Jake Virtanen | #18 | RW

[Borvat]

13 hours ago, NUCKER67 said:

He had the puck entering he o-zone on the wing with Pettersson wide open, and Jake shot. I think he also missed the net. He doesn't have good awareness or vision. And he rarely makes a nice pass. Frustrating player.  

I am not saying he should be or I want him traded - yet -  but Green won't play players who don't clue in.  Virtanen may be playing his way out.

 

Green demands his players play within their system, be responsible and use their line mates.  Virtanen seems to get lost out there and go on solo missions at times. 

 

Wonder if they have determined it's time to explore the market and see what they could get for him?

Edited April 5, 2019 by Borvat

[TU90]

Kid has zero hockey sense. Like him a lot, but he's super frustrating to watch, and definitely doesn't help this team win.

[Elias Pettersson]

Not sold on Virtanen moving forward.  He's supposed to be a power forward who can hit and play in the top 6.  He doesn't hit much and doesn't have the hockey IQ to play with our best players, and he's not a grinding 3rd line player who can play a 200ft game either.  I would definitely explore a trade for him, a package deal with let's say Hutton to get a legit top 6 winger to play with BO or Petey.

Edited April 5, 2019 by Elias Pettersson

[Nucker 67]

I tend to agree regarding Jake. Similar to Goldy I suppose. So much talent, but he's just not getting it. Is there something defined where a power forward shouldn't pass the puck? Uhh Jake, real power forwards tend to drive/crash the net, create havoc, score garbage goals. What's with this skating around the boards, around the net, around the boards again, and oops, lost the puck. ??

 

It looks like Jake tries to do it all himself every time. Or maybe he can't process the game at such a high level and can't do anything creative with the second or two he has? His best move is to skate it up the boards and, well, he usually loses it at this point. I could see perhaps a trade involving Virtanen. On the high hockey IQ spectrum, there's Pettersson and Hughes. They just react, and usually seem to make a good decision with the puck. Sometimes their decisions are downright impressive. it comes naturally to them. Same could be said for Schenn, he's a smart player.

 

I tell ya, that 2014 Draft was a doozy

 

Virtanen

Tryamkin

McCann

(uggh)

 

Oh well, Demko was the bright spot.

[Zhukini]

1 hour ago, WeneedLumme said:

First game back from injury and first time playing LW in the NHL. Obviously he should have fit in instantly, right?

Jakes whole career has been excuses, so this doesn’t surprise me one bit .

[WeneedLumme]

1 hour ago, Zhukini said:

Jakes whole career has been excuses, so this doesn’t surprise me one bit .

It wouldn't surprise anyone who understands the difference between reasons and excuses. Do you?

[Zhukini]

10 minutes ago, WeneedLumme said:

It wouldn't surprise anyone who understands the difference between reasons and excuses. Do you?

Shoulder 

Wrong coach x 3

He’s only 19,20,21,22

Wrong position

Not enough ice time 

Not the right centreman

He’s a playoff player.

Power forwards take longer to develop

Hes not a power forward don’t expect him to bring the puck to the net. 

 

I see one legit reason and that’s the first one??

[WeneedLumme]

1 hour ago, Zhukini said:

Shoulder 

Wrong coach x 3

He’s only 19,20,21,22

Wrong position

Not enough ice time 

Not the right centreman

He’s a playoff player.

Power forwards take longer to develop

Hes not a power forward don’t expect him to bring the puck to the net. 

 

I see one legit reason and that’s the first one??

So that is your list of excuses for Jake being:

 

Defensively responsible enough that he is generally on the ice in the last minute of tight games,

4th on the team in goals,

2nd on the team in hits,

1st on the team in takeaways,

1st on the team in takeaways minus giveaways,

 

while being 20th on the team in average ice time per game.

 

Obviously he should be doing much better than that. Clearly you are a "realistic" fan. No fooling you.

[Attila Umbrus]

27 minutes ago, The 5th Line said:

Why is he 20th on the team in ice time?

