VancouverHabitant Posted January 26 Share Posted January 26 3 hours ago, VegasCanuck said: I think that Benning and Linden were hoping to find someone along the lines of Neely Virtanen had all the physical tools and he'd be still in the NHL if it wasn't for the sexual allegation that was thrown away in court. I know he was trending down from his 20 goal season, but he would've had a spot on most teams as a guy that would sign for league minimum to play on the 3rd/4th line. So I totally get why they picked Virtanen. You have to remember that Canucks passing on a local BC player in the same mold (Milan Lucic) haunted us for a while. Anyways enough about Virt, back to Danila. 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VegasCanuck Posted January 26 Share Posted January 26 1 minute ago, VancouverHabitant said: Virtanen had all the physical tools and he'd be still in the NHL if it wasn't for the sexual allegation that was thrown away in court. I know he was trending down from his 20 goal season, but he would've had a spot on most teams as a guy that would sign for league minimum to play on the 3rd/4th line. So I totally get why they picked Virtanen. You have to remember that Canucks passing on a local BC player in the same mold (Milan Lucic) haunted us for a while. Anyways enough about Virt, back to Danila. I agree with you. Also, that draft class wasn't the strongest overall. Virtanen had speed and strength and a great shot, just couldn't put it together in the NHL. I don't think his hockey IQ was all that high which prevented him from working effectively in the bottom 6. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RomanP Posted January 26 Share Posted January 26 1 hour ago, Attila Umbrus said: Do you still keep in touch with him Roman? He is having a great year. It's great to see his confidence growing so much. Totally different player than last year. I'm rooting for him hard! I think we all are. Yes, I do. He's doing great. I'm planning to head to Abby's game some time soon. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VegasCanuck Posted January 26 Share Posted January 26 33 minutes ago, VegasCanuck said: I agree with you. Also, that draft class wasn't the strongest overall. Virtanen had speed and strength and a great shot, just couldn't put it together in the NHL. I don't think his hockey IQ was all that high which prevented him from working effectively in the bottom 6. Personally, I was hoping to get Michael Dal Colle, and he turned out even worse at #5, and I wouldn't say that Sam Bennett was a homerun at #4, and Haydn Fleury was a bit of a disaster at #7. It's weird, those 4 - 7 picks all would have gone a LOT later in a redraft. There were some successes in there, Toronto has done well with Nylander, Ehlers has done well for Winnipeg and all those teams that passed on David Pastrnak before Boston took him at 25, including Vancouver passing on him twice! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Boudrias Posted January 26 Share Posted January 26 20 hours ago, higgyfan said: Imo, Virtanen was an Aquaman pick. Hometown boy, power forward star and lots of golz leads to $ in the bank. If I remember correctly the Canucks were manhandled quite effectively the season prior to Virtanen's draft. Yes, a home town boy but also a big kid with the size management wanted. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
komodo0921 Posted January 27 Share Posted January 27 I am hoping to see DK get a game or two with the big club, once they've been eliminated from the playoffs. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spook007 Posted January 28 Share Posted January 28 On 1/26/2023 at 12:39 AM, VancouverHabitant said: Virtanen had all the physical tools and he'd be still in the NHL if it wasn't for the sexual allegation that was thrown away in court. I know he was trending down from his 20 goal season, but he would've had a spot on most teams as a guy that would sign for league minimum to play on the 3rd/4th line. So I totally get why they picked Virtanen. You have to remember that Canucks passing on a local BC player in the same mold (Milan Lucic) haunted us for a while. Anyways enough about Virt, back to Danila. Imagine having had a young Lucic.... 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
-Vintage Canuck- Posted January 30 Share Posted January 30 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nuxfanabroad Posted January 30 Share Posted January 30 Dank-vibes from this kid's recent form. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ray_Cathode Posted January 30 Share Posted January 30 On 1/25/2023 at 4:39 PM, VancouverHabitant said: Virtanen had all the physical tools and he'd be still in the NHL if it wasn't for the sexual allegation that was thrown away in court. I know he was trending down from his 20 goal season, but he would've had a spot on most teams as a guy that would sign for league minimum to play on the 3rd/4th line. So I totally get why they picked Virtanen. You have to remember that Canucks passing on a local BC player in the same mold (Milan Lucic) haunted us for a while. Anyways enough about Virt, back to Danila. You don’t pick a guy fifth overall to play on your fourth line, especially not a winger. Fifth overall you expect to get a top six winger (if you are picking a winger, and they were). Virtanen never showed as particularly smart, and that should have been picked up in player interviews. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VancouverHabitant Posted January 30 Share Posted January 30 3 hours ago, Ray_Cathode said: You don’t pick a guy fifth overall to play on your fourth line, especially not a winger. Fifth overall you expect to get a top six winger (if you are picking a winger, and they were). Virtanen never showed as particularly smart, and that should have been picked up in player interviews. You're harnessing the power of hindsight. