Time on power play might help young gun

One thing the Vancouver Canucks’ off-season accomplished was leaving the door wide open for players like Jake Virtanen to progress.

Virtanen turns 22 next month and the organization is hopeful he can take a big step forward from his 20-point season. Virtanen has now played 140 NHL games and has scored 17 goals.

It suggests he may not be the 25-goal guy some thought he’d become when the Abbotsford player was drafted sixth overall in 2014. And there’s nothing wrong with that.

Studies have shown that players generally peak in the 23- to 26-year-old range so he does have time to change the perception.

He has room on this roster too because the top six has a couple of holes still to fill.

The Canucks don’t have the obvious goal-scoring talent to keep younger players down the lineup if they show any signs they might be able to produce more than established veterans.

Whether Virtanen can do that remains to be seen, but he does have one of the better shots on the team and is arguably the Canucks’ fastest player. All is not lost, by the way, if he doesn’t become a legitimate goal-scoring threat.

If he can get comfortable in the NHL and produce something like 12-15 goals a season while being an effective, physical force who helps control possession, everyone should be happy.

His season was probably better than most will remember. Sure he only scored 10 goals, but his 0.57 goals per-60 minutes played at even strength was better than Sven Baertschi (0.53) and Sam Gagner (0.39).

The biggest issue was Virtanen only played 21.21 minutes total on the power play. That’s less than Reid Boucher who was played just 20 games.

Getting Virtanen more chances with the man-advantage sure seems like the best way to get him to be a more well-rounded, offensive player who, you know, scores goals.

— Jason Botchford