I think he gets gassed and needs his minutes managed? I’m actually ok with him settling out as a good 3rd line forward on this team. I think he gets over thinking things when he plays at the top of the line up and ends up just getting confused. He is a pure North/south player. Play him in the 3rd line and let the offensive side mature over time...if it ever does lol. He’s a new version of Hansen. Puts up 30 points, hits, is defensively solid, agitates a bit, snappy shot...though Hansen had a hard slapped, Jakes has a heavy snap shot. Hopefully his accuracy will get better over time? 

Edited April 5, 2019 by Attila Umbrus

[Butters Stoch]

11 hours ago, NUCKER67 said:

I tend to agree regarding Jake. Similar to Goldy I suppose. So much talent, but he's just not getting it. Is there something defined where a power forward shouldn't pass the puck? Uhh Jake, real power forwards tend to drive/crash the net, create havoc, score garbage goals. What's with this skating around the boards, around the net, around the boards again, and oops, lost the puck. ??

 

It looks like Jake tries to do it all himself every time. Or maybe he can't process the game at such a high level and can't do anything creative with the second or two he has? His best move is to skate it up the boards and, well, he usually loses it at this point. I could see perhaps a trade involving Virtanen. On the high hockey IQ spectrum, there's Pettersson and Hughes. They just react, and usually seem to make a good decision with the puck. Sometimes their decisions are downright impressive. it comes naturally to them. Same could be said for Schenn, he's a smart player.

 

I tell ya, that 2014 Draft was a doozy

 

Virtanen

Tryamkin

McCann

(uggh)

 

Oh well, Demko was the bright spot.

I'd give a bit of credit to our scouts for selecting 5 NHL caliber players out of that draft if we include Forsling to your list there. Just sucks that had some misses in the 1st round, terrible trades, and a certain Russian ditching us.

[mll]

5 hours ago, The 5th Line said:

Why is he 20th on the team in ice time?

including Ds and players like Gagner and Hughes who only have a handful of games.  

 

Among Fs with at least 20 games - he's 4th in EV ice time.  He hardly plays on special teams which drops him to top-9 in all situations (min 40 games he's 7th / min 20 games he's 9th).

[Rob_Zepp]

7 hours ago, WeneedLumme said:

So that is your list of excuses for Jake being:

 

Defensively responsible enough that he is generally on the ice in the last minute of tight games,

4th on the team in goals,

2nd on the team in hits,

1st on the team in takeaways,

1st on the team in takeaways minus giveaways,

 

while being 20th on the team in average ice time per game.

 

Obviously he should be doing much better than that. Clearly you are a "realistic" fan. No fooling you.

You mean he is a very effective 22 year old still developing?   OMG, the thought that someone could still be developing.    

 

His goals/60 is impressive and is hits/60 one of the better in hockey.    He is still finding his peak and as many of those with patience have said before, this kid will not at his full development until probably 24 or so LIKE SO MANY BEFORE HIM.   There, Caps lock now off again but that felt good.

 

Can see him taking another strong step forward next year and seeing goals up again (20 range) and increased ice-time with better line-mates as the Canucks overall improve.

[Blömqvist]

I would honestly look at trading Jake+ to Columbus for Josh Anderson. 

 

The potential is there for Jake to become that big, fast, physical forward who can score 20 goals/season, but IMO it won't be here. He's nowhere near the level of consistency in both his physical and offensive game as we need him to be. 

 

Might as well cut our losses and give him an opportunity to flourish elsewhere. 

 

Virtanen and Hutton to Columbus for Anderson?

 

Or Virtanen to Philadelphia for Myers?

[DallasDrake]

49 minutes ago, Blömqvist said:

I would honestly look at trading Jake+ to Columbus for Josh Anderson. 

 

The potential is there for Jake to become that big, fast, physical forward who can score 20 goals/season, but IMO it won't be here. He's nowhere near the level of consistency in both his physical and offensive game as we need him to be. 

 

Might as well cut our losses and give him an opportunity to flourish elsewhere. 

 

Virtanen and Hutton to Columbus for Anderson?