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Boudrias Posted January 30 Share Posted January 30 10 hours ago, Ray_Cathode said: You don’t pick a guy fifth overall to play on your fourth line, especially not a winger. Fifth overall you expect to get a top six winger (if you are picking a winger, and they were). Virtanen never showed as particularly smart, and that should have been picked up in player interviews. What I notice at the WJC interviews is how proficient young players are with media. They say the right things as they tic off their talking points. I expect that Jake was very good at it. Even if he came off as immature I suspect the scouts thought that he could be groomed. IMHO both Virtanen and McCann were more a demonstration of poor org development than anything else. Both came to the NHL at 18. Should never have happened. It cost Virtanen his NHL dream and almost did the same for McCann. 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Coconuts Posted January 30 Share Posted January 30 3 hours ago, Boudrias said: What I notice at the WJC interviews is how proficient young players are with media. They say the right things as they tic off their talking points. I expect that Jake was very good at it. Even if he came off as immature I suspect the scouts thought that he could be groomed. IMHO both Virtanen and McCann were more a demonstration of poor org development than anything else. Both came to the NHL at 18. Should never have happened. It cost Virtanen his NHL dream and almost did the same for McCann. Yup, they were both rushed. Didn't help that we were in a weird spot at the time, gradually sliding from having been a legit cup contender into no man's land and mediocrity. Management probably wanted to sell hope and excitement, or maybe ownership, who knows. But yeah, the end result is that both players were rushed. I reckon if they'd taken a more patient approach with actually developing Virtanen instead of throwing him into the bigs he could have been more than he was. Tools were always there. McCann clearly had talent too. At least management has largely left Klimovich alone, I hope they continue to let him stew in Abbotsford for at least another two or three seasons unless he reaches a level of production that can't be ignored. He just turned 20, there's really no rush, or there shouldn't be. But I'm leaning more towards letting prospects stew in general. If it doesn't look like whoever we end up picking at this season's draft is ready I hope they don't stubbornly keep him around. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Boudrias Posted January 30 Share Posted January 30 1 minute ago, Coconuts said: Yup, they were both rushed. Didn't help that we were in a weird spot at the time, gradually sliding from having been a legit cup contender into no man's land and mediocrity. Management probably wanted to sell hope and excitement, or maybe ownership, who knows. But yeah, the end result is that both players were rushed. I reckon if they'd taken a more patient approach with actually developing Virtanen instead of throwing him into the bigs he could have been more than he was. Tools were always there. McCann clearly had talent too. At least management has largely left Klimovich alone, I hope they continue to let him stew in Abbotsford for at least another two or three seasons unless he reaches a level of production that can't be ignored. He just turned 20, there's really no rush, or there shouldn't be. But I'm leaning more towards letting prospects stew in general. If it doesn't look like whoever we end up picking at this season's draft is ready I hope they don't stubbornly keep him around. I can see another year for Klim in Abbey. The coaching in Abby should likely make that call. If the number of deals go down that I am hoping for Abby could have a number of adds to the mix. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Coconuts Posted January 30 Share Posted January 30 12 minutes ago, Boudrias said: I can see another year for Klim in Abbey. The coaching in Abby should likely make that call. If the number of deals go down that I am hoping for Abby could have a number of adds to the mix. Guess we'll see, I'm just not in a rush to graduate guys 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RomanP Posted January 31 Share Posted January 31 21 hours ago, Boudrias said: I can see another year for Klim in Abbey. The coaching in Abby should likely make that call. If the number of deals go down that I am hoping for Abby could have a number of adds to the mix. The plan has Danila in the Abby for at least one more year. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HorvatToBaertschi Posted February 1 Share Posted February 1 On 1/25/2023 at 1:14 AM, Ray_Cathode said: Right… and two fifth overall picks ended up nowhere: Juolevi and Virtanen. I'd argue great scouts shine outside of the 1st round. 1st rounds are always iffy because there's pressure to pick based on consensus. Juolevi and Virtanen were decent choices on draft day, and are now horrible picks in hindsight. Benning's later picks have been pretty decent objectively. Klimovich and Hoglander in the second round, absolutely beautiful picks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Canucks Curse Posted February 1 Share Posted February 1 I would like top see us focus on premium positions of C and D in the draft period, we have a ton of guys who can play wing - Mcdout, karlsson, pods, hogs, Danillia, Aman (also C), Lockwood, Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post -Vintage Canuck- Posted February 2 Popular Post Share Posted February 2 6 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Coconuts Posted February 2 Share Posted February 2 2 hours ago, -Vintage Canuck- said: He's having himself a season, things seem to be clicking 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.