[GDT/PGT] Vancouver Canucks @ Winnipeg Jets | January 30, 2021 | 7 p.m. PT | NHLN, CBC, SN, TVAS2

[CptCanuck16]

31 minutes ago, DeNiro said:

People need to lay off all the Virtanen criticism. It’s tired and played out. At this point he is what he is. Doesn’t do any good to continually pile on.

 

I see the teams development of him as just as much of a factor as his lack of effort. They brought him in too soon and made him think he had made it. Never forced him to kill penalties and learn the defensive side of the game. You can thank Willie for that.

 

Thats why these early years of a players development are so important and why we’re lucky to have Green teaching them. Just be thankful we have a guy like Hoglander stepping up this season.

Virtanen is 24 years old. His time of being coddled is over. He's his own man now and it's time for him to sink or swim.  It appears to me that he lacks the inner drive to take his game to the next level (unlike a much younger Petterson or Hughes) and that isn't something that you can coach into a player. He either has it or he doesn't. 

 

What a delight Hoglander has been to watch. He is yet another great draft pick for our club. If he continues playing with the same veracity all year he could be in the running for the Calder.  We're shaping up to be one hell of a team, all we're missing now is a coaching staff that is capable of driving us to the next level.

[Rindiculous]

So I just realized Toronto doesn’t play again until facing us...after we play two more games against Montreal.  It’s crazy how so many teams seem to get a crazy amount of rest except for us who plays more often than every other day.  Honestly don’t care too much cause we’re on a roll and want to keep the ball rolling, but Toronto gets to play us with 5 days of rest after we’ve played 3 games in 4 nights and and 6 games in 9 nights.

[Gurn]

5 minutes ago, CptCanuck16 said:

Virtanen is 24 years old. His time of being coddled is over.

Benched, sat out, sent down. low minutes when he does play.

 

Poster "Jake is being coddled."

[bree2]

34 minutes ago, NucksinNorway said:

Depth is good I agree. Its just sad that is what virtanen has become... Or always has been, press box depth... He basically just fills a spot. 

well that is on him, not Green. Green has spent a long time with him, trying to teach him. then Jake goes out and plays good for a few games then he just sort of floats, he is 24 now and should not need anyone to hold his hand, sad when  everyone saw great things in him, he just didn't want to do the work.

[knucklehead91]

42 minutes ago, DeNiro said:

People need to lay off all the Virtanen criticism. It’s tired and played out. At this point he is what he is. Doesn’t do any good to continually pile on.

 

I see the teams development of him as just as much of a factor as his lack of effort. They brought him in too soon and made him think he had made it. Never forced him to kill penalties and learn the defensive side of the game. You can thank Willie for that.

 

Thats why these early years of a players development are so important and why we’re lucky to have Green teaching them. Just be thankful we have a guy like Hoglander stepping up this season.

To be fair you can’t blame Willie for that. He assembled the best team he could...there wasn’t much else out of training camp that stood out. The guys who earned a spot were given a spot. We also had Burrows, Higgins, Hansen, Prust, Dorsett, Sutter all ahead of him on PK duties. You don’t throw a rookie into the fire and watch him burn on the PK. 
Virtanen looked like he was figuring it out last season and he went through a rough playoffs. He came into camp in shape, he hasn’t had the offensive jump to his game, but I certainly have noticed a defensive improvement this season, he’s been finishing checks and has made a few nice plays that the old Jake wouldn’t have made. I think it was the Montreal game where one of our guys had the puck down low in the near corner and Virtanen came onto the ice skates across the blue line and was fed a pass just inside the blueline and he; instead of shooting right away or blindly skating it into the 2 checkers, sent a snap pass back door to another Canuck player but they couldn’t handle the pass and missed the opportunity. I thought it showed more awareness in JV’s game. He’s also been in the right position in the defensive zone to take away passes or check a player. And was one of the first forwards back. 
 

You have to give Virtanen credit for improving as a more well rounded player. He hasn’t stood out in a bad way, he hasn’t stood out in a Hoglander way, but he’s stood out in a subtle way, of doing the right things.

 

I would love to see him drive the net more, but I’ll take him being in the right position rather than out of position

[DeNiro]

6 minutes ago, CptCanuck16 said:

Virtanen is 24 years old. His time of being coddled is over. He's his own man now and it's time for him to sink or swim.  It appears to me that he lacks the inner drive to take his game to the next level (unlike a much younger Petterson or Hughes) and that isn't something that you can coach into a player. He either has it or he doesn't. 

