Canucks Young Guns

[Blob Mckenzie]

You guys do realize that it was the Gillis staff, and his right hand man - Gilman who were pushing for Virtanen. There is an interview out there where Gilman was creaming himself with the thoughts of drafting Virtanen cause he liked him so much. Also, Benning was a huge fan of Nylander. Benning was GM for barely 2 months before the Virtanen draft. Gillis scouting department was still in tack at the time of the Virtanen draft. Virtanen is as much as Glilis as he is Benning.

Again, if Nonis doesn't draft Schneider, no Horvat. Shinkaruk is Gills true first round pick of Horvats draft class

Lmao blame Gillis for Jake the Fake.

[mod edit]

[Chef Boi RD]

Listen Boobie Macenzzi, your good buddy and Gillis' good buddy - Gilman, loved Virtanen, big time.

[Hockey Widow]

Well I can't argue or disagree with the Dude on the Virtanen thing but all I know is I heard almost from day one that Benning had Virtanen ranked third on his list and they were thrilled he was still there when their time came to draft him. Obviously he ranked two others higher and obviously they were drafted ahead of Virtanen. So of all the players drafted that year Benning had him ranked third.

Now I like Benning's drafting overall, big picture. I can pick apart individual picks like we all can but the body of work is some of the most impressive drafting this franchise has seen. Has he made mistakes, would he like a do over or two? Name one GM at any time in history that hasn't/doesn't feel that way.

Personally I didn't like the Virtanen pick but honestly didn't know enough about him so I didn't hate the pick, just would have liked it had he gone in a different direction. I didn't hate the Juolevi pick but my heart was with Taychook.

I have hopes still Virtanen will be a serviceable guy for us, hopefully top six. I have big hopes Juolevi will be top four. But I would have been ok had he made different choices.

To me, so far, his money has been on picks other than his first in the draft year. And that's gold.

[Chef Boi RD]

LOL, another big pile of HW poo, nobody had Virtanen ranked 3rd. The consensus top 4 was always - Ekblad, Reinhart, Bennett and Draisaitl, not to mention that Benning was rumoured to have wanted Nylander more than Virtanen but lost out to Gillis staff because Gulman and crew had been scouting Virtanen big time long before Benning had arrived and that drafting the LOCAL kid was considered a good business decision.

Drafting Virtanen has the Gillis staff hands all over it BiG TIME!

[Blob Mckenzie]

What a crock of shit by the dude.............again.
So Benning knowingly had Bennett and 1 and Virtanen at 3. So I'm guessing he had Dal Colle at 2.

[Chef Boi RD]

What a crock of shit by the dude.............again.
So Benning knowingly had Bennett and 1 and Virtanen at 3. So I'm guessing he had Dal Colle at 2.

Provide the Proof Bobbles. The only "rumour" out there other than Gilmans man crush for Virtanen was Benning was trying to move up to draft Reinhart with ShrunkCarrot as part of the package and our 6th pick

[rikster]

To me, so far, his money has been on picks other than his first in the draft year. And that's gold

So, a professional staff spend in some cases years following prospects before they make their decisions...

Us internet GM's, we have the ability to decide which of those picks are wins and losses without the benefit of knowing jack squat about most of them, and we have the ability to see into the future to know if they will ever develop into NHL players...

Some gift, eh?

It's far too early to be writing off JV and at this point my money is on him developing into a solid NHL player...

His natural skills sets are very suited to the pro game, and there is a reason the Red Wings historically have been very patient with their prospects and in many cases had them over develop in the minors before inserting them into their NHL roster...

Relax Blob...

Take care...

[Blob Mckenzie]

I'm very relaxed and I will take care. You as well rooster.

If Virtanens garbage play in the AHL and the fact he hasn't put up decent numbers in junior or anywhere since he was drafted isn't setting off a few alarm bells for the organization I'd be shocked. At this point he looks like he could be a Jack Skille type guy down the road. I hope to hell he can be better than that.

Pacific Blue , Tomlinson and Shorthouse both said it was Bennett Elmer coveted when he tried to get the number one from Florida. I was just guessing about Dal Colle. Maybe he had Reinhart rated 2. Either way he totally blew it with the German and Ekblad/Reinhart if those were his rankings, to say nothing of Ehlers, Ritchie, Nylander. For the record I think Bennett will be one of the better players in this draft. Calgary got a beauty.

[Mickey107]

To me, so far, his money has been on picks other than his first in the draft year. And that's gold

So, a professional staff spend in some cases years following prospects before they make their decisions...

Us internet GM's, we have the ability to decide which of those picks are wins and losses without the benefit of knowing jack squat about most of them, and we have the ability to see into the future to know if they will ever develop into NHL players...

Some gift, eh?

It's far too early to be writing off JV and at this point my money is on him developing into a solid NHL player...

His natural skills sets are very suited to the pro game, and there is a reason the Red Wings historically have been very patient with their prospects and in many cases had them over develop in the minors before inserting them into their NHL roster...

Relax Blob...

Take care...

In most cases your right about us arm chair GMs, however, Jake seems a little different.
He showed some great stuff last year, at times, but an outrageous attitude reared it's ugly head.
The first big sign was when "HE" didn't want to go to the world junior tournament, (and said so publically), and they sent him anyway. He made a mockery of it with his cheap shots and angry attitude.
He did come back, (with his head between his legs), and smarten up for the rest of the NHL season, not bad.

Then came this year and an attitude that just plain made him impossible to deal with.
He has shown no signs of improving that attitude in Utica.
It has not one damn thing to do with talent or knowing the game at any level.
He's going to stay in his pissy mode until we move him or he gets what he wants on our parent club.
It aint smart, but it is what it is. Probably wasn't predictable, at least not before the draft.

