Player Discussion Jake "Big Tuna" Virtanen | XVII Nikolaj Who...?

[CanaFan]

Who had a 10-year NHL career, where he was in or around 20ish-goals in his prime.

His “prime” last 3 years. He was a low end NHLer who had a peak of being decent for a couple of years. Not really worth shooting for.

 

[RobertKron]

His “prime” last 3 years. He was a low end NHLer who had a peak of being decent for a couple of years. Not really worth shooting for.

Where did OP say anything about shooting for? They're probably not very high on Virtanen, and cited an example of a guy who still put together a career despite being a player with lots of tools who never put it together, and is always viewed as kind of a disappointment.

They said "Isbister type of career," not type of player.

Also, I'd be surprised if most players in that ballpark have a prime of longer than 3 years.

 

[RobertKron]

To expand on that a bit:

That's certainly a possible path for Virtanen. Guy who has lots of tools, and can do some things if he's given opportunities, but doesn't really bring enough to the table to sustain that roster position and ends up shuffling around the league as teams hope they can be the ones who get him to finally put it together, but is constantly passed by other younger, or more complete players.

Personally, I've been pretty consistent in the belief that Virtanen ends up as a decent middle-six player, but the above scenario is certainly a possibility. People often don't necessarily realize how little separates the two.

 

[CanaFan]

Where did OP say anything about shooting for? They're probably not very high on Virtanen, and cited an example of a guy who still put together a career despite being a player with lots of tools who never put it together, and is always viewed as kind of a disappointment.

They said "Isbister type of career," not type of player.

Also, I'd be surprised if most players in that ballpark have a prime of longer than 3 years.

“No reason he can’t have” plus the subsequent post implies it was meant as a positive. If he said “I don’t think he’ll be any better than” would suggest it was meant as a disparagement.

And personally I wouldn’t consider a career with the 3 best seasons of 22, 18, and 17 goals as any sort of accomplishment. Guys have had better careers than that who you’ve never noticed or have long forgotten about.

 

[Jyrki21]

Most of the calls for him to go to the AHL have been in response to Green’s refusal to play him meaningful minutes – quite the opposite of criticizing his play. It’s a desire to see him play much more.

Credit to him – he’s done a lot to reinvigorate interest in him as a player, but it will be tough for him not to get pigeonholed as a grinder if he only sees 10 minutes a game.

 

[VanJack]

Easily one of his best games of the season in Calgary....if he can bring that every night he'll be getting a lot more than eight minutes a night...maybe with Gaunce and Granlund he's finally found a 'heavy line' where he can flourish....another few performances like Saturday and any talk of Utica will be banished.