 

What a delight Hoglander has been to watch. He is yet another great draft pick for our club. If he continues playing with the same veracity all year he could be in the running for the Calder.  We're shaping up to be one hell of a team, all we're missing now is a coaching staff that is capable of driving us to the next level.

No one is saying you have to coddle him.

 

Making the conversation continually about a player that isn’t even playing is silly though. I get that Canucks fans like to have a player that they all pile on. And since Loui is out I guess that becomes Jake.

 

But people are missing out on a lot of great stories on this team if their focus keeps going back to Virtanen. 
 

Sometimes draft picks don’t pan out. It won’t be the last time. Look at every draft and you’ll find a high pick that a team regrets.

[BarnBurner]

As far as Hansen's and the Hog's motor being the same, you can add Motte to that list as well.

[Gurn]

1 minute ago, Rindiculous said:

So I just realized Toronto doesn’t play again until facing us...after we play two more games against Montreal.  It’s crazy how so many teams seem to get a crazy amount of rest except for us who plays more often than every other day.  Honestly don’t care too much cause we’re on a roll and want to keep the ball rolling, but Toronto gets to play us with 5 days of rest after we’ve played 3 games in 4 nights and and 6 games in 9 nights.

The Jets hadn't played since Tuesday, so 3 days rest for them.

In theory, it will even out by the end of the year, but it does make it hard to compare how teams are doing at the beginning of the year.

So far the Canucks lead the North with 11 games played and Calgary has the fewest at 7 games.

[DeNiro]

4 minutes ago, Rindiculous said:

So I just realized Toronto doesn’t play again until facing us...after we play two more games against Montreal.  It’s crazy how so many teams seem to get a crazy amount of rest except for us who plays more often than every other day.  Honestly don’t care too much cause we’re on a roll and want to keep the ball rolling, but Toronto gets to play us with 5 days of rest after we’ve played 3 games in 4 nights and and 6 games in 9 nights.

As long as they face a similar situation in their schedule it will all even out.

 

At some point the Canucks will get their rest while the Leafs cram in games.

 

You could argue it’s better to play this many games early while you’re still fresh and healthy than later in the season when the teams more ground down.

[-DLC-]

14 minutes ago, Rindiculous said:

So I just realized Toronto doesn’t play again until facing us...after we play two more games against Montreal.  It’s crazy how so many teams seem to get a crazy amount of rest except for us who plays more often than every other day.  Honestly don’t care too much cause we’re on a roll and want to keep the ball rolling, but Toronto gets to play us with 5 days of rest after we’ve played 3 games in 4 nights and and 6 games in 9 nights.

Yeah the scheduling is really out of whack....always plays against us somehow.

 

Hope the fatigue doesn't create injury issues....hopefully those having to increase their schedule do so right before playoffs so they're beat up and broke down.

 

^I don't completely agree, DeNiro....part of it being that they'll have a chance to really get up to game shape by the time they have to string games togther and our guys are having to hit the gates running at full throttle with little preparation.  There are pro's/con's to both sides of it.   

 

TO gets a few 4 day off rests and we get .... one 6 day off rest period and the rest are 2-3 (often with travel in there).

[WeneedLumme]

11 hours ago, bertuzzi44fan said:

Kinda lucky with the division draw this year,think they'd get killed a lot more if the regular schedule was going.

Yeah, for sure if they had had as much rest and practice time as the rest of the league, they would be getting killed.

 

As every "realistic fan" like you is aware, teams play far better when they have no time at all to rest, practice, and integrate their new players into the lineup than they do with a regular schedule.

 

Or were you referring to how much more difficult it would be to take brief hops down the coast to play powerhouses like Anaheim, LA and San Jose than it is to fly thousands of kms crossing multiple time zones to play pushovers like Montreal, Toronto and Winnipeg?

[Putgolzin]

5 minutes ago, DeNiro said:

No one is saying you have to coddle him.

 

Making the conversation continually about a player that isn’t even playing is silly though. I get that Canucks fans like to have a player that they all pile on. And since Loui is out I guess that becomes Jake.

 

But people are missing out on a lot of great stories on this team if their focus keeps going back to Virtanen. 
 

Sometimes draft picks don’t pan out. It won’t be the last time. Look at every draft and you’ll find a high pick that a team regrets.

