From 6TH OVERALL To GERMANY - What Happened To Jake Virtanen?

In today's episode, we take a look at a 6-year veteran of the league who has experienced quite the fall from grace since being drafted 6th overall just 9 years ago.
So join me as we ask the question: whatever happened to Jake Virtanen?
#nhl #vancouvercanucks #whathappened #hockey #icehockey #nationalhockeyleague #oddmanrush #sports
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[@THELEAFSFAN]

I know you already did this player but after what happened this summer you should redo whatever happened to Alex Galchenyuk

[@wainber1]

I like the Virtanen documentary although it may only be a matter of days, if not hours, before one about Galchenyuk goes out on KZbin. Both forwards have signed with clubs over in Europe.

[@Nico-lp6pn]

I'm a Bremerhaven fan and my NHL team are the Oilers. Was definitely quite the ride going from him signing his PTO with Edmonton, being glad they didn't keep him, and then having him sign in Bremerhaven like a few months later ☠️ Can't deny he's one of if not the most skilled player we've had tho going off just that metric. Should be noted that Bremerhaven is by no means a big club, often reported to have the smallest or one of the smallest budgets in the league (those numbers arent public tho so it is a bit of speculation). I will also mever forget the goal he scored against Munich in the game that put us up 2-0 in the series last playoffs, easily one of my favourite sports memories. It is for sure a bit bittersweet given the accusations and all

[@ryboflavin9494]

Dude loved to party. He went to music festivals all summers during his time with the Canucks. Buddy of mine partied with him once at a festival in Kelowna and he would order shots from a waitress literally in the hundreds, just to fill up his table. Once a shot was taken, he’d tell the waitress to replace the empty space on the table.

[@SaveznaRepublikaJugoslavija]

damn weight gain in second season

[@BloggerMusicMan]

From everything I've ever read about him, it always seemed like he had talent but his head wasn't always there. He's clearly got demons of some kind, and arrogance is one way that can present. I hope he gets his life together.

[@TheJimmyStDenisShow]

I remember that he was gonna be really good

[@chrisbee9643]

Mo Seider did it the other way around. xD Greetz from Germany. :)

[@KamikazeDreamer]

Wake up honey, OMR booted up wikipedia again

[@scottwill19]

I knew he’d bust after his abysmal performance at the 2016 WJC. The NHL loan player on the team and was expected to be a leader from winning the year prior, he was absolutely horrendous and was noticeably bad the majority of the time when he was on the ice. Thought immediately after Canada’s elimination that he would flame out.

[@carletonrutherford1799]

He was big, fast, and a home town boy. The Canucks and their fans wanted him to succeed here. They gave him every single opportunity they had, for him to succeed but he didn't have it. He had size, and speed, but he had no head for the game. At least, if he was mean he could have been a useful 3rd liner, but he's not mean on the ice. He would have been dealt years ago, but it was the ghost of Cam Neely that kept him here. The Canucks didn't want to give up on a big local kid too early, again. He got a professional tryout with the Oilers, and they let him go too. He could have been a fan favourite here in Vancouver, but he turned out to be another Benning bust.

[@wainber1]

Virtanen was, like current Leafs' captain John Tavares, drafted in the top-10 during his NHL Draft year. Also as Virtanen did, Tavares is playing for the NHL team closest to his hometown (in Tavares's case, Mississauga Yet with the Leafs Tavares is in his SIXTH season and, if his good physical health continues for long enough, he'll next season see a 7th (1 more than Virtanen ever did during his 1st NHL stint, with for him a return to the NHL unlikely to ever occur). Virtanen over 317 and 16 respective regular-season and playoff games put up 100 (55 goals) and 3 (2 goals) points. Tavares has yet to put up even 90 regular-season points but in regular-season play from October 2022 to last November's regulation loss by the Leafs to the Pens EQUALLED the # of relevant points Virtanen had EVER put up at the NHL level. If points in ALL non-preseason games are factored in, Virtanen put up 103 points (57 goals) in 333 such games; Tavares, to equal Virtanen's point total in NPGs during the latter's 2010s-2020s NHL stint, took, from last season, just 105 relevant games. Virtanen, over 16 playoff games, put up just 3 points. Among then-members of the Leafs who played in the April 2023 Bolts-Leafs' playoff series (not more than 6 games played/player), the following earned at least as many points as Virtanen, during his 2010s-2020s NHL stint, ever earned in playoff games: - winger Mitch Marner (11 [2 goals]) - centre Auston Matthews (9 [5 goals]) - d-man Morgan Rielly (8 [3 goals]) - Tavares, Ryan O'Reilly and Will Nylander, all centres (7 for all 3 [4, 2 and 2 respective goals]) - winger Matt Knies (3 [all assists]) Of the above players: - Marner, AM34, Rielly, Tavares and Nylander were drafted in the top-10 in their respective NHL Draft years - O'Reilly and Knies, both 2nd-round NHL draftees, were drafted outside the top-10 in their respective NHL Draft years How has Knies done at the regular-season level? On that count he put up 14 points (8 goals) over 34 games going into the Leafs' early-January games against the Sharks. The American winger has already exceeded Virtanen's point totals during the latter's rookie and final seasons with the Canucks, with Virtanen having, during the respective relevant seasons, put up relevant point totals of 13 (7 goals) and 5 (all goals) over 55 and 38 games.

