Rex425 Posted August 13, 2014 Share Posted August 13, 2014 ARe people here bashing the Virtanen pick? I havn't seen too much of it...Maybe a couple of kneejerk reactions on draft day, but if people don't think one of the biggest, strongest and youngest players at the draft was a great pick they are morons. Ehlers and Nylander will never be as big as Virtanen, but Virtanen could develop more skill CDC was 50/50 about it on draft day, and 1/4 of the negative posters were calling him a "bust". Don't know why Nylander's stock rised so much like a month after the World juniors. I always thought of Jake Virtanen as one of our options and 70% of the time wanted him to be our pick. If you want to see dem negative jerks, go to page 1. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rex425 Posted August 13, 2014 Share Posted August 13, 2014 I could see JV playing with McCann and Kassian. Shinkaruk Horvat Jensen Virtanen McCann Kassian Fox Vey Cassels Zalewski Gaunce Grenier That's a pretty deep lineup for guys 23 and under. That's sick, Gaunce as a 4th liner is great depth. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Plum Posted August 13, 2014 Share Posted August 13, 2014 I think they'd compliment each other very well. Jake carries the puck in tries for his shot. Bo is the trailer looking for the rebound. And Hunter could be the speedy playmaker who can also finish and keep up with Jake. Horvat in between Jensen and Kassian could look decent IMO. They aren't speedsters but I feel like they'd be great on the boards, cycling and power to take to the net. Horvat and Virtanen just aren't similar and I don't see them complementing each other that well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Derp... Posted August 13, 2014 Share Posted August 13, 2014 Horvat in between Jensen and Kassian could look decent IMO. They aren't speedsters but I feel like they'd be great on the boards, cycling and power to take to the net. Horvat and Virtanen just aren't similar and I don't see them complementing each other that well. Both Jensen and Kass play RW though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
William_Clarkson Posted August 13, 2014 Share Posted August 13, 2014 Both Jensen and Kass play RW though. I think Jensen can play LW as well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Plum Posted August 13, 2014 Share Posted August 13, 2014 Both Jensen and Kass play RW though. Jensen can play LW. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Derp... Posted August 13, 2014 Share Posted August 13, 2014 Jensen can play LW. I wouldn't put him there. The biggest reason he started scoring in the AHL was moving from left wing to right wing. I know he played LW in the SHL, but in NA he's best as a RW. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Plum Posted August 13, 2014 Share Posted August 13, 2014 That's true he also played RW with Henrik and Burrows. Could try it but then we'd have 3 good RWs (Jensen, Kassian, Virtanen). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
N4ZZY Posted August 13, 2014 Share Posted August 13, 2014 That's true he also played RW with Henrik and Burrows. Could try it but then we'd have 3 good RWs (Jensen, Kassian, Virtanen). thought that virtanen could play LW just as well as he can play RW? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Plum Posted August 13, 2014 Share Posted August 13, 2014 thought that virtanen could play LW just as well as he can play RW? He is listed RW everywhere and played there last year in the WHL. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Canucks1219 Posted August 13, 2014 Share Posted August 13, 2014 He is listed RW everywhere and played there last year in the WHL. http://www.hitmenhockey.com/roster/bio/146453 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ossi Vaananen Posted August 13, 2014 Share Posted August 13, 2014 What a night as @WHLHitmen RW @Jake_Virtanen has been picked 6th overall in the 2014 NHL Draft by @VanCanucks #congratsvirts #proudofyou Hitmens official Twitter. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
elvis15 Posted August 13, 2014 Share Posted August 13, 2014 http://www.hitmenhockey.com/roster/bio/146453 What a night as @WHLHitmen RW @Jake_Virtanen has been picked 6th overall in the 2014 NHL Draft by @VanCanucks #congratsvirts #proudofyou Hitmens official Twitter. Seems the Hitmen aren't even sure which wing he plays on. It'd make sense as a shooter that he'd play on his off wing, but being someone who likes to carry the puck that's easier on your regular side so I'm not sure. The highlight videos from last season have him breaking in off both wings, and making plays when set up in the zone from either side of the ice - maybe he plays both sides? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
