Jake Virtanen | #18 | RW

[73 Percent]

Just so people know, Hockeysfuture still has us ranked 27th for prospects, and has our top 5 as Horvat, Jensen, Gaunce, Schroeder, and Corrado....

They also still have goaltending depth as our weakness, and list key losses as Dalpe, Anthony, and Polasek.

That goes to show how up to date they are.

Our top 5 would now be Horvat, Shinkaruk, Virtanen, Demko, and McCann. Goaltending is definitely not a weakness, and even our D has been improved with the additions of Tryamkin and Forsling. Still needs some work in the D department though.

I would say the Canucks are easily in the top 15, if not top 10 now.

isn't that the spring update?

[Gyllenhaal]

HF is still updating and ranking all the new prospects. Rankings for team's won't be out for a while. Also there's only 8 people that write for that site. It's a lot of work to keep everything up to date.

Edited July 15, 2014 by I♥Huberdeau

[DeNiro]

HF is still updating and ranking all the new prospects. Rankings for team's won't be out for a while. Also there's only 8 people that write for that site. It's a lot of work to keep everything up to date.

Which is why people shouldn't use it as any sort of basis for what our prospects potentials are.

Obviously it's difficult to rank every single prospect in every single teams system. Which is why they clearly don't spend much time ranking each player.

[N4ZZY]

I really like Hockey's Future ranking system. It has a more realistic projection. I've seen people here who think the top 9 in the Canucks future will contain: Horvat, Shinkaruk, Gaunce, Jensen, Virtanen, McCann, Casssels and Fox. The odds of that happening are thousands to one.

I think out of all those players you've listed. Horvat, Shink, Jensen, Virtanen are legit top six players.

Out of the remaing on that list. I think McCann, Gaunce, Cassels and Fox are possible third line players.

So, from the entire list of players, they're possible top nine players - all of them. At worst, I can see them dropping to third line duties. I really can't see any of them becoming fourth line players. If they don't make it onto the top nine, I don't see them sticking around.

Fourth line duties. Players like Lain, Richardson, etc.

[Plum]

Just so people know, Hockeysfuture still has us ranked 27th for prospects, and has our top 5 as Horvat, Jensen, Gaunce, Schroeder, and Corrado....

They also still have goaltending depth as our weakness, and list key losses as Dalpe, Anthony, and Polasek.

That goes to show how up to date they are.

Our top 5 would now be Horvat, Shinkaruk, Virtanen, Demko, and McCann. Goaltending is definitely not a weakness, and even our D has been improved with the additions of Tryamkin and Forsling. Still needs some work in the D department though.

I would say the Canucks are easily in the top 15, if not top 10 now.

Definitely. 2 1st round picks in the last 2 drafts can boost the quality of your prospect pool up really high. If we can move some guys for another 1st, then we'd be set up for the future, make a splash in the FA and see where we are in 4-5 years.

[Joel Heyman]

I posted this on HF:

For fun, and because I can't sleep at all, I decided to do some stat tracking to see where Virtanen sits amongst the top U18 goalscorers of the CHL (since the 2000-2001 season, turn of the century pretty much). Because eliteprospects doesn't track stats across all three leagues of the CHL I did it by hand and recorded the top single-season goalscorers of every league down to the "Virtanen Standard". Ties were determined by total points, if a further tiebreaker is needed, GP shall be used. Here it is:

So, as I said, I did this because I wanted to see where Virtanen stood amongst prospects in recent years in his strongest attribute.

What I learned from it is that Ehlers is a great scorer, like really good at scoring.

[baumerman77]

I posted this on HF:

For fun, and because I can't sleep at all, I decided to do some stat tracking to see where Virtanen sits amongst the top U18 goalscorers of the CHL (since the 2000-2001 season, turn of the century pretty much). Because eliteprospects doesn't track stats across all three leagues of the CHL I did it by hand and recorded the top single-season goalscorers of every league down to the "Virtanen Standard". Ties were determined by total points, if a further tiebreaker is needed, GP shall be used. Here it is:

So, as I said, I did this because I wanted to see where Virtanen stood amongst prospects in recent years in his strongest attribute.

What I learned from it is that Ehlers is a great scorer, like really good at scoring.

So you took players best years not necessarily their draft years?

Why not add players below Virtanen to give more perspective rather than a bunch above him.

Also you mixed up Tavares years. 05/06 he was 15. 06/07 he was 16. As a side note, everyone is so impressed by Connor McDavid's 16 year old season but Tavares 72 goal 16 year old season makes it seem average.