 

Or Virtanen to Philadelphia for Myers?

I personally like Virtanen but if Anderson was available I wouldnt hesitate one moment. Its highly unlikely though because Anderson still has next year left with friendly 1.8m contract and they are going all in. 

 

Virtanen , Hutton + 2019 second is the most i'd pay

[filthycanuck]

On 3/27/2019 at 2:43 AM, RU SERIOUS said:

Looking at Zack Kassian's stats, who achieved the same points in less games - says it all - as we all know what happened to Zack and the same will likely happen to lazy-Jake.  If he manages to stay on the team past July by some miracle, I would call next year his very absolute LAST CHANCE.    He either pulls his socks up and gets his head in the game or get rid of him.  This team cannot afford another 8 years of floaters !  JB should set some limits on mediocrity and set the bar higher.  

A lot of Kassian's points were with the twins, big difference. Jake would be lucky to see 2nd line minutes, let alone top line mins with 2 hall of famers. I like Jake, I think theres a good player somewhere in there, but it if he's gone in the summer, I wouldn't be suprised either. Virtanen out of the bubble guys has the most value, and the addition of Pearson and Leivo who are both fairly big players, have somewhat made him expendable. The problem with Jake is I don't even think HE knows what kind of player he's supposed to be

[-AJ-]

While I understand the frustrations with Jake, he's trending upward, so I don't feel we should give up on him yet. If he stops trending in the right direction, then maybe we can have the discussion about moving on, but until then, let's see how far he can go.

 

 

[-AJ-]

7 minutes ago, The 5th Line said:

Sure, but 3 minutes more per game, more o zone starts and by a decent margin compared to last season, a career high in EN points(4) which is 16% of his overall production, not to mention the muffins of his that goalies were letting in at the beginning of the year which will all be viewable again when the goal compilation comes out on YouTube.  His P/60 has gone from 1.3 - 1.5 compared to last year with more opportunity and padded stats.  And you accuse me of cherry picking stats?  Come on.  We aren't in a position that we have to trade him, nor do I think we should given how bad the optics are and how little we would get in return, plus I would just feel bad for the kid but I hope he finally drops the purse this off-season and comes to camp with some fire in his belly.  It's not good enough, and others ride the pine or don't even get a shot with the big club cause he's eating up minutes.

 

 

 

 

Wait wait...are you telling me that if you start to play better, you get more minutes? That doesn't make sense...

[Zhukini]

Just now, -AJ- said:

Wait wait...are you telling me that if you start to play better, you get more minutes? That doesn't make sense...

He has 5 more points in 5 less games, with the same amount of assists as last season most likely. In an age where he should be developing and developing rapidly.

 

Sure he's trending upwards, but at a snails pace is it not?

[-AJ-]

1 minute ago, Zhukini said:

He has 5 more points in 5 less games, with the same amount of assists as last season most likely. In an age where he should be developing and developing rapidly.

 

Sure he's trending upwards, but at a snails pace is it not?

I agree, it's not super quickly, but a trend is a trend. Eventually your numbers will start to get quite good. Jake's points-per-game numbers are up 0.09 right now over last year.

Look at Horvat: His progress has been slow, but consistent. His improvements were 0.12, 0.15, 0.05, and 0.06 in this year. He started as a third line guy and is now a borderline 1st line centre.  

 

Virtanen's stats right now project to 30 points in 82 games. If he shows the same progression next year, we're looking at 37 points, which is a very solid total for a third line guy. If he did it again, he'd be at 44 points, numbers that begin to push into top 6 territory.

 

I'm not saying Jake will progress that far, but we shouldn't begrudge him for getting better. Improvement is improvement, no matter how small, and it seems weird to me that people are ragging on him after a better season than last year.

[ilduce39]

I see Jake putting up Ferland-like numbers in the near future... maybe with a few more goals and less assists / total points while bringing speed, defence and a heavy game to the middle 6.  

 

There’s a lot of value there. I think the team looks different when he’s out of the lineup and not in a good way.