[@janih1244]

Make a video of jokerit reborn at Finland :)

[@johnsinglet575]

While he was rushed a bit, he was given plenty of opportunity to succeed. He had the tools to be a great player but his lack of compete and professionalism was probably the main thing that held him back. Getting picked as a 6OA for your hometown team probably wasn't the best development scenario for an immature player. If he was a late first/2nd round pick in a no-nonsense organization or a smaller hockey market I do wonder if things would have been different.

[@StoneSlumber]

You nailed it exactly. Unfortunately he was also a victim of the stupid agreement with the CHL whereby you are not allowed to play in the AHL if you are of CHL eligible age. So the first year he was in the NHL when he should have been in the AHL. (The only other option being he plays in the CHL, which would do nothing for development either) AND THEN he was dropped to the AHL after that, when that would have most likely been the year he would have been introduced to the NHL level. All backwards. Of course he did himself no favours, but the where he played, how high he was drafted, and his maturity level, and the stupid age limit AHL factor, made his career a ticking time bomb

[@jtom68]

Shotgun Jake! You could have a whole list of what ever to high Canuck draft picks that didn’t pan out, except Stojanov who Canucks traded to Penguins for Naslund Bloody Benning picking Shotgun Jake over Tkachuk

[@user-by3nd4rm6c]

They weren't in the same draft year dummy

[@manav40181]

One of the worst Busts in Canucks History

[@manav40181]

@kevinbadger8030 I said "one of the worst " not the worst...

[@martydoh4541]

So glad we have him on our team in Fischtown Bremerhaven. He is a big reinforcement! All the stories about him from Visp were proven wrong, as one their staff guys told it was as smere campaign from their management.

[@misternobodysixtynine]

604 WHAT?!?!?

[@kw9377]

He got great speed and shot but the head is not there most of the time

[@benjaminaxselholm]

Cocaines a hell of a drug

[@imagreatbigman]

What a bust!

[@new_user6969]

He a bum

[@robbybains1622]

Imagine if we had Nylander instead.

[@SonOfTamriel]

His parents must be so proud of him after all those years of spending heaps of money for him to play hockey and become an NHL'er /s

[@FallenMonk55]

Shea Theodore came from the same town as Virtanen, yet he was more successful because of his work ethic, positive attitude, and not giving into unhealthy vices such as partying, drinking and women.

[@supersenpaizyt]

Let’s not compared to Jake Virtanen to Alex Galchenyuk

[@supersenpaizyt]

I have been a huge fan of Virtanen until unfortunately of his allegations

[@alecedgeworth2814]

Virtanen was shafted by Vancouver. He was never found guilty of any crime but booted anyway by a lacklustre coach

[@rozzie101]

I donno about Shafted... he show up overweight his 2nd season...

[@wainber1]

@@rozzie101 It's hard to know whether the sexual encounter Virtanen had had with the woman in question was consensual but because the jury in his trial unanimously acquitted him, I consider the case against him as having not been proven (with such a verdict available under Scottish criminal law, with the effect pretty much the same as not guilty). I do agree with you that aside from the criminal charge on which Virtanen would be acquitted, he did show up overweight and unsurprisingly was demoted to the Canucks' then-AHL affiliate during the relevant season.

[@FallenMonk55]

Virtanen was a bum who had lazy work ethic, loved to party and chase puck bunnies. He was too busy trying to score off the ice than on the ice.

[@wainber1]

@@FallenMonk55 Virtanen was caught having partied early on in the 2020s covid pandemic. That probably wasn't the only instance he'd partied as much as having once shown up 18 lbs above the maximum 213-lb weight the Canucks claimed he should've shown up to training camp with no doubt was a red flag.

[@carterkirkpatrick9970]

And yet you still get people saying that he’s a abuser after he was pleated not guilty of his charges if he’s pleaded not guilty then he’s innocent