Coddling him or not - he’s had a lot of opportunity to be a consistent, productive player in this team.

Last year was a big step forward and I was optimistic about another one this year.

He’d better get that going pretty soon or I think he’s done in Vancouver - who knows, at this point that might be the best thing for him.

[knucklehead91]

35 minutes ago, Odd. said:

I think the lower flex benefits his slingshot kind of shooting.  He rarely does a slapshot unless it's a one T on the PP anyway.

 

Petey's shooting mechanics are actually quite unique. Even his snap shots, it's more like a slingshot, puck just flows right out of his blade in such a smooth fashion.

Yea I’m talking specifically on the PP his one timer has disappeared. He snapped 2 twigs in the season opener and then another in the next game. After that the clapper disappeared on the PP, he just kept going to a one-time slap pass and it’s been a pretty cautious slap pass as well. He started using the one-timer against OTT and was feeling good about it, then last night he broke another stick on the PP and then he went right back to a slap pass the rest of the game on the one-timer.

For the PP he can have a particular stick just for PP, lots of NHLers use different sticks for different scenarios. 

[ilduce39]

17 minutes ago, gurn said:

Benched, sat out, sent down. low minutes when he does play.

 

Poster "Jake is being coddled."

No kidding 

 

Nobody’s gotten more stick with less carrot than Jake.  
 

I think people are just burnt out from getting their hopes up with Virtanen only to have him stumble.  That’s a poor reason to write him off though - still lots of time for him to once again get back on track.  

[Quinn Skates]

Brock leads the league in goals.

Can't believe many fans wanted him traded to Minny just a few months ago.

[WeneedLumme]

19 minutes ago, DeNiro said:

As long as they face a similar situation in their schedule it will all even out.

 

At some point the Canucks will get their rest while the Leafs cram in games.

 

You could argue it’s better to play this many games early while you’re still fresh and healthy than later in the season when the teams more ground down.

I guess you could argue that. But you would need to ignore the fact that the beginning of the season is when you need to work the rust off, get up to game speed and integrate the new players into the lineup.

[DeNiro]

Just now, Quinn Skates said:

Brock leads the league in goals.

Can't believe many fans wanted him traded to Minny just a few months ago.

I was always against those Boeser for Dumba proposals.

It filled one hole by creating another huge one. Could you imagine where we’d be without Boeser’s scoring? Especially if Toffoli still decided to walk.

 

We ended up getting our guy in Schmidt at a much lower price too.

[Gurn]

1 minute ago, Quinn Skates said:

Brock leads the league in goals.

Can't believe many fans wanted him traded to Minny just a few months ago.

Just a few months ago the Canucks had Toffoli to play top line minutes and Boeser could/would have brought  back a d- man.

Things change, Toffoli is gone and Brock stayed, then the Canucks got Schmidt and Hamonic to bolster the D. No trade needed.

[DeNiro]

Just now, WeneedLumme said:

I guess you could argue that. But you would need to ignore the fact that the beginning of the season is when you need to work the rust off, get up to game speed and integrate the new players into the lineup.

What better way to do that than to play?

 

This team didn’t have any time to hang their heads when they were losing. It was straight back to work every day. Sometimes that’s what a team needs to work their way out of a slump.

[CptCanuck16]

16 minutes ago, DeNiro said:

No one is saying you have to coddle him.

 

Making the conversation continually about a player that isn’t even playing is silly though. I get that Canucks fans like to have a player that they all pile on. And since Loui is out I guess that becomes Jake.

 

But people are missing out on a lot of great stories on this team if their focus keeps going back to Virtanen. 
 

Sometimes draft picks don’t pan out. It won’t be the last time. Look at every draft and you’ll find a high pick that a team regrets.

I agree. I'm not  even sure where Jake entered the conversation as this is a PGT and he wasn't even in the line up. I was responding to the assertion that he wasn't developed right and that's why he is where he is today. He's 24 now.  Its time for him to figure it out, or not. People have to deal with all sorts of adversity in life. Broken homes, abuse, neglect. Some rise to the occasion, overcome their trauma,  and go on to be successful while others use it as an excuse and fall into a downward spiral. Its about attitude, mental strength, and perseverance.  You either have it or you don't. 

 

I've been an ardent JV supporter since day 1 and would love to see him blossom into the power forward he could be. Maybe he'll be a late bloomer like Alex Burrows or maybe it won't ever happen at all, but I wish him all the best either way.