Jake Virtanen | #18 | RW

[J-Dizzle]

2 hours ago, DownUndaCanuck said:

Another good game, another goal, looks like Virtanen is finally turning a corner so lets not rush him back to the NHL and ruin all this good work any time soon. Travis Green is doing a fantastic job building up this kid's confidence from zero. Hopefully he can do the same to Rodin and get him in the NHL. We may see Virtanen back with the Canucks when they need a hand but I'd rather we keep him in Utica all season long. Go from 15 minutes a night to slowly but surely top line 20 mins a night as their #1 guy which he almost is.

 

Cue the mad forum switch from, 'bust' to 'best prospect we have, why isn't he in the NHL'

[Stierlitz]

 

[D.B Cooper]

On 2016-12-13 at 1:33 PM, Gooseberries said:

Other than horvat name 1 high end prospect that developed into a top 6 forward from playing on the 4th line in the NHL...

 

How's mccann doing?

 

What's that? They don't want him rotting on the 4th line so theyou sent him to develop in a top 6 role in the ahl? Interesting...

 

 

Even your precious leafs font use the 4th line to develop players. It's reserved for players like Matt martin and Ben smith.

Kesler, Burrows, Hansen, Bo. 

Sedins started on the 3rd. 

There are a lot more as well. 

I feel like the ones that start out on the 4th, develop into a much more defensively responsible player than most who get put right into the top 6. 

 

I dont fully disagree with you, but I think you are being a little too black or white about it.  

 

Its not just top 6 or rot away on the 4th.  

Different types of players need a different development path.  

 

Good two way too 6 players can benefit from 4th line shutdown/ grinder role. 

[Rush17]

31 minutes ago, Stierlitz said:

 

he's throwing Willie under the bus from Utica lol. still being a pain in Willies side!  :D jk 

 

glad greener is helping Jake along.  green has only had a couple good players in the a. he's done well with the type of roster he's had.  there's been promise and potential but very few high end talents.

[Where'd Luongo?]

 

4 hours ago, J-Dizzle said:

 

Cue the mad forum switch from, 'bust' to 'best prospect we have, why isn't he in the NHL'

It's cuz he found his stuff bro. His secret stuff.

[WiDeN]

8 hours ago, DownUndaCanuck said:

Another good game, another goal, looks like Virtanen is finally turning a corner so lets not rush him back to the NHL and ruin all this good work any time soon. Travis Green is doing a fantastic job building up this kid's confidence from zero. Hopefully he can do the same to Rodin and get him in the NHL. We may see Virtanen back with the Canucks when they need a hand but I'd rather we keep him in Utica all season long. Go from 15 minutes a night to slowly but surely top line 20 mins a night as their #1 guy which he almost is.

He is definitely back to being a noticeable guy when he's on the ice.  He's either shooting the puck or laying a hit.  

[canuktravella]

6 hours ago, Rush17 said:

he's throwing Willie under the bus from Utica lol. still being a pain in Willies side!  :D jk 

 

glad greener is helping Jake along.  green has only had a couple good players in the a. he's done well with the type of roster he's had.  there's been promise and potential but very few high end talents.

thank god jakes throwing willie under the bus hes a amateur coach whos clueless

[terrible.dee]

Did he say anything Wille specific, or is it just raving about Green?

 

The kid is a bit of a politician, he knows WD may not be around by the time he gets there, and the most likely candidate to replace is the guy standing behind him

[hlinkas wrister]

17 hours ago, Smashian Kassian said:

 

I agree but at the same time I don't think he will spend the rest of the year down there, if he continues this for a good period of games while our team continues to not score or whatever may happen he will obviously be the next guy up if they need a call at that point.

 

Although with Rodin coming back, its hard to say, you never know. I say keep him there until later in the year unless we need him up here for any reason, but only if he continues his consistency and shows he's getting it, if not he needs to stay down until he's proven that.

For personal reasons I'd rather he was in Van too, when he's on his game he's a beauty to watch. But the last time he was here he was only getting 8-12 minutes a night and was getting iced with the fourth line. Until there's room for him in the top six and PP2, keep in him in Utica and let him develop his goal scoring instincts again. We really need him to develop into a top six threat and he's not going to get that opportunity in Vancouver this year.

[Alflives]

22 minutes ago, hlinkas wrister said:

For personal reasons I'd rather he was in Van too, when he's on his game he's a beauty to watch. But the last time he was here he was only getting 8-12 minutes a night and was getting iced with the fourth line. Until there's room for him in the top six and PP2, keep in him in Utica and let him develop his goal scoring instincts again. We really need him to develop into a top six threat and he's not going to get that opportunity in Vancouver this year.

