Jake Virtanen | #18 | RW

[c00kies]

1 hour ago, nzan said:

I've gone from 215 to 190 since Christmas and I hardly notice it visually.

I'd also say this looks like more like 35-40.

Also though, that first pick looks like it could be more than 230...

Some of his weight loss is countered by muscle gain though, so losing 20 pounds could= losing 40 pounds of fat and gaining 20 pounds of muscle (as just an example).

[aGENT]

3 minutes ago, junglesniper said:

His play of late is more encouraging, but still far from anything substantial. If Utica makes a playoff run, I hope he makes strides there. He's been streaky all year, remember when he scored in three straight games in November, so it's too early to say he's turned it around.

'Starting to grow up, mature and develop'

 

Nobody said he'd become an all star as of this week. 

 

In the immortal words of Mike Gillis:

'It's a process'.

[Bigturk8]

17 hours ago, Setyoureyesontheprize said:

He looks way too small now doesn't he? Can he still hit hard ?  

I think his hits come from the strength in his legs more than anything else. It's nice to have some weight behind it, but I don't think it's the driving factor. 

[Derp...]

I'm thinking... I know it's dangerous... But seriously, kind of... If JV hasn't taken the next step by the time he's waiver eligible, can we just Brent Burns him? I would be so interested to see him as a D man.

Still believe he will make it as a solid Middle 6 guy at least, but man Burns is so good. I just want to have a guy like him on the nucks lol.

[HomeBrew]

35 minutes ago, The 5th Line said:

Nobody is arguing that he isn't developing.. But what is he developing in to?  That is the concern.  I see you tooting your own horn here, but at the end of the day he still only has 18 points in 60+ games.  He had that one 2 goal game to help save face at least a little but this production is historically bad.  Eventually this maturity and development has to show up on the scoresheet.. 

Well the touted line by everyone in Utica has always been Jake working towards finding that consistency. He started off his time down there ok with 6 points in his first 13 games. Then they broke him down to reconfigure his game and his approach to his fitness which led to a drought of just 5 points in 32 games. It was this past month though that by all accounts Jake has found a new step in his game which has been reported by Green, Reporters and Jake himself. This has led to him producing 7 points in his last 14 games. I think there is an upward trend developing obviously, but as you say "what is he developing into?" However, I don't think this is the question we should be asking now. It is all about "baby steps" for Jake and the question should be "what is that next step?"

Edited April 5, 2017 by HomeBrew

[leomessi]

12 hours ago, stonecoldstevebernier said:

There might be some truth there... Virtanen isn't the first. We heard about Tryamkin being out of shape in the preseason; the Canucks also asked McCann to bulk up which he did, and then he got traded to Florida where they told him he was too heavy and needed to slim down. I remember Linden Vey put on weight in the summer in between his two seasons here, came to camp looking a step too slow and got sent to the minors. Obviously this is all just unproven speculation but I think especially with younger players that aren't yet familiar with how to train for the pro game, more supervision rather than less is probably a good thing.

I also believe hutton looked pretty slow to start the season this year aside from preseason - didn't they get him to put on weight too?

[leomessi]

6 hours ago, BananaMash said:

The fault probably lies partly on nutritionists/trainers and partly on Jake. I don't doubt that he was given unrealistic goals (most can only gain a maximum of 0.5lbs of lean mass a weak) but he should also have realized that coming into camp with that much body fat would hurt himself more than anything. 

 

Given the amount of injuries and out of shape players we've had though, I do think the training staff needs to be reevaluated pretty seriously.

I agree - during the gillis era - weren't players given strict dietary plans and workout plans? -- I don't think many rookies know much about dieting until they get to the bigs but doesn't seem like they've learnt anything?

 

Jake clearly went with a dirty bulk instead of putting on lean muscle haha

[BananaMash]

5 minutes ago, leomessi said:

I agree - during the gillis era - weren't players given strict dietary plans and workout plans? -- I don't think many rookies know much about dieting until they get to the bigs but doesn't seem like they've learnt anything?

