LINDEN NOW PART OF CANUCK ‘REBUILD’
A 20-year run with Vancouver’s NHL franchise, including the past four as team president, is over for Trevor Linden after a ‘mutual parting’ of the ways
Looking back at Jarome Iginla’s career is a window into the soul of the Vancouver Canucks’ first pick at the 2014 NHL Entry Draft.
Jake Virtanen wasn’t drafted because he was the best player available. He was drafted because his skill set is intoxicating. And whenever a power forward’s skills click in the NHL, it can make for one of the most unstoppable forces.
Hoping it will click for Virtanen is why the Canucks rolled the dice on him with their sixth overall pick in the first place. Four years later, they are still hoping.
The Canucks and Virtanen reached a two-year extension this week. It gets him $1.25 million a season and makes him one of the leading contenders on the team to outperform his contract.
It wouldn’t take much. One or two 15-goal, 30-point seasons would do the trick. But first Virtanen has to prove he can be a consistent, everyday NHL player. He made strides toward that last season.
The Abbotsford athlete went from a player who averaged 9:50 minutes per game in October to one who played 15:31 a night in March. Some of that was because of injuries but it should have given him a taste of what it means to be a regular top-nine winger and a lot of momentum heading into the off-season as he tries to tap further into that power forward DNA.
It all came together for Iginla whose playing career officially ended Wednesday. He was a mix of smooth hands and brute, physical force.
For several years, the combination made him one of the most dominant players in the game and the most admired, too.
Nothing in hockey is longed-for quite like a true power forward. Part of it is because when they’re great, like Iginla, Alex Ovechkin and Anze Kopitar, they carry a team. Part of it is because there’s so few of them in the NHL. Start making a list of the best ones in any season and it usually gets difficult when you get outside the top 10.
In Vancouver, the Canucks have been chasing the next Todd Bertuzzi since, well, Bertuzzi was here. It is what it is. Finding players like him is incredibly difficult which should help at least explain why the Canucks passed on better prospects in 2014 to draft Virtanen.
At that draft, the Canucks warned it could take time for Virtanen to develop his array of attributes, including his electric straight-line skating and that hulking 215-pound build.
There have been games he’s flashed it all, none more memorable than an October night in Detroit. He scored a goal, had eight shots on net and one earthmoving hit on Niklas Kronwall, which is why the game will always be remembered as “The Kronwalling.”
Often lost in the all the discussion surrounding Virtanen is that he’s been an effective player in helping the Canucks control possession. Among forwards, only the Sedins had a more positive impact on
shot-attempt differential. Virtanen had some challenging deployment issues to overcome too, as only Erik Gudbranson and Brandon Sutter had a lower percentage of offensive zone starts.
So that’s the good.
The bad? The Canucks need more out of Virtanen offensively. In his final 22 games, which some consider his most consistent stretch of the season, he had five points, including two goals. He’s capable of more. How much is
guess work and dependent on power-play time.
Some of that is going to be on Vancouver head coach Travis Green to help foster. He’s had a flexible relationship with Virtanen. There have been times he’s seemed hard on him, but plenty of other times when he let Virtanen run on a line with the Sedin twins.