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Jake Virtanen | #18 | RW


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8 hours ago, Alflives said:

So it's still the kid's conditioning?  I wonder what his weight is now compared to his September weigh in?

Ya wasn't he up around 235lbs or something?

 

Considering we were told he was working out with the Canuck staff daily he must have been gulping down some major cheese burgers. Maybe he got into those milk hotdogs

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31 minutes ago, Ihatetomatoes said:

Ya wasn't he up around 235lbs or something?

 

Considering we were told he was working out with the Canuck staff daily he must have been gulping down some major cheese burgers. Maybe he got into those milk hotdogs

God, I really want him to figure out how to be a pro, so he can become the player we need hi to be.  The game is way too fast now for guys to be not fit.  (Except Phil Kessel, of course:)

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Just now, Alflives said:

Hey that's great!  That means he dropped 30 lbs from September.  He must be super lean now.  I expect his fitness will come around now too.

Or it could be out-dated. My god if he had to drop 30 lbs from September, he had a serious issue and should never have made the team.

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3 minutes ago, Where'd Luongo? said:

Or it could be out-dated. My god if he had to drop 30 lbs from September, he had a serious issue and should never have made the team.

Great that he's dropped the weight, but isn't it a big red flag he allowed himself to get that much out of shape?  What could he have possibly been thinking?  

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9 minutes ago, Alflives said:

Great that he's dropped the weight, but isn't it a big red flag he allowed himself to get that much out of shape?  What could he have possibly been thinking?  

Maybe he thought he needed to get really big and it was muscle gains. It's possible, but either way maybe the Canucks should give their prospects a better guide of what is expected of them. If they gave him a target weight and specific goals for the off-season, this could have been avoided.

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Since lots of people in this thread are still playing bitterness card by still ragging on who we picked/didn't pick in the 2014 draft, my question is, do you think Virtanen would have fallen low enough to 24th? If so, would you have taken him at 24th? 

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1 hour ago, Where'd Luongo? said:

Maybe he thought he needed to get really big and it was muscle gains. It's possible, but either way maybe the Canucks should give their prospects a better guide of what is expected of them. If they gave him a target weight and specific goals for the off-season, this could have been avoided.

 

How do you know they don't? 

Why must we always be crapping on the Club all the time as if they were idiots. It's more likely Jake thought none of the advice applied to him but hey who knows?

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1 minute ago, alfstonker said:

 

How do you know they don't? 

Why must we always be crapping on the Club all the time as if they were idiots. It's more likely Jake thought none of the advice applied to him but hey who knows?

He was under their direct supervision all summer, so they clearly knew he was heavy.  Maybe he's just to young to carry that amount of weight, and still be fit?  Didn't we recently fire the strength and conditioning coach or something like that?

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2 minutes ago, Alflives said:

He was under their direct supervision all summer, so they clearly knew he was heavy.  Maybe he's just to young to carry that amount of weight, and still be fit?  Didn't we recently fire the strength and conditioning coach or something like that?

 

How do you know that? Where is the proof?

Ive read people on here saying that but I haven't heard anyone in the organisation confirm it.

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1 minute ago, alfstonker said:

 

How do you know that? Where is the proof?

Ive read people on here saying that but I haven't heard anyone in the organisation confirm it.

Confirm Jake's weight, or that he was training with the team?  There was a thing on Canuck's TV where it showed Jake and Etem both going to workout at Rogers Arena.  Jake did interviews on the radio too.  I remember one specifically where Jake said the Twins were there, and after the workout the Twins biked over to North Van and did the Grouse Grind, and how impressed he was with them, and how he wanted to get fit like that too.  I thought the Canucks were whipping Jake into shape.  You could be right though, and Jake could have been left to do his own thing.  Isn't that bad too though, leaving a kid with fitness issues to do his own thing?  

I just want Jake to become the player we need him to be.

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12 minutes ago, alfstonker said:

 

How do you know that? Where is the proof?

Ive read people on here saying that but I haven't heard anyone in the organisation confirm it.

