the picture of what is likely happening with Jake.

 

He needs to keep working at his fitness, mature and learn (like a LOT of younger players) that he can't get by at the pro level on skill and size alone while coasting around and that he has to constantly be pushing out on the ice (which will require that aforementioned fitness). The shot, skating and skill are there. So long as he keeps working at those other things, he'll be fine IMO.

One thing that gives me hope for Jake is looking back at pics like this:

 

 

The twins started from what I'd consider even worse conditioning than we've seen from Virtanen to become two of fittest athletes in the NHL. 

 

I've joked in the past about Virtanen needing a "Swedish holiday" of summer training with Hank and Danny. 

 

Maybe it's time to think seriously about it?

 

Put Jake up for summer 2017 in an Örnsköldsvik sommarstugan. And instead of training five days a week at Rogers Arena, give him five days a week of this:

 

 

 

Edited January 5, 2017 by SID.IS.SID.ME.IS.ME

[canuckledraggin]

Wouldn't every player love to have an identical version of themselves to push each other every second of every day

[N4ZZY]

51 minutes ago, SID.IS.SID.ME.IS.ME said:

One thing that gives me hope for Jake is looking back at pics like this:

 

 

The twins started from what I'd consider even worse conditioning than we've seen from Virtanen to become two of fittest athletes in the NHL. 

 

I've joked in the past about Virtanen needing a "Swedish holiday" of summer training with Hank and Danny. 

 

Maybe it's time to think seriously about it?

 

Put Jake up for summer 2017 in an Örnsköldsvik sommarstugan. And instead of training five days a week at Rogers Arena, give him five days a week of this:

 

 

 

Sedins are amazing. i'm going to miss them when they eventually call it a career. hope they stay in van and be a part of the organization in some capacity. 

[canuckledraggin]

On 1/3/2017 at 2:02 PM, pluralsight said:

Since lots of people in this thread are still playing bitterness card by still ragging on who we picked/didn't pick in the 2014 draft, my question is, do you think Virtanen would have fallen low enough to 24th? If so, would you have taken him at 24th? 

This mock nails both of our 1st round picks which is pretty crazy. http://www.draftsite.com/nhl/mock-draft/2014/ there's a bunch of other mocks that have Jake from 6-11.  

 

The best late round pick in this draft #66, who should give you absolutely no reason to ever question Benning's drafting, was 20 year old Nikita Tryamkin.http://www.draftsite.com/nhl/draft-history/2016-2012/vancouver/68/0/

 

Notice the entire 2015 draft class as well as Brett McKenzie and Rodrigo Abols from 2016, are likely to turn pro. It's 8 or 9 players and it may be the reason for purchasing the Alaska Aces this year.

 

Jake is going to come out flying after a week off and I think the Comets are going to go on a decent run.

 

 

 

 

[Boudrias]

5 hours ago, canuckledraggin said:

This mock nails both of our 1st round picks which is pretty crazy. http://www.draftsite.com/nhl/mock-draft/2014/ there's a bunch of other mocks that have Jake from 6-11.  

 

The best late round pick in this draft #66, who should give you absolutely no reason to ever question Benning's drafting, was 20 year old Nikita Tryamkin.http://www.draftsite.com/nhl/draft-history/2016-2012/vancouver/68/0/

 

Notice the entire 2015 draft class as well as Brett McKenzie and Rodrigo Abols from 2016, are likely to turn pro. It's 8 or 9 players and it may be the reason for purchasing the Alaska Aces this year.

 

Jake is going to come out flying after a week off and I think the Comets are going to go on a decent run.

 

 

 

 

Many fans look at player histories and judge current draft picks using those metrics. Trottier like, another Lemieux etc. My question would be what impact modern training, coaching, scouting and development have in the success rate of drafts below the 1st Round. Benning does find serious prospects at lower levels but should we be surprised? Stats say yes, odds are against these players. In a nut shell my question is whether the gap between the top Round and the lower drafts is as wide as it used to be?  

[saucypass]

On 1/3/2017 at 11:02 PM, pluralsight said:

Since lots of people in this thread are still playing bitterness card by still ragging on who we picked/didn't pick in the 2014 draft, my question is, do you think Virtanen would have fallen low enough to 24th? If so, would you have taken him at 24th? 

 

Well it's kind of hard to say since McCann dropped to 24th and he was rated much higher. Had he dropped to 24th I wouldn't have mind selecting him there, but he wouldn't be my clear cut first choice at that position. Without using hindsight, I remember wanting Nikolay Goldobin (who is looking really good right now), then Pastrnak (who with hindsight I would pick ahead of both.), and Demko. 