Edited July 15, 2014 by baumerman77

[TOMapleLaughs]

I posted this on HF:

For fun, and because I can't sleep at all, I decided to do some stat tracking to see where Virtanen sits amongst the top U18 goalscorers of the CHL (since the 2000-2001 season, turn of the century pretty much). Because eliteprospects doesn't track stats across all three leagues of the CHL I did it by hand and recorded the top single-season goalscorers of every league down to the "Virtanen Standard". Ties were determined by total points, if a further tiebreaker is needed, GP shall be used. Here it is:

So, as I said, I did this because I wanted to see where Virtanen stood amongst prospects in recent years in his strongest attribute.

What I learned from it is that Ehlers is a great scorer, like really good at scoring.

I also see Shinkaruk right there, making Ehlers quite redundant at the small LW position.

While Virtanen has Evander Kane upside. Good.

Edited July 15, 2014 by TOMapleLaughs

[Joel Heyman]

So you took players best years not necessarily their draft years?

Why not add players below Virtanen to give more perspective rather than a bunch above him.

Also you mixed up Tavares years. 05/06 he was 15. 06/07 he was 16. As a side note, everyone is so impressed by Connor McDavid's 16 year old season but Tavares 72 goal 16 year old season makes it seem average.

It was the top Under-18 goal scorers, a category that Virtanen has been hyped up because he falls under. I completely forgot about Tavares. Anyways Im amazed at only having one mistake considering I did it at 4am

[Rex425]

I remember people calling him a "BUST". Now people have calmed. It was my pick for the canucks so I was glad but people obviously wanted Ehlers or Nylander. People who liked Ritchie also liked Virtanen. For me, he is a top 6 player who will get 30-50 goals and 50-80 points. Benning didn't pick him just because he is a BC boy. He's speedy, physical, has a great shot and is younger than lots of players in the draft which ultimately made him the choice.

[baumerman77]

It was the top Under-18 goal scorers, a category that Virtanen has been hyped up because he falls under. I completely forgot about Tavares. Anyways Im amazed at only having one mistake considering I did it at 4am

Sorry I didn't want to come off sounding too critical. Good work though. I don't know if you have the data but I would be really interested in seeing a comparison of even strength goals across those individuals.

[CanuckinEdm]

Never understood the hype on Nick Ritchie he's a similar player as Virtanen both tall heavy players that skate well and have good shots. Yeah Ritchie is 15 pounds heavier but looking at him that 15lbs looks like weight he could lose. I would rather have the local kid who would do anything for a team he grew up watching and dreaming of playing with then another OHL kid or a Swedish guy who's dad was a flake.

[Blueberries]

Johnny T with 72 goals!

[DeNiro]

Never understood the hype on Nick Ritchie he's a similar player as Virtanen both tall heavy players that skate well and have good shots. Yeah Ritchie is 15 pounds heavier but looking at him that 15lbs looks like weight he could lose. I would rather have the local kid who would do anything for a team he grew up watching and dreaming of playing with then another OHL kid or a Swedish guy who's dad was a flake.

Ritchie and Virtanen's skating is not comparable. Virtanen is a much better skater.

[Outsiders]

Hoping Jake can get 45 + goals and more assists like 30+ and ends up around 85-90 points

Edited July 16, 2014 by Outsiders

[Gaudette Celly]

Hoping Jake can get 45 + goals and more assists like 30+ and ends up around 85-90 points

Simply getting him some better and consistent linemates should make a fair difference.

[Ossi Vaananen]

I think he's established 45 goals and 70 points is his floor for junior. I expect he'll crush that next season, assuming he doesn't miss to many games due to his shoulder. Honestly, the way he scores, be it powering to the the net, straight up beating defenders with speed wide, or that rocket of a shot he has - he's an unstoppable force.

[Joel Heyman]

Sorry I didn't want to come off sounding too critical. Good work though. I don't know if you have the data but I would be really interested in seeing a comparison of even strength goals across those individuals.

I'm going to take another look and collect all of the players down to 35-40 goals to get a broader range. Ill get on it once this World Lacrosse Championship game is done

I'll see what I can do about ES Goals, I dont know if eliteprospects will have those tracked for every season and every player.

Edited July 16, 2014 by Joel Heyman

[Joel Heyman]

Okay! I've got the top 52 for single season U18 goal scorers in the CHL since 2000. I couldnt find an option for ES goals unfortunately but here it is:

[Canuck Surfer]

Nice job Heyman!

And wow, virtually no guys who were not solid NHL'ers in that top 50.

Bodes well for Shinkaruk as well as Virtanen?