Jake Virtanen | #18 | RW

[bleedblue2017]

On Monday, July 18, 2016 at 6:53 AM, Rocky Balboa said:

You couldn't even bother to look up how to spell two of the greatest NHL players?

 

Sorry dude, touch screen sucks! Great comment by the way. It really added to my edumacation.

[MeanSeanBean]

On 7/17/2016 at 0:00 AM, Salacious Crumb said:

Welcome back from your sabatacle at the cat rescue.

 

Jake is so young and so raw. It would be wrong to put a limit on his growth. If you can remember Burrows or Keslers 1st season you should know not to say checking 3rd liner that hits and doesn't score.

 

In 3-4 years we could very well have the type of power forward that few teams have. There is another thread where someone was bemoaning that players like Yzerman and Sakic never wanted to come back home and play due to the fishbowl. Look what the local newspaper did to an 18 year old after the Jrs? Probably a good call by a couple of HOF players.

Boom, this. I sure as hell didn't expect either player to progress the way they did. I think young canucks are going to surprise a lot of people.

[Rush17]

On 01/06/2016 at 11:27 AM, Horvat is a Boss said:

Broken 

[Rush17]

On 18/07/2016 at 9:36 AM, Odd. said:

Did Bieksa accidentally kick Virtanen with his skates? 

 

 

edit: Realized Bieksa was waiting for a change but as he was putting his leg back in it hit Virtanen unintentionally

 

 

By Bieksa do you mean Kesler?

[Odd.]

2 minutes ago, Rush17 said:

By Bieksa do you mean Kesler?

No

 

look at the guy on the bench (bieksa), he lifts his skate and it seems like it hit Virtanen somewhere around the upper body hence why he was holding it after the hit. 

 

then again, it might just be that he hurt his hand on the hit. I don't know.

Edited July 21, 2016 by Odd.

[Oliewud]

Yeah WTF bieksa kicks him in the arm thats why virtnanen grabs it afterwards. Dirty move by bieksa but you could argue it was probably instinctual because he didn't want to trap his leg in between the boards.

edit* i dont know which arm hes holding actually

Edited July 21, 2016 by Oliewud

[SaintPatrick33]

4 hours ago, Odd. said:

No

 

look at the guy on the bench (bieksa), he lifts his skate and it seems like it hit Virtanen somewhere around the upper body hence why he was holding it after the hit. 

 

then again, it might just be that he hurt his hand on the hit. I don't know.

 

Come on now, Juice is not a dirty player, and sure as heck would not stick his skate out to hit Jake. Juice does not even touch him, Jake was hurt on the hit on Kes. Maybe if it was Marchand or Cooke you would have a point but heck no to Juice doing that.

[vancan2233]

7 hours ago, SaintPatrick33 said:

 

Come on now, Juice is not a dirty player, and sure as heck would not stick his skate out to hit Jake. Juice does not even touch him, Jake was hurt on the hit on Kes. Maybe if it was Marchand or Cooke you would have a point but heck no to Juice doing that.

Watch again his skate does hit Jake in the side of the face. 100%

[Odd.]

7 hours ago, SaintPatrick33 said:

 

Come on now, Juice is not a dirty player, and sure as heck would not stick his skate out to hit Jake. Juice does not even touch him, Jake was hurt on the hit on Kes. Maybe if it was Marchand or Cooke you would have a point but heck no to Juice doing that.

i said it was unintentional. I know Bieksa wouldn't do that. 

 

It looked like Virtanen got hurt twice at the same time. His hit on Kesler, and Bieksa's skate hitting Virtnanen somewhere around face/shoulder area. it's unclear

Edited July 21, 2016 by Odd.

[Maniwaki Canuck]

Will be interesting to see which Jake shows up at camp:  the one who was lost at the beginning and end of the year or the one who more than belonged after New Year's.  There will be more growing pains but they could be in Utica if he doesn't hit the ground running.  We have a waiver crunch at forward and the fact that he is waiver exempt won't work in his favour.  The good version of Jake from last year makes the team handily, though. 

[Angry Goose]

4 hours ago, Odd. said:

i said it was unintentional. I know Bieksa wouldn't do that. 

 

 

It was intentional.  Maybe Bieksa isn't Jordan Tootoo kind of dirty but you're kidding yourself if he wasn't trying to rough Virtanen up.  

[Odd.]

1 minute ago, SILLY GOOSE said:

It was intentional.  Maybe Bieksa isn't Jordan Tootoo kind of dirty but you're kidding yourself if he wasn't trying to rough Virtanen up.  

Well yeah, he just decked his teammate.  But nobody is stupid enough to kick someone in the face while wearing skates on intentionally. I don't buy it. You can see that Bieksa had his leg out waiting for a line change and as soon as Virtanen hit Kesler, he was trying to put his leg back in almost as if he was trying to avoid getting contact with Virtanen but ended up doing so accidentally.

