Vancouver Canucks Jake Virtanen: NHL vs. AHL in 2016-17
Getting his scoring going
It is understandable that some of you don’t care about that kind of numbers. Virtanen was picked sixth overall, so he better be a top-six power forward, not a fourth-line grinder. I get it. But being solid defensively — as in leading the team in major defensive categories — is an outstanding foundation.
Still, Virtanen had 45 goals in 71 games for the Hitmen in his draft year. So where is that scoring?
I wish we could just put Daniel Sedin, Vancouver’s top goal and point producer of 2015-16, on the fourth line and play him eight minutes a night for 55 games. See what his defensive numbers would be like and how many goals he would score on a line with Derek Dorsett and Adam Cracknell. I have no doubt that he would get more than Virtanen’s seven goals and 13 points, but it also isn’t a fair comparison.
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Virtanen made the jump from junior to the NHL but wasn’t exactly put in a position to succeed. The Detroit Red Wings and most recently the Toronto Maple Leafs and Edmonton Oilers proved that an additional year in juniors and/or a year or two in the AHL can work wonders.
Just three picks before Virtanen, the Oilers selected German forward Leon Draisaitl of the WHL Prince Albert Raiders. He had 110 points in his draft year and the Oilers decided they needed his power forward game right away. So, they kept him in the league for 37 games. Unfortunately, Draisaitl scored just two goals and nine points in that time, so Edmonton decided it would be better to send him back to the dub.
Draisaitl was traded to the Kelowna Rockets, had 81 points in 51 games including playoffs, won the WHL championship, was named playoff MVP, got to the Memorial Cup Final, won the Ed Chynoweth Award as the tournament’s top scorer and the Stafford Smythe Trophy as the Memorial Cup MVP. The next season, he returned to Edmonton after Connor McDavid‘s injury, and 51 points in 72 games.
In a slightly different scenario, the Maple Leafs let William Nylander split his draft-plus-one season with Swedish club Modo and the AHL Marlies. He then started and finished the 2015-16 season with the Marlies, but also got to play in 22 games for the Maple Leafs. Nylander has 32 goals and 77 points in 55 AHL contests over the past two years, as well as six goals and 13 points in the NHL.
It is impossible to guarantee that Virtanen would do the same. But it is also hard to imagine that he wouldn’t score goals and build up his confidence if he started the 2016-17 campaign in Utica.
Next: The case for the NHL