From a mental standpoint, he worked really, really hard to rehab his shoulder surgery and got back to speed in record time like he said he would. That in itself may have started the entitlement feelings.

[mr perfect]

To me, so far, his money has been on picks other than his first in the draft year. And that's gold

So, a professional staff spend in some cases years following prospects before they make their decisions...

Us internet GM's, we have the ability to decide which of those picks are wins and losses without the benefit of knowing jack squat about most of them, and we have the ability to see into the future to know if they will ever develop into NHL players...

Some gift, eh?

It's far too early to be writing off JV and at this point my money is on him developing into a solid NHL player...

His natural skills sets are very suited to the pro game, and there is a reason the Red Wings historically have been very patient with their prospects and in many cases had them over develop in the minors before inserting them into their NHL roster...

Relax Blob...

Take care...

In most cases your right about us arm chair GMs, however, Jake seems a little different.
He showed some great stuff last year, at times, but an outrageous attitude reared it's ugly head.
The first big sign was when "HE" didn't want to go to the world junior tournament, (and said so publically), and they sent him anyway. He made a mockery of it with his cheap shots and angry attitude.
He did come back, (with his head between his legs), and smarten up for the rest of the NHL season, not bad.

Then came this year and an attitude that just plain made him impossible to deal with.
He has shown no signs of improving that attitude in Utica.
It has not one damn thing to do with talent or knowing the game at any level.
He's going to stay in his pissy mode until we move him or he gets what he wants on our parent club.
It aint smart, but it is what it is. Probably wasn't predictable, at least not before the draft.

From a mental standpoint, he worked really, really hard to rehab his shoulder surgery and got back to speed in record time like he said he would. That in itself may have started the entitlement feelings.

One thing that happened recently bothers me about Virtanen. Utica was playing two in a row against St John's. On one play in the first game Virtanen loses his check and the Ice Caps player scores on the play. The player was Bobby Farnham, the guy playing for New Jersey last season who jumped Jake in a fight and then showboated afterward. If I'm Jake, Farnham doesn't score on that play because I give him the can opener, ride his ass into the boards then off go the gloves, giving Farnham another chance to showboat. Being that a lot isn't going right for Virtanen at the moment, doing something along those lines at least shows the organization that he has some fight and spirit in him. He doesn't have to be a goon but it would be nice to not appear as a quitter either.

[SKYO]

I'd say deal Virtanen now, before his value goes down further, ala MDC/Michael Dal Colle, imagine what a Hutton + JV or Tanev + JV would get?

But on the same token, why not just let JV develop and let the team take their time molding this 20 year old at much slower pace than Ehlers and Nylander who were drafted right after him.

At least compared to MDC, Virtanen has some speed and when motivated/healthy is a hitting machine, he just needs to work on his junior slow ass shot and add some muscle mass this offseason, plus quit hanging out with drug users like Justin Beiber.

[Chef Boi RD]

I'm very relaxed and I will take care. You as well rooster.

If Virtanens garbage play in the AHL and the fact he hasn't put up decent numbers in junior or anywhere since he was drafted isn't setting off a few alarm bells for the organization I'd be shocked. At this point he looks like he could be a Jack Skille type guy down the road. I hope to hell he can be better than that.

Pacific Blue , Tomlinson and Shorthouse both said it was Bennett Elmer coveted when he tried to get the number one from Florida. I was just guessing about Dal Colle. Maybe he had Reinhart rated 2. Either way he totally blew it with the German and Ekblad/Reinhart if those were his rankings, to say nothing of Ehlers, Ritchie, Nylander. For the record I think Bennett will be one of the better players in this draft. Calgary got a beauty.

Bubbles Macuzzi, stop making shit up...I really don't care who Benning wanted, Reinhart, Bennett who the fuck cares...Either way Benning was offering up the 6th and Shrinkcarrot for something, but nobody in their right mind had Virtanen rated higher than Ekblad and the 3 centres (Reinhart, Bennett and Draisaitl), maybe Gilman and his Gillis scouting department did, who were all still lingering around like unwanted dingleberries after Benning was hired a month earlier but certainly did Benning NOT rank Virtanen 3rd in that draft, that's so fucking laughable. It was also no secret that Benning was a big fan of Nylander in fact it can be argued that he wanted Nylander more than Virtanen but Megamind wanted to appease the Gillis scouting staff and Gillis' best buddy - Gilman, who were just absolutely gushing over Virtanen down the stretch prior to hiring ole Benning the Genius. Video interview evidence is out there with Gilman blowing his wad with the thoughts of drafting Virtanen

[Blob Mckenzie]

^^^^^ Complete bullshit^^^^^ Virtanen is a total Benning blunder plain and simple. Dude probably won't amount to much more than a 4th line scrub. Thomas Gradin wanted Nylander and was enraged when Boozy Benning picked Virtanen.

[rikster]

Virtanen is a total Benning blunder plain and simple

Now you've gone out into la la land ...

A poster suggested that it's all between the ears with 20 year old Jake, if so then even more reason to give him time to mature....

Maybe he should take up sketching while he's in Utica...

Take care...

[Blob Mckenzie]

Virtanen is a total Benning blunder plain and simple

Now you've gone out into la la land ...

A poster suggested that it's all between the ears with 20 year old Jake, if so then even more reason to give him time to mature....

Maybe he should take up sketching while he's in Utica...

Take care...

The point was it is a Benning pick....not a Gillis pick as the dude would have you believe. I can guarantee Spandex Boy wouldn't be giving Gillis any credit if Benning chose Ehlers. Benning made a poor pick so it's Gillis's fault. It's fucking asinine.