 

I said that him kicking Virtanen in the face was unintentional. I know what kind of player Bieksa is, he'll get scrappy doesn't matter the kind of player you are if you're running his teammates. But to think in this case Bieksa did that intentionally, that's quite absurd. No player would ever think of even doing that. 

 

I really hope you aren't buying that Bieksa did that intentionally. 

[SaintPatrick33]

6 hours ago, vancan2233 said:

Watch again his skate does hit Jake in the side of the face. 100%

 

6 hours ago, Odd. said:

i said it was unintentional. I know Bieksa wouldn't do that. 

 

It looked like Virtanen got hurt twice at the same time. His hit on Kesler, and Bieksa's skate hitting Virtnanen somewhere around face/shoulder area. it's unclear

 

Yea actually the more I watch it I see your point, Juice pulls back his leg and Jake kind of runs into it at the end of the check. 

 

The fact that Juice even acknowledges as such by tapping Jake at the end of that video tells me it was clearly unintentional. Good eye, you guys should have been part of the Kennedy Commision.....down and to the left

 

[Angry Goose]

1 hour ago, Odd. said:

Well yeah, he just decked his teammate.  But nobody is stupid enough to kick someone in the face while wearing skates on intentionally. I don't buy it. You can see that Bieksa had his leg out waiting for a line change and as soon as Virtanen hit Kesler, he was trying to put his leg back in almost as if he was trying to avoid getting contact with Virtanen but ended up doing so accidentally.

 

I said that him kicking Virtanen in the face was unintentional. I know what kind of player Bieksa is, he'll get scrappy doesn't matter the kind of player you are if you're running his teammates. But to think in this case Bieksa did that intentionally, that's quite absurd. No player would ever think of even doing that. 

 

I really hope you aren't buying that Bieksa did that intentionally. 

Right, thank-you for the clarification.  We are definitely in agreement on and hopefully correct as well.  

 

IMO he might not have even got him in the face.  I think he just wanted to boot him in the chest.  

 

 

[wshdrvvn]

definitely just looks like anticipating a line change.  and sort of a reflexive reaction when he reached out and grabbed his jersey for that split second.  nothing to this one.

[Tre Mac]

Wish he would move to LW, I think that better fits his skill set shot wise.  I know his accuracy is off but the velocity is there on the one-timers which he can get better angles posting up on the left side a la Ovi.  It's easier to work on accuracy but if you don't have any velocity by now( /cough Tanev, Hutton lol) I doubt you're ever going to get any.  He can still do what he does best and play the physical north south game just a little more west to do it.

[wai_lai416]

On 7/17/2016 at 2:24 AM, Canuck Surfer said:

What progress are we talking about?

 

Jake Virtanen made the NHL at 19.  If his problems are the same as "Kassian's" it has not surfaced. And making the NHL at 19 is an accomplishment.

 

One that suggests he is very capable of being an impact player. More so than a washout. Although admittedly that is also a possibility. Yeah he may have stuff to learn? I won't panic if at 20 he gets sent to Utica to ingest some reality.

 

Let it play out...

 

I'd still bet on him!

 

Virtanen only made the NHL at 19 coz our organization depth sux... he wouldn't make the team on most NHL team last year just saying..

[Canuck Surfer]

31 minutes ago, wai_lai416 said:

Virtanen only made the NHL at 19 coz our organization depth sux... he wouldn't make the team on most NHL team last year just saying..

Just your opinion.

 

Almost any team can find a way to use a 215 lb bull dog that hits anything that moves, with world class speed.  On a ELC contract dollar point. Its possible /probable that many teams would have sent him back to junior to develop puck handling & scoring skills.  But they still could have used him on their squad.

Edited July 23, 2016 by Canuck Surfer

[wai_lai416]

4 minutes ago, Canuck Surfer said:

Just your opinion.

 

Almost any team can find a way to use a 215 lb bull dog that hits anything that moves, with world class speed.  On a ELC contract dollar point. Its possible /probable that many teams would have sent him back to junior to develop puck handling & scoring skills.  But they still could have used him on their squad.

not really it's a waste of his ELC as it wasted a year of him actually dominating in the WHL playing 20+ min a night vs sitting out every couple games with minimal mins played not making much impact on the team daily

[Canuck Surfer]

4 minutes ago, wai_lai416 said:

not really it's a waste of his ELC as it wasted a year of him actually dominating in the WHL playing 20+ min a night vs sitting out every couple games with minimal mins played not making much impact on the team daily

No argument his development could have been better served.  But every team is more capable of dealing with or even dominating physical match ups if they have more bodies like Jake.