 

Again, I certainly wouldn't have been crushed to see him drafted at 24th had he dropped there, but having him at 6th really disappointed me. But I am now looking forward to the day he makes me feel silly for ever being disappointed should that day ever come. 

[filthycanuck]

On 1/5/2017 at 1:12 AM, SID.IS.SID.ME.IS.ME said:

One thing that gives me hope for Jake is looking back at pics like this:

 

 

The twins started from what I'd consider even worse conditioning than we've seen from Virtanen to become two of fittest athletes in the NHL. 

 

I've joked in the past about Virtanen needing a "Swedish holiday" of summer training with Hank and Danny. 

 

Maybe it's time to think seriously about it?

 

Put Jake up for summer 2017 in an Örnsköldsvik sommarstugan. And instead of training five days a week at Rogers Arena, give him five days a week of this:

 

 

 

 

True, the Sedins weren't the fittest guys on the team when they were starting out, but the thing that was never a question was their commitment to excellence. Those guys did what it took to get better. That despite the early criticism, its like they pushed harder, the harder the obstacle.

I heard an interview of Willie's on the radio and he was talking about Jack Skille, on how hes impressed him. The guy isn't the greatest athlete, not the most talented, but the thing that Willie said that Skille was ALWAYS doing something to try to keep himself in the pros, the guy was always hanging out it in the rink, watching film, working out, on the ice with the skills coach, etc. Virtanen on the other hand, as per reports by Tomlinson, was almost always the first guy out of the ice and last guy in. Thats why hes in Utica. If both guys aren't producing, I'd take the player that at least makes an effort than the other guy whos lazy and feels entitled.

[Smashian Kassian]

I realize this may be an unpopular opinion, but I don't necessarily think keeping Jake up here last year vs having him go back to junior was the wrong thing.

 

Just because, physically in junior he's already as dominant as can be, and the thing is, for a younger player like him who perhaps needs to grow up a bit, having him up here where the pro guys work with him to mold his game to a more effective NHL style that they see fit is a good thing rather than him going to Junior knowing he's a man amongst boys and then developing bad habits out due to the fact he would need to lead his team in junior.

 

He really needed to be in the AHL, but it was worth a shot, now he's faced reality and he knows what he needs to do, he hasn't been bad in the AHL, it will take time for him to adjust but its not like he's suddenly a bust, far from it, he's already an NHL caliber player if anything he just needs to work on his game in the pros to be more consistent with what he can do and that process is beginning now.

 

I wanted Ehlers badly and I still wish we had taken him, but the last half year (meaning the end of last year and start of this season till now) has made me much more optimistic about Jake than I've ever been really.

Edited January 6, 2017 by Smashian Kassian

[Vicky]

4 hours ago, filthycanuck said:

as per reports by Tomlinson

 

Tomlinson is an ass clown.  Just sayin'.

[ShakyWalton]

3 hours ago, Vicky said:

 

Tomlinson is an ass clown.  Just sayin'.

couldn't agree more..this guy is so over rated as an anaylist its hilarious..he was a lousy hockey player and worse on air.

[N4ZZY]

4 hours ago, ShakyWalton said:

couldn't agree more..this guy is so over rated as an anaylist its hilarious..he was a lousy hockey player and worse on air.

what makes him so bad on the air, in your opinion? 

 

[N4ZZY]

24 minutes ago, The 5th Line said:

Jake is like one of those 7'5 tall dudes from Sudan that an NBA team will bring over every once in awhile.  They have no idea how to play but hey, they are 7 feet tall. 

so much hate for jake. wow. 

 

the kid's 20 years old. give him time to adjust to the pro league (AHL), and see what he does. 

 

almost everyone on these boards is a fan of the Detroit Red Wings model of developing their players, but we don't have the patience for such a model 

[wshdrvvn]

4 minutes ago, The 5th Line said:

 

Hey now, Manute Bol broke records. 

 

 

most selections to the NBA "All Shins Team" in history

[Alflives]

8 minutes ago, The 5th Line said:

 

A superb shot blocker.  Holds the rookie record for blocked shots and average blocked shots per game.  2nd all time in average blocked shots per game and 15th on the all time blocked shots list.  He is actually the only player in NBA history to have more blocked shots than points scored...  At a staggering 7 feet and 7 inches tall, he messes around with teammate Muggsy Bogues who stands at just 5 feet and 3 inches off the ground....

Se

Very cool picture.  That's some amazing springs on Mugsy.