Jake Virtanen | #18 | RW

[Gaudette Celly]

Probably a 2-year bridge at ~$1.5mil.  Determined by a lot more factors than simply PPG.

[dpn1]

I have to say, I take posts at face value.  It is fine to ask what his contract will look like.  I didn't sense any animosity in the question posted.  I have to take the post for what it is, a question.  Sometimes a loaf of bread is just a loaf of bread.  No need to read into it any more than what it says.  As I posted earlier, Jake will probably get in the neighborhood of 1.5 over 2 years.  Time to chill guys. 

[kloubek]

13 hours ago, The 5th Line said:

He'll get 1.3 - 1.75 for  probably 2 years.  2 mil would be a bit of a surprise and anything more than 2 would be a big over payment.  9 goals and 1 of them was the softest of the year on Lehtonen and another was deposited in to an empty net.

I agree that he will get a bridge contract, but think your range is a bit too low considering the physicality he brings.  I realize that his scoring has been slow in coming, but it does appear he is generating more chances lately and if he maintains that improvement through the offseason, I'd say he'd be worth 2m for 2 years.  At the end of the way, the difference in up to half a mil isn't going to make any different to anyone - especially when we suddenly have 14m extra cap space to spend.

 

I wish we saw this Virtanen for more than a handful of games.  If we were somehow convinced he would continue improving, I'd be ok with paying him a bit more now in order to have a longer term and catch our reward at the end if he ended up playing like a 5-6m player but we're paying him less.  In 2-3 years once all our young prospects are past their ELCs, we actually *will* need the cap space, so adding yet another contract expiring in that timeframe makes it even harder to retain talent.

3 per for 5 years.  Who'd do that?

Edited April 5, 2018 by kloubek

[Rob_Zepp]

9 hours ago, dpn1 said:

I have to say, I take posts at face value.  It is fine to ask what his contract will look like.  I didn't sense any animosity in the question posted.  I have to take the post for what it is, a question.  Sometimes a loaf of bread is just a loaf of bread.  No need to read into it any more than what it says.  As I posted earlier, Jake will probably get in the neighborhood of 1.5 over 2 years.  Time to chill guys. 

I think he will get a bit more bread.   I see $3.5 to $4 over two years (up to $2 per year in other words) as you do indeed pay for past performance but for a 21 year old who has such a unique skill set that would be very hard to find on the open market.  You can find that toughness.   You can find that speed.    You cannot find that combination very often.   If he had better shooting percentage (which I personally believe will come, others don't), he would be asking for Horvat money.    Canucks may get a brilliant bargain but could be taking a risk with the bridge too.    Either way, great to have the player on the Canucks.  

[-AJ-]

A few weeks ago, I think I said something like $1.5-1.75M for two years, but given his recent strong play, I could see a $2M deal. Anything over $2.5M and it's a pretty hefty over-payment IMO.

[Wilbur]

On a night belonging to the Sedin's.  Virtanen moves into 185th with a snipe.

 

184.  Shawn Matthias	C	96	21	13	34
185.  Jake Virtanen	RW	139	17	17	34
186.  Bill Derlago	C	63	15	19	34
187.  Al MacAdam	LW	80	14	20	34
187.  Wayne Connelly	RW	53	14	20	34
189.  Poul Popiel	D	116	11	23	34
189.  Vladimir Krutov	LW	61	11	23	34

[Qwags]

Virtanen is so damn close. This will be a big offseason for him.

[Gaudette Celly]

3 hours ago, The 5th Line said:

That's my boy

[Gaudette Celly]

3 minutes ago, The 5th Line said:

Sooo I haven't been on your ignore list this whole time like you claimed?  That's really weird, man I feel violated

Oh you certainly are, but someone quoted that in the GDT and it was too laughably ridiculous to pass up.

[JeremyCuddles]

8x8. Lock him up before he becomes a 10 million dollar player Benning. 

[NHL'er]

2 hours ago, N7Nucks said:

8x8. Lock him up before he becomes a 10 million dollar player Benning. 

8 x 800k. Get er done Benning 

[zombieksa]

I am loving the player Virtanen is becoming. Last night was incredible. He was an absolute force.

[Tre Mac]

Great game last night.  Fitting Virtanen scored, he's similar to the twins in that all three were high picks and struggled to live up to that early hype.  He's been around the twins long enough to understand the work ethic it takes to be great and now he has seen the everlasting love the fans will reward you with when you do become great.  Last night I was really impressed with his playmaking as well as his usual speed.

[Darius]

Nice to see Jake play a prominent role in the Sedins' magical game last night.  Scored a big goal....had some really good take aways......and someone correct me if Im wrong (i was too wrapped up in the emotion to remember) was he involved in the play in OT that drew the penalty?

 

got to 10 goals this year.  I dont think 20 goals is out of reach for the kid next year seeing how he has played during the last couple months.

[Battlemonger]

Great to see Jake becoming an absolute force out there. This guy is going to be one of the best power forwards in the league in a few years.

[NHL'er]

27 minutes ago, Darius71 said:

Nice to see Jake play a prominent role in the Sedins' magical game last night.  Scored a big goal....had some really good take aways......and someone correct me if Im wrong (i was too wrapped up in the emotion to remember) was he involved in the play in OT that drew the penalty?

 

Yes he was. Started the rush and fed the pass through that led to MDZ crashing the net and drawing the penalty. 

[higgyfan]

I haven't had the opportunity to watch many full games this winter, so I made a point of sitting down and watching last night's game from start to finish.  I must say, I was seriously impressed with how much Jake's game has improved.

 

He was noticeable (in a good way) every time he was on the ice.  As usual, the speed was impressive, but last night he showed a determination and focus that I hadn't seen before.  And omg, is he ever hard to knock off the puck.  He is becoming an extremely difficult player to deal with when bringing the puck into the offensive zone.

 

I have no doubt that he will continue to develop and the goals will come.  He certainly has turned the corner and it will be fun to see how much his game improves during the next few players.

Edited April 7, 2018 by higgyfan

[Rob_Zepp]

Jake has come soooooo far.   He is probably the fastest 10 goal scorer in the league .

 

 

Kudos to him blowing his self-made breakaway in the third to allow the Sedins to get the OT perfection finale.   

[pharmalaw]

I'm very impressed with how Jake has come along as well... he is hustling and making things happen... if i'm to be honest though, there were several instances in the 3rd where Jake tried to do too much instead of making the smart play resulting in sloppy zone exits/give aways/edler's penalty on Keller... 

 

he is very much a work in progress still but i'm confident when he is 24/25 he will be a force - just needs to be a bit smarter with the puck and know when to just make the safe play

[aGENT]

2 hours ago, Darius71 said:

Nice to see Jake play a prominent role in the Sedins' magical game last night.  Scored a big goal....had some really good take aways......and someone correct me if Im wrong (i was too wrapped up in the emotion to remember) was he involved in the play in OT that drew the penalty?

 

got to 10 goals this year.  I dont think 20 goals is out of reach for the kid next year seeing how he has played during the last couple months.

Also had a nice play where instead of his forcing a play to the net that isn't there or attempting the wrap around, he actually took the puck to the corner and waited for a play/pass to develop.

 

If he starting to slow the game down and realizing he's got way more time and space than he thought he did...