elvis15 Posted August 13, 2014 Share Posted August 13, 2014 (edited) And if we're going to be negative about recent Canucks draftpicks and make a point over and over again and whine about 'potential big misses on talent', then let's start with Horvat vs. Nichushkin Because Nichushkin is waaaaaaaaaay better than Nylander, Ehlers and co. Why does that pick get a pass while drafting Virtanen, big, fast dynamic goal-scorer that he is, such a bad call? Enough already. Both are great picks! A year ago at the draft we didn't yet have Horvat (and Cassels) in our prospect pool, and were looking at Gaunce, Shroeder, Lain, Friesen, Mallet, etc as our center depth. Nichuskin had questions about his overall game and certainly the Russian factor had some impact on any team's likelihood to draft him. Conversely, while Virtanen does have questions about his overall game, he doesn't have any Russian factor, instead being the exact opposite as a local kid. And that was after we'd added Horvat and Cassels to the center group I'd listed above (as well as McCann now too) where we could use an offensive threat from the wing. My opinion was with a pick that high in a draft but just outside the consensus top 5 and without quite the same superstar level talent we'd be best served by picking the highest skill level possible. As I'd said, for my money that was Nylander, who could be a #1 center or winger in the NHL if he can overcome the risk associated with him. Virtanen is a safer pick with very good upside, but not the same level of elite upside as someone like Nylander (or some of the top 5 picks). While I agree that even before the draft the Canucks management seemed less willing to take someone highly skilled but smaller like Nylander over a North American style player like Virtanen - and of course they eventually did just that - I didn't share that opinion and that's why I favoured a different pick. ARe people here bashing the Virtanen pick? I havn't seen too much of it...Maybe a couple of kneejerk reactions on draft day, but if people don't think one of the biggest, strongest and youngest players at the draft was a great pick they are morons. Ehlers and Nylander will never be as big as Virtanen, but Virtanen could develop more skill I wouldn't say it's quite splitting hairs but close enough. Was it a good pick? Sure, but there are plenty of us looking at it logically wondering if a better pick could have been made based on who was available and what type of prospect we lacked in our system. What's done is done though, we'll support him going forward and I don't know that any of the logical crowd are angry or anything that we picked him (there certainly are a few others just emotionally reacting that way though). Edited August 13, 2014 by elvis15 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Off_The_Schneid! Posted August 13, 2014 Share Posted August 13, 2014 I was personally hoping for Nylander as well, but similar to the Horvat pick I didn't really know much about virtanen. Now that I am more informed about virtanen I am happy with the pick. The guy is an athletic specimen. I wasn't too impressed with seeing how Nylander scored a lot of his goals. Hold onto the puck in the zone, circle the net, hold on hold on keep the puck and shoot it himself. Virtanen will be a canuck his entire carear and being from van might be willing to take a couple discount contracts Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
yogolol Posted August 13, 2014 Share Posted August 13, 2014 I was personally hoping for Nylander as well, but similar to the Horvat pick I didn't really know much about virtanen. Now that I am more informed about virtanen I am happy with the pick. The guy is an athletic specimen. I wasn't too impressed with seeing how Nylander scored a lot of his goals. Hold onto the puck in the zone, circle the net, hold on hold on keep the puck and shoot it himself. Virtanen will be a canuck his entire carear and being from van might be willing to take a couple discount contracts That actually describes Virtanen a lot more than Nylander, virtanen is a much more selfish player than Nylander is. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tangerines Posted August 13, 2014 Share Posted August 13, 2014 All this shark week has got me comparing JV to a young 7ft great white lol. Stealthy, quick, powerful, and Programmed to attack. If he can score goals and cause havoc on the ice that would be great. If he can eventually become a 20 ft, 2 ton big mamma then we have our perfect killing machine. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Off_The_Schneid! Posted August 13, 2014 Share Posted August 13, 2014 That actually describes Virtanen a lot more than Nylander, virtanen is a much more selfish player than Nylander is. From what I've been told I thought that virtanen scores a lot off the rush Correct me if I'm wrong Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CRAZY_4_NAZZY Posted August 13, 2014 Share Posted August 13, 2014 That actually describes Virtanen a lot more than Nylander, virtanen is a much more selfish player than Nylander is. People easily mix up "selfish" and "shoot first" mentality. Virtanen was described as a north-south type of player who will look to shoot first than pass. Not because he is selfish, but as a sniper you would think he would think to shoot first. He likes to make plays off the rush and drive to the net...pretty simple meat and potatoes player. If he can't blaze by you he will drive right through you. Nylander as described by Bob Mckenzie and others scouts that Nylander has a tendency to play a more individual game rather than a team game. Although lots of flash, his inability to stick within the confines of the team mentality game hurt his reputation with a few teams when he was considered a top 5 talent. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
avelanch Posted August 13, 2014 Author Share Posted August 13, 2014 I don't really see Horvat and Virtanen working as teammates now and maybe in their NHL careers. Virtanen is a different player than Horvat, he crashes and bangs and plays high-pace while Horvat is more of a puck possession player, who plays the game at a slower-pace.horvat being more like naslund and virtanen being more like betuzzi....yup, they'd never work together. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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