{"id":89232,"date":"2020-10-22T13:26:12","date_gmt":"2020-10-22T17:26:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/?p=89232"},"modified":"2020-10-22T13:26:12","modified_gmt":"2020-10-22T17:26:12","slug":"jake-virtanen-deal-reached-in-vancouver","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/2020\/10\/22\/jake-virtanen-deal-reached-in-vancouver\/","title":{"rendered":"Jake Virtanen Re-Signs with the Vancouver Canucks"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The only <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/category\/canucks\/\" target=\"_self\">Vancouver Canucks<\/a> player to take the team to arbitration this year has signed. <strong><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.hockey-reference.com\/players\/v\/virtaja01.html?utm_campaign=Linker&amp;utm_source=direct&amp;utm_medium=linker-\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Jake Virtanen<\/a><\/strong><\/strong>&#8216;s new two-year deal carries a cap hit of $2.55 million each year. That&#8217;s a raise from his previous &#8220;Show Me&#8221; deal of one year and $1.25 million.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\"><a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/Canucks?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">#Canucks<\/a> sign Jake Virtanen to a 2 year deal worth $2.55 million AAV<\/p>\n<p>&mdash; Randip Janda (@RandipJanda) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/RandipJanda\/status\/1319327406524563456?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">October 22, 2020<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<h2>Jake Virtanen Re-Signs<\/h2>\n<p>To say Virtanen&#8217;s career has been eventful is an understatement. His very selection was controversial, taken sixth overall in 2014 ahead of more accomplished scorers like <strong><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.hockey-reference.com\/players\/n\/nylanwi01.html?utm_campaign=Linker&amp;utm_source=direct&amp;utm_medium=linker-\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">William Nylander<\/a><\/strong><\/strong> and <strong><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.hockey-reference.com\/players\/e\/ehlerni01.html?utm_campaign=Linker&amp;utm_source=direct&amp;utm_medium=linker-\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Nikolaj Ehlers<\/a><\/strong><\/strong>. The selection was understandable at the time, though. Virtanen was from New Westminster, and every team feels pressure to select home-grown talents. His draft year was a GM&#8217;s dream. He was a big, fast, hard-hitting winger who scored 45 goals in 71 games &#8211; all features the Canucks needed. And truth be told, he is still a big, fast, hard-hitting winger with a very good shot. His scoring has improved each year in the NHL, culminating in 18 goals and 18 assists in 69 games. Yet there was still some question whether Virtanen would even get a qualifying offer.<\/p>\n<h3>What This Means for the Future<\/h3>\n<p>For all &#8220;Shotgun&#8221; Jake&#8217;s talent, he has been ultimately frustrating for both coaches and fans alike. His first playoff appearance only produced two goals and three points in 16 games. Jake Virtanen plays his best &#8211; and it&#8217;s quite a good best &#8211; in straight lines. He doesn&#8217;t think the game very well and has difficulty improvising when a play breaks down. This means he&#8217;s easily beaten on the defensive side of the puck, which doesn&#8217;t earn the trust of his coaches. That conflation makes Virtanen a <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/?s=Virtanen\" target=\"_self\">frequent subject of conversation<\/a>. And the target of his captain&#8217;s ire on their return to play last year.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Bo Horvat on his exchange with Jake Virtanen during the scrimmage the other night: I\u2019m trying to keep things competitive, keep things fair. Keep everyone in the right mindset. <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/Canucks?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">#Canucks<\/a>\u00a0via <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/BatchHockey?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">@BatchHockey<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; Sportsnet 650 (@Sportsnet650) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/Sportsnet650\/status\/1284572853145186304?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">July 18, 2020<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>But this season, what choice do the Canucks have? If no other option is brought in on the right side, they could well see this frustrating, talented player on the first line for 2020-21. Neither <strong><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.hockey-reference.com\/players\/s\/suttebr03.html?utm_campaign=Linker&amp;utm_source=direct&amp;utm_medium=linker-\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Brandon Sutter<\/a><\/strong><\/strong> nor <strong><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.hockey-reference.com\/players\/e\/erikslo01.html?utm_campaign=Linker&amp;utm_source=direct&amp;utm_medium=linker-\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Loui Eriksson<\/a><\/strong><\/strong> can take advantage of <strong><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.hockey-reference.com\/players\/p\/petteel01.html?utm_campaign=Linker&amp;utm_source=direct&amp;utm_medium=linker-\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Elias Pettersson<\/a><\/strong><\/strong>&#8216;s offensive brilliance. <strong><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.hockey-reference.com\/players\/b\/boesebr01.html?utm_campaign=Linker&amp;utm_source=direct&amp;utm_medium=linker-\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Brock Boeser<\/a><\/strong><\/strong>, for all his fearsome shot, is far better defensively than Virtanen. That&#8217;s extremely important because whoever&#8217;s on <strong><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.hockey-reference.com\/players\/h\/horvabo01.html?utm_campaign=Linker&amp;utm_source=direct&amp;utm_medium=linker-\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Bo Horvat<\/a><\/strong><\/strong>&#8216;s line is going to see a whole lot of their opponent&#8217;s best.<\/p>\n<p>Main Photo:<\/p>\n<p><a id=\"ffgnkv5pRjlvCql9xrk_KA\" class=\"gie-single\" style=\"color: #a7a7a7; text-decoration: none; font-weight: normal !important; border: none; display: inline-block;\" href=\"http:\/\/www.gettyimages.com\/detail\/1264596089\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Embed from Getty Images<\/a><script>window.gie=window.gie||function(c){(gie.q=gie.q||[]).push(c)};gie(function(){gie.widgets.load({id:'ffgnkv5pRjlvCql9xrk_KA',sig:'O5R85F8Sxtoi6hBVGYdVNuMjUVA_dgkYxRBFEQg-Rxs=',w:'594px',h:'396px',items:'1264596089',caption: true ,tld:'com',is360: false })});<\/script><script src='\/\/embed-cdn.gettyimages.com\/widgets.js' charset='utf-8' async><\/script><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The only Vancouver Canucks player to take the team to arbitration this year has signed. Jake Virtanen&#8216;s new two-year deal carries a cap hit of $2.55 million each year. That&#8217;s a raise from his previous &#8220;Show Me&#8221; deal of one year and $1.25 million. #Canucks sign Jake Virtanen to a 2 year deal worth $2.55 [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3171,"featured_media":89791,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[4547,34,4548,26],"tags":[3327,662],"class_list":["post-89232","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-hockey","category-news","category-nhl","category-canucks","tag-jake-virtanen","tag-nhl-free-agency"],"modified_by":"Gabriel Foley","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/89232","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3171"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=89232"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/89232\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/89791"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=89232"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=89232"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=89232"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}