 

Jake clearly went with a dirty bulk instead of putting on lean muscle haha

Yeah, I believe that the Gillis era was much more particular about managing players diet and fitness routines. Even their sleep schedules during the regular season.

 

The picture of Fat Jake reminds me of one of my gym buddies. He was bulking at 1000+ calories over his TDEE and ended up really fat over 2 months and barely put on any actual lean mass hahaha.

[Squamfan]

On April 4, 2017 at 5:35 AM, GoBoGo53 said:

This is a play Nylander made yesterday:

Look at how he nutmegs the defender on the blueline, then makes a pinpoint pass right to Matthews. Nobody currently in the canucks organization has this level of skill, let alone the confidence to pull it off. If Nylander even misses the nutmeg by a little bit, its a breakaway for the other team. This is what you can't teach, and this is why you always draft Nylander/Ehlers over Virtanen. For unteachable plays like this he makes every game.

 

 

 

 

 

nobody on the canucks can do this to, so were eqauly

 

 

 

 

[Fanuck]

5 minutes ago, leomessi said:

I agree - during the gillis era - weren't players given strict dietary plans and workout plans? -- I don't think many rookies know much about dieting until they get to the bigs but doesn't seem like they've learnt anything?

 

Jake clearly went with a dirty bulk instead of putting on lean muscle haha

My co-worker had two WHL billet kids living with him.  They had a registered dietitian, sports psychologists, sleep advisor, and certified individual conditioning/strength trainer working regularly with their team over the course of the season.  

 

Heck, even my nephew's bantam rep-team had a dietitian speak to them during one training session and the team all enrolled (of their own choosing mind you) into an off-season dryland training program instructed by a certified personal trainer - and that's bantam hockey. 

 

Don't try to lessen their accountability - these kids know what they're supposed to be doing as far as diet/training - but they're kids, and how many kids do exactly what they're supposed to do all the time? 

 

I'm not judging Virt or any other prospect - but they know what to do and not to do off the ice before they get anywhere near an NHL jersey.  It's just that the NHL stepps it up to a whole new level and they need to learn that level somehow - seems like Jake's getting there. 

[leomessi]

4 minutes ago, Fanuck said:

My co-worker had two WHL billet kids living with him.  They had a registered dietitian, sports psychologists, sleep advisor, and certified individual conditioning/strength trainer working regularly with their team over the course of the season.  

 

Heck, even my nephew's bantam rep-team had a dietitian speak to them during one training session and the team all enrolled (of their own choosing mind you) into an off-season dryland training program instructed by a certified personal trainer - and that's bantam hockey. 

 

Don't try to lessen their accountability - these kids know what they're supposed to be doing as far as diet/training - but they're kids, and how many kids do exactly what they're supposed to do all the time? 

 

I'm not judging Virt or any other prospect - but they know what to do and not to do off the ice before they get anywhere near an NHL jersey.  It's just that the NHL stepps it up to a whole new level and they need to learn that level somehow - seems like Jake's getting there. 

I never knew that but definitely makes sense. It just doesn't make sense to me how jake can come that overweight and put on minimal muscle and more fat (appearance wise). Having the team see him regularly and do nothing about it? did they not notice he was literally round lol

[leomessi]

18 minutes ago, BananaMash said:

Yeah, I believe that the Gillis era was much more particular about managing players diet and fitness routines. Even their sleep schedules during the regular season.

 

The picture of Fat Jake reminds me of one of my gym buddies. He was bulking at 1000+ calories over his TDEE and ended up really fat over 2 months and barely put on any actual lean mass hahaha.

Jesus 1000+ plus .. that's like putting on 2lbs a week!

[Camel Toe Drag]

2 hours ago, Bigturk8 said:

I think his hits come from the strength in his legs more than anything else. It's nice to have some weight behind it, but I don't think it's the driving factor. 

Exactly right. Your legs and toes believe it or not. Then you have to have the core strength to make accurate hits. It's actually very little to do with how much you bench press or curl. Obviously if you are heavy you will make a bigger boom but if you can generate the power from your legs and feet you can do exactly the same thing. The same reason why star players are so hard to knock off the puck. 

