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Jake Virtanen | #18 | RW


avelanch

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Hey 87 Crosby

JV may well be a good player in this league I agree,

You made comparisons with Esposito and said this tourney isn't an appropriate scale to measure a NHL player potential, then what are you basing it on?

Esposito as I recall was being compared to Lafleur and possible 1st overall selection

.

So many top prospects have never achieved what seemed imminent because of youth distractions or whatever?

Can you please explain the appropriate scale to measure why Esposito and others don't pan out and JV will?

Myself and others may have overlooked that scale ? :)

What I am saying is that it doesn't matter if JV plays like Gretzky or Sestito in the next two games. The tournament is nothing to base a players future on. I am basing JV's potential on the way he plays with a team that is giving him a shot to succeed and excel. He had 45 goals last year and that was with an injury. I hust fell that if say Ehler's game doesn't transfer into the NHL and both Virtanen and he don't become Top-6 players, Virtanen will be an NHLer and Ehler's will probably be playing in Europe.

And as for JV panning out, that's is just me as a fan of him and this team being optimistic. For our scale, I suggest you watch Sweden play and see how much does Nylander hold the puck on the PP and how he got all seven of his assists. Now, consider that Virtanen has played on three different lines playing three different ways and having no time to build chemistry.

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Judging his hockey IQ in a tournament where he has never played with his linemates and is being used in a different position isn't really fair judgement.

No one has moved around the lineup more than Virtanen.The fact that he's picking up any points with the line juggling that's going on is impressive. You wanna know why he looks lost, it's because he doesn't know who his linemates are half the time.

To be fair this was a noted concern before the draft so I think there is a bit more behind this judgment than just this tournament.

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No because you could watch the games and see the same things he is taking some criticism for in this thread.

I have watched him play for his WHL team more than a handful of times.

What I've seen is a player that knows how to pass and utilize his linemates when he's used in his proper position and has chemistry with them.

People seem to latch on to criticisms and don't recognize when the player has improved on those weaknesses.

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I have watched him play for his WHL team more than a handful of times.

What I've seen is a player that knows how to pass and utilize his linemates when he's used in his proper position and has chemistry with them.

People seem to latch on to criticisms and don't recognize when the player has improved on those weaknesses.

I personally think he has improved from what I saw last year, but the one thing I notice being said now, that I heard being said last year, is that he at times looks lost in the offensive zone.

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I personally think he has improved from what I saw last year, but the one thing I notice being said now, that I heard being said last year, is that he at times looks lost in the offensive zone.

I agree there are times when he looks like he's thinking too much in the offensive zone and isn't relying enough on instinct.

But there are also times when he looks confident and makes smart plays with the puck.

It's all about consistency IMO.

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I have watched him play for his WHL team more than a handful of times.

What I've seen is a player that knows how to pass and utilize his linemates when he's used in his proper position and has chemistry with them.

People seem to latch on to criticisms and don't recognize when the player has improved on those weaknesses.

That's not what hockey IQ is, he knows how to pass the puck great. But my concern is his play away from the puck, I don't think Virtanen does a good job of reading a play or having the smarts to be in the right position for a shot or know where the puck will be.

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I know this is a Virtanen thread, and I love the Virtanen pick, but those saying Nylander sucks and that he's 'not the type of player a GM wants' just shows that you don't know anything about Nylander.

Every GM likes a Nylander.

Every GM likes a Virtanen.

Both are top tier players that were taken top 10. They both have a huge likely hood of making the NHL. Both are solid picks. Toronto lacks a true top franchise center these years and they got one in Nylander. We got Virtanen, a young speedy, glaring shot, power forward with huge upside. He is more of an organizational need right now than Nylander. We have Henrik Sedin on our first line for a solid 3-4 years.

But those that are saying Nylander is a bust and will not become an NHL player really need to stop assuming. Both are solid picks, both will become studs with the right development.

Just wanted to clear that out.

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I know this is a Virtanen thread, and I love the Virtanen pick, but those saying Nylander sucks and that he's 'not the type of player a GM wants' just shows that you don't know anything about Nylander.

Every GM likes a Nylander.

Every GM likes a Virtanen.

Both are top tier players that were taken top 10. They both have a huge likely hood of making the NHL. Both are solid picks. Toronto lacks a true top franchise center these years and they got one in Nylander. We got Virtanen, a young speedy, glaring shot, power forward with huge upside. He is more of an organizational need right now than Nylander. We have Henrik Sedin on our first line for a solid 3-4 years.

But those that are saying Nylander is a bust and will not become an NHL player really need to stop assuming. Both are solid picks, both will become studs with the right development.

Just wanted to clear that out.

Thanks for the post but I believe we need a Nylander more than we need a Virtanen.

Henrik Sedin is on the downswing and this club has no one to replace him down the middle. No one in this organization is projected to score 80-100 points unless they're very lucky. Quite frankly, I'd love to have a Nylander-Horvat duo down the middle as opposed to Horvat in the middle with a bunch of good wingers.

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Thanks for the post but I believe we need a Nylander more than we need a Virtanen.

Henrik Sedin is on the downswing and this club has no one to replace him down the middle. No one in this organization is projected to score 80-100 points unless they're very lucky. Quite frankly, I'd love to have a Nylander-Horvat duo down the middle as opposed to Horvat in the middle with a bunch of good wingers.

My best advice is that you just let it go...

Edited by Herberts Vasiljevs
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The Sedins are really classy, really nice guys...really nice, good players albeit on the decline of their careers...but it has been proven over many years...in really tough series against the big tough teams in the West and in the NHL...you are not going to win a Stanley Cup with these guys as your top players. Not in their prime and certainly not now.

Lets extrapolate that to Nylander and just give Benning the benefit of the doubt in going a different direction in drafting a big, fast, tough, Canadian power forward and going a different direction.

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