Rick Takahashi to my knowledge is still the go to guy in the Canucks org as strength and conditioning coach

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16 minutes ago, Alflives said:

Confirm Jake's weight, or that he was training with the team?  There was a thing on Canuck's TV where it showed Jake and Etem both going to workout at Rogers Arena.  Jake did interviews on the radio too.  I remember one specifically where Jake said the Twins were there, and after the workout the Twins biked over to North Van and did the Grouse Grind, and how impressed he was with them, and how he wanted to get fit like that too.  I thought the Canucks were whipping Jake into shape.  You could be right though, and Jake could have been left to do his own thing.  Isn't that bad too though, leaving a kid with fitness issues to do his own thing?  

I just want Jake to become the player we need him to be.

 Alf did that involve weight analysis? How often did he go? Did he do the Grouse Grind? 

All that is pretty wooly to me.

 

So do I.

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18 minutes ago, Warhippy said:

Rick Takahashi to my knowledge is still the go to guy in the Canucks org as strength and conditioning coach

 

My point to Alf was more to do with players like Jake played a whole season with Vancouver and likely left at 215 or so lbs.(his game fit weight)  THAT is the the guide weight for them to try to keep close to and training during the off season is assumed to contribute to that.

Jake turned up (how many times) and did some weights etc. Was he weighed? I don't know but I would suggest to you if he was and showed 20lbs more in such a short time he would have been told to get the weight off. In the off season that then becomes HIS responsibility. I believe Bo has his own trainer in the off season, many players do.

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45 minutes ago, Alflives said:

Confirm Jake's weight, or that he was training with the team?  There was a thing on Canuck's TV where it showed Jake and Etem both going to workout at Rogers Arena.  Jake did interviews on the radio too.  I remember one specifically where Jake said the Twins were there, and after the workout the Twins biked over to North Van and did the Grouse Grind, and how impressed he was with them, and how he wanted to get fit like that too.  I thought the Canucks were whipping Jake into shape.  You could be right though, and Jake could have been left to do his own thing.  Isn't that bad too though, leaving a kid with fitness issues to do his own thing?  

I just want Jake to become the player we need him to be.

 

To be fair, the Twins are freaks of nature in the conditioning department. A bit unfair to compare a 20 year old to a couple 36 year old veterans who have been athletes longer than Jake has been alive. 

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If conditioning is Jakes biggest problem, then it is fixable. A lack of stamina/fitness can make a player look far worse than they really are. 

 

Some guys figure this out right away, ala Horvat.  For the most part, and in most cases, it takes a few years to bring a Jr level players fitness and stamina up to a borderline NHL fitness level. 

 

This is were the sons of NHLers have a real advantage.  They have insider access to all the tricks and techniques to pro training.  They also have the money to pay for it long before they are drafted. 

 

EW 

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10 hours ago, alfstonker said:

 

How do you know that? Where is the proof?

Ive read people on here saying that but I haven't heard anyone in the organisation confirm it.

I don't think anyone in the organization ever confirmed specific details. They'd just say "Jake's been working hard" and "he's looking good" and stuff like that. But there was definitely a lot of talk about Virtanen being on a regular training program under Canucks supervision. I heard the same details over the summer from someone I consider a good source on these types of things.

 

And by late-October 2016, it was getting reported in the mainstream press. Botchford had a story that was in The Province (and on several other Postmedia newspaper websites).

 

Bloggers like Canucks Army also reported it.

 

Here's the most detailed Botchford excerpt:

 

Amidst all the Virtanen noise this week was the revelation Virtanen wasn’t where the team needed him to be when training camp started.



Wait, what?

This is the guy who lived in Vancouver all summer and spent five days a week showing up to Rogers Arena for training.

Maybe it’s too much to expect him to be at the same level as the Sedins. But given how closely Virtanen was working with the Canucks’ training staff and how committed he was in giving his time, you’d expect some good results here.

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  • -Vintage Canuck- changed the title to Jake Virtanen | #18 | RW
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