[aGENT]

1 hour ago, HomeBrew said:

Well the touted line by everyone in Utica has always been Jake working towards finding that consistency. He started off his time down there ok with 6 points in his first 13 games. Then they broke him down to reconfigure his game and his approach to his fitness which led to a drought of just 5 points in 32 games. It was this past month though that by all accounts Jake has found a new step in his game which has been reported by Green, Reporters and Jake himself. This has led to him producing 7 points in his last 14 games. I think there is an upward trend developing obviously, but as you say "what is he developing into?" However, I don't think this is the question we should be asking now. It is all about "baby steps" for Jake and the question should be "what is that next step?"

Thanks for 'getting it'

[Bandwagon38]

1 hour ago, Squamfan said:

This is a play Nylander made yesterday:

Look at how he nutmegs the defender on the blueline, then makes a pinpoint pass right to Matthews. Nobody currently in the canucks organization has this level of skill, let alone the confidence to pull it off. If Nylander even misses the nutmeg by a little bit, its a breakaway for the other team. This is what you can't teach, and this is why you always draft Nylander/Ehlers over Virtanen. For unteachable plays like this he makes every game.

And against Buffalo none the less! Unfortunately he won't be facing Buffalo in the playoffs...and the last Nucks game I saw Boeser and Goldy make a cross ice pinpoint passes.  One for a Goal and one for a great save.  Just saying that your attempt at knocking off the Canucks rose colour glasses is thwarted by not being able to see past you own.

Maybe try a Toronto discussion board.  Funny how in you first year of relevance TO fans become so emboldened.  Don't care about TO players and never will.

[Squamfan]

4 minutes ago, Bandwagon38 said:

And against Buffalo none the less! Unfortunately he won't be facing Buffalo in the playoffs...and the last Nucks game I saw Boeser and Goldy make a cross ice pinpoint passes.  One for a Goal and one for a great save.  Just saying that your attempt at knocking off the Canucks rose colour glasses is thwarted by not being able to see past you own.

Maybe try a Toronto discussion board.  Funny how in you first year of relevance TO fans become so emboldened.  Don't care about TO players and never will.

lol i didn't say that i just posted the two jake videos saying we don't have a player that hits like that lol

[Bandwagon38]

I quoted the wrong requote...lol

thoughts about Nylander remain the same

[ForsbergTheGreat]

41 minutes ago, Bandwagon38 said:

And against Buffalo none the less! Unfortunately he won't be facing Buffalo in the playoffs...and the last Nucks game I saw Boeser and Goldy make a cross ice pinpoint passes.  One for a Goal and one for a great save.  Just saying that your attempt at knocking off the Canucks rose colour glasses is thwarted by not being able to see past you own.

Maybe try a Toronto discussion board.  Funny how in you first year of relevance TO fans become so emboldened.  Don't care about TO players and never will.

It was a pretty impressive play.  He dangled a guy along his own blueline (which is a high risk play) that takes a lot of confidence to know you are going to, drew in 3 defenders to him and in a split second he got the puck back onto his stick and found the wide out Matthews. 

 

That's a skill set we haven't developed on this team,  it's a skill set that we are hoping to find in this years draft (that's why JB want's a playmaking center).  Nylander today is clearly the better and more impact player.  There is zero chance TO would make a trade straight up for each player.....But Jake has the abilities and skillset to turn that around, into another player that this team needs.  Will he ever get there? for canucks sake, we all hope so, a big goal scoring Power forward would be huge for this team. 

 

It shouldn't be Jake vs Will.  Two different players.  Something Nylander does shouldn't be taken as a negative towards Jake, and same goes the other way. With that said, things Nylander does shouldn't be posted in a Virtanen thread without some intention of trolling. 

[khay]

2 hours ago, Squamfan said:

 

 

 

 

nobody on the canucks can do this to, so were eqauly

 

 

 

 

Had to give you a plus. It was a nice reminder of the type of player JV can be.

 

We do need skill but we also need this on our team. 

[Canuck Surfer]

13 minutes ago, ForsbergTheGreat said:

A big goal scoring Power forward would be huge for this team. 

 

Amen!