How about JB trades some of the old deadwood, creating room for the young kids to play important minutes?  We are LOSING anyway.  Let's see the kids!  Oh yea.  We don't have ANY kids!   (not including D) 

[JM_]

On December 10, 2016 at 0:37 AM, terrible.dee said:

the good news is, that this typical development growing pains for power forwards

 

once they aren't beating up kids in junior it takes a lot of adjusting in order to learn to play in the NMHL, unlike mother types of players the whole game goes outa the window (unless your name is Lindros) this happened to Bertuzzi, Neely, Stephens, the list is a mile long

 

That could be why NYI gave up Bert in the Linden deal, they may have though Bert's development was going too slow. 

 

His SH% is 16% right now - if he keeps that up he'll have a great year down there. 

 

[JM_]

1 minute ago, Alflives said:

How about JB trades some of the old deadwood, creating room for the young kids to play important minutes?  We are LOSING anyway.  Let's see the kids!  Oh yea.  We don't have ANY kids!   (not including D) 

 

Ain't gonna happen this year Alf. You need to refocus that hope on 2018 - The Sedins, Hansen and Sbisa are all at their contract end next year, in a good draft year. From a long term perspective I'd rather see us hang on to those guys and try to get 1st and 2nd round picks in 2018 vs 2017. 

[smokes]

For the sake of Jake, I hope they don't call him back up until next season. Good for progression and better than being apart of the mess that is going on right now in Vancouver,

[aGENT]

18 minutes ago, Alflives said:

How about JB trades some of the old deadwood, creating room for the young kids to play important minutes?  We are LOSING anyway.  Let's see the kids!  Oh yea.  We don't have ANY kids!   (not including D) 

 

First call up next year until we start maybe moving bodies at the 2018 TDL.

[aGENT]

14 hours ago, Rush17 said:

he's throwing Willie under the bus from Utica lol. still being a pain in Willies side!  :D jk 

 

glad greener is helping Jake along.  green has only had a couple good players in the a. he's done well with the type of roster he's had.  there's been promise and potential but very few high end talents.

 

8 hours ago, canuktravella said:

thank god jakes throwing willie under the bus hes a amateur coach whos clueless

 

4 hours ago, terrible.dee said:

Did he say anything Wille specific, or is it just raving about Green?

 

The kid is a bit of a politician, he knows WD may not be around by the time he gets there, and the most likely candidate to replace is the guy standing behind him

 

On 12/13/2016 at 0:11 PM, J.R. said:

 

People need to keep in mind coaches have FAR, FAR more opportunity to teach at the AHL level. There's a WAY more practice time. That's one of the biggest reasons he was sent down. 

 

The amount of teaching and practice time he was getting at this level wasn't enough. That's not a 'fault' of WD's, it's a 'fault' of being at the NHL level.

 

[hlinkas wrister]

33 minutes ago, Alflives said:

How about JB trades some of the old deadwood, creating room for the young kids to play important minutes?  We are LOSING anyway.  Let's see the kids!  Oh yea.  We don't have ANY kids!   (not including D) 

We move closer to that everyday Alf, show a little patience. Twins are gone after next year (if not others as well) and we will have plenty of room for youth in the top six.

[Alflives]

22 minutes ago, J.R. said:

 

First call up next year until we start maybe moving bodies at the 2018 TDL.

C

 

6 minutes ago, hlinkas wrister said:

We move closer to that everyday Alf, show a little patience. Twins are gone after next year (if not others as well) and we will have plenty of room for youth in the top six.

You are both right, of course.  Our D (mainly due to injuries to Edler, Tanev, and Larsen) is young and exciting to watch.  We can be hopeful for a better future on the back end.  Who do we have for young guys up front though, not here already?  Boeser is only ONE player:(

[Kakanucks]

Being away from his local buddies and hitting the hot spots around town probably did wonders for his recent performance too.

 

 

[aGENT]

2 minutes ago, Alflives said:

C

 

You are both right, of course.  Our D (mainly due to injuries to Edler, Tanev, and Larsen) is young and exciting to watch.  We can be hopeful for a better future on the back end.  Who do we have for young guys up front though, not here already?  Boeser is only ONE player:(

 

Boeser. Virtanen, Lockwood, Zhukenov etc and hopefully whoever we trade Tanev for this summer as well as our likely lotto pick in the draft.

Edited December 15, 2016 by J.R.

[Alflives]

Just now, J.R. said:

 

Boeser. Virtanen, Lockwood, Zhukenov etc and hopefully whoever we trade Tanev for this summer as well as our likely lotto pick in the draft.

You keep making such good sense, and I'm going to run out of pluses. 

i forgot about Lockwood and Zhukenov.  Those two are very exciting.