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Jake Virtanen | #18 | RW


avelanch

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I think I will bring this back to Jake here for a minute. Does anyone think based on his performance this year he should make the big club next year or stay in the dub and Marinate for a bit?

Impossible to answer without 2 things happening first. One being the draft, and the moves Benning makes will alter his chances (ie moving vets for picks, players, or standing pat), and the other being his performance at the main camp.

I think he has enough skill, but the sample size of games I have to judge the rest of his game on is too small for me to say whether he's NHL ready or not.

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I think I will bring this back to Jake here for a minute. Does anyone think based on his performance this year he should make the big club next year or stay in the dub and Marinate for a bit?

My prediction is that Virtanen will be back in Junior next year. Horvat made the team this year, which surprised a lot of people, including WD, apparently.

And Horvat was (and is) an extremely mature player for his age. In addition to having NHL size and strength he also had an NHL level game in defensive positioning, which is very rare for his age. And he brought something the Canucks desperately needed -- a centre who could take defensive zone faceoffs and play good defense against big skilled centers on the other side. And his whole attitude is mature. Among other things he does not take bad penalties (or many penalties at all).

While Virtanen is an excellent skater and is thought to have NHL level strength his game is much less mature than Horvat's was. And there won't be as many spots available next year, depending on what happens in the lead-up to the draft. The Canucks have the Sedins, Burrows, Vrbata, Higgins, Hansen, and Kassian under contract. And Baertschi and Vey have to be on the team as they will not clear waivers. And the consensus is that the Canucks want to re-sign Dorsett and Matthias. Horvat will obviously be on the team. And Kenins will likely be on the team. That makes 13 and that might be the entire forward group. And then there are the Utica prospects: Guance, Shinkaruk, Jensen, and Grenier, although none of them are generating a lot of enthuiasm right now.

But I do not see a spot for Virtanen unless the Canucks make some trades. And it is not completely obvious that Virtanen stays ahead of McCann and Cassels in the prospect rankings. Those two guys have had fantastic years.

Edited by JamesB
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My prediction is that Virtanen will be back in Junior next year. Horvat made the team this year, which surprised a lot of people, including WD, apparently.

And Horvat was (and is) an extremely mature player for his age. In addition to having NHL size and strength he also had an NHL level game in defensive positioning, which is very rare for his age. And he brought something the Canucks desperately needed -- a centre who could take defensive zone faceoffs and play good defense against big skilled centers on the other side. And his whole attitude is mature. Among other things he does not take bad penalties (or many penalties at all).

While Virtanen is an excellent skater and is thought to have NHL level strength his game is much less mature than Horvat's was. And there won't be as many spots available next year, depending on what happens in the lead-up to the draft. The Canucks have the Sedins, Burrows, Vrbata, Higgins, Hansen, and Kassian under contract. And Baertschi and Vey have to be on the team as they will not clear waivers. And the consensus is that the Canucks want to re-sign Dorsett and Matthias. Horvat will obviously be on the team. And Kenins will likely be on the team. That makes 13 and that might be the entire forward group. And then there are the Utica prospects: Guance, Shinkaruk, Jensen, and Grenier, although none of them are generating a lot of enthuiasm right now.

But I do not see a spot for Virtanen unless the Canucks make some trades. And it is not completely obvious that Virtanen stays ahead of McCann and Cassels in the prospect rankings. Those two guys have had fantastic years.

Thank you well thought out and articulated post. I fully agree.

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I'll leave it up for discussion because frankly I haven't seen much of Virtanen to have a concrete knowledge of his game.

But from what I've seen from him, I've found his game to be eerily similar to Kesler's. A big body who throws his weight around, isn't afraid to scrap and has a strong ability to put the puck in the net...

is my connection between the two viable? or have I not seen enough of virtanens game to make that judgement?

where do you see virtanen fitting into the canucks going forward? hopefully he'll be everything we've hoped for

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