Canucks1219 Posted March 28, 2015 Share Posted March 28, 2015 (edited) Listening to the radio broadcast for the Hitmen's first playoff game. The Calgary play-by-play and colour guy have made it clear that the top line (Rankin-Tambellini-Virtanen) has not been good so far tonight. The play in the game has apparently been dominated by the Kootenay Ice. EDIT: Kootenay score a SH goal. I think it came off of a Virtanen give away. Edited March 28, 2015 by Canucks1219 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Honeydew Posted March 28, 2015 Share Posted March 28, 2015 That`s not good, Virtanen try throwing the puck to the net but got caught lead to a 2-1 with him skating back hard to cover against the 2 on 1 and they converted on the SHG. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DeNiro Posted March 28, 2015 Share Posted March 28, 2015 I'm telling you, we need to get Virtanen to Utica and start drilling it into him the way he needs to play as soon as possible. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
asian player Posted March 28, 2015 Share Posted March 28, 2015 Yeah not a good game for him at all Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shiftynifty Posted March 28, 2015 Share Posted March 28, 2015 Ouch, kinda like Bennett's game earlier. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DeNiro Posted March 28, 2015 Share Posted March 28, 2015 Yeah not a good game for him at all One of the worst games I've seen from him. If he's not going to play well defensively, he better at least be putting up points. He's doing neither. On the ice for all 4 against now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DeNiro Posted March 28, 2015 Share Posted March 28, 2015 Virtanen with a chance to tie it late but the other goalie makes a nice glove save. I hope the Hitmen go out in the first round. Even if they go deep, I just don't think Virtanen is playing the right way right now, and he could be developing bad habits. The sooner we get it into him that he needs to play harder along the boards, get more involved in the play, and get in better shooting positions, the better IMO. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
funkyfresh Posted March 28, 2015 Share Posted March 28, 2015 Well hopefully he'll have some urgency in his play next game because today was awful. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JamesB Posted March 28, 2015 Share Posted March 28, 2015 If we had ehlers, baertschi and shink, ppl would complain about out softness and say ' why didn't we dtaft that Abbotsford kid virtanen' Virtanen is a skilled "heavy" player Good point. Obviously there are a lot of high skill jbut soft unior, NCAA, and Euro league players who never contribute much in the NHL because they lack size and toughness. It is very tough to project who is going turn out like Gaudreau and who is going to be more like Schroeder. With Virtanen, even if he does not have the hockey IQ to play in the top 6, his skating ability, size, intensity, and toughness should allow him to a a solid 3rd liner in the NHL, provided he can improve his defensive play to some extent. But it is still early. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JamesB Posted March 28, 2015 Share Posted March 28, 2015 I'm telling you, we need to get Virtanen to Utica and start drilling it into him the way he needs to play as soon as possible. I guess you mean this year. If Calgary loses in the first round Virtanen can go to Utica for some good defensively oriented coaching. But he is unlikely to get in any games given that Utica has a shot at the Calder Cup and a very deep line-up. And of course next year VIrtanen will probably be back in Calgary as I do not seem him making the Canucks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DeNiro Posted March 28, 2015 Share Posted March 28, 2015 I guess you mean this year. If Calgary loses in the first round Virtanen can go to Utica for some good defensively oriented coaching. But he is unlikely to get in any games given that Utica has a shot at the Calder Cup and a very deep line-up. And of course next year VIrtanen will probably be back in Calgary as I do not seem him making the Canucks. You better believe Benning will make sure Virtanen gets in the lineup if he's sent to Utica. Yes they want to win games, but they're a development league first and foremost. They're there to develop talent for the future. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Salmonberries Posted March 28, 2015 Share Posted March 28, 2015 I guess you mean this year. If Calgary loses in the first round Virtanen can go to Utica for some good defensively oriented coaching. But he is unlikely to get in any games given that Utica has a shot at the Calder Cup and a very deep line-up. And of course next year VIrtanen will probably be back in Calgary as I do not seem him making the Canucks. Virtanen would have a tough time cracking the Comet's lineup on merit. But it wouldn't be about merit. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Salmonberries Posted March 28, 2015 Share Posted March 28, 2015 Good point. Obviously there are a lot of high skill jbut soft unior, NCAA, and Euro league players who never contribute much in the NHL because they lack size and toughness. It is very tough to project who is going turn out like Gaudreau and who is going to be more like Schroeder. With Virtanen, even if he does not have the hockey IQ to play in the top 6, his skating ability, size, intensity, and toughness should allow him to a a solid 3rd liner in the NHL, provided he can improve his defensive play to some extent. But it is still early. Ehlers should not be compared to Baertchi and Shinkaruk. Completely different animal. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DeNiro Posted March 28, 2015 Share Posted March 28, 2015 Virtanen would have a tough time cracking the Comet's lineup on merit. But it wouldn't be about merit. Exactly. Just like Vey being in the lineup isn't about Merit. Sometimes a player who doesn't bring as much gets in for the sake of development. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
on the cycle Posted March 28, 2015 Share Posted March 28, 2015 Every time I have watched him he doesn't seem to get much ice time. It appears like Calgarys' coaching staff is under utilizing him this year. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
funkyfresh Posted March 28, 2015 Share Posted March 28, 2015 Every time I have watched him he doesn't seem to get much ice time. It appears like Calgarys' coaching staff is under utilizing him this year. Or he's not earning it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bigbadcanucks Posted March 28, 2015 Share Posted March 28, 2015 I guess you mean this year. If Calgary loses in the first round Virtanen can go to Utica for some good defensively oriented coaching. But he is unlikely to get in any games given that Utica has a shot at the Calder Cup and a very deep line-up. And of course next year VIrtanen will probably be back in Calgary as I do not seem him making the Canucks. I remember hearing about how NHL teams owned junior teams (e.g., Oshawa Generals - Bruins; Montreal Jr. Canadiens - Habs; Ste. Catharines Black Hawks - Chicago) where they would groom their 16 to 20 year old players before they became pros, either in the NHL or another affiliated pro league. In some ways, this would actually be a good way to develop your CHL amateur picks. Imagine a team called the Vancouver Junior Canucks with a roster filled with Jake Virtanen, Jared McCann, Cole Cassels, Jordan Subban, Miles Liberati, Mackenze Stewart, Kyle Petit, Evan McEneny, Ashton Sautner playing together and learning the Canucks system as 18 to 20 year olds. I realize that this would never happen because of independent ownership of junior franchises and whole bunch of other reasons, but it'd be pretty cool to see all our CHL and tier 2 CHL players on one team learning the Canucks brand of hockey. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
elvis15 Posted March 28, 2015 Share Posted March 28, 2015 That doesn't make sense. How would such a team trade for all our prospects so we can develop them? We wouldn't even know they were our prospects until they were 18 or so, and then they'd only have 1 or 2 more seasons in junior. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sean Monahan Posted March 28, 2015 Share Posted March 28, 2015 That doesn't make sense. How would such a team trade for all our prospects so we can develop them? We wouldn't even know they were our prospects until they were 18 or so, and then they'd only have 1 or 2 more seasons in junior. I'm thinking he meant our players instantly become the property of this farm team. Sorta like how soccer teams sign players young and bring them through their system all the way up. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Outsiders Posted March 28, 2015 Share Posted March 28, 2015 I'm telling you, we need to get Virtanen to Utica and start drilling it into him the way he needs to play as soon as possible. Would Utica even play him though? A LA BEN HUTTON Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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