He really seemed to turn a corner last year and had a great stretch of play in the middle of the season (was point-per-game for 25-30 games) next to Horvat ... and everything has just gone pear-shaped since. Part of the responsibility lies with the player but at the same time if management/coaches were actively trying to destroy a player's confidence in the last year you could hardly have done worse.
My thoughts exactly, during the regular season he had a decent stretch of games where he was playing well and with confidence and looked like he had turned a corner.
I’m not going to throw him a pity party-but they probably could have handled it better. I suspect if the situation was handled differently, his play this year would be closer to last regular season (eg 15-20g pace on the third line with some inconsistency) rather than completely dropping off a cliff.
The whole team has had a rough start to the year with a nosedive of late including some of our best players. If we are able to put the season back on track, I would reevaluate trading Virtanen afterwards if his play doesn’t improve.
I think he can be a 20-25g guy, but on a bottom feeder team that gives him a longer leash and deal with his growing pains.