[Signing] Canucks re-sign Virtanen (2yrs, $2.55 mil AAV)

[MrMike]

Originally Posted by CorsiHockeyLeague

I just did a quick "opening night roster" on Capfriendly with Baertschi and Eriksson in the AHL and wound up with about 9,000 in cap space. Not a lot of flexibility there.

EDIT: I should note I assumed Ferland was in the lineup, not on LTIR.

Yeah I think they are counting on Ferland being LTIR which will give them about 2 mill in cap space. They are still in need of another depth defencemen.

[MrMike]

Originally Posted by Burner

but they may regret it when they have to qualify him in two years

There was talk they wouldn’t even qualify him this year. I figure by that time it will figure itself out.

[V H F]

Originally Posted by shadowlord

I think the contract is too high. Wasn't Virtanen a regular health scratch this season? I'm not sure if he was scratched during the playoffs.

The contract is not too high. Despite his challenges of coming to camp in shape, using his size to his advantage and fully committing to Green's system, he still put up a very reasonable amount of points for his ice time (mostly on the 3rd line). Of all forwards who played 14 mins/g or less last season, Virtanen (13:05) scored the most points in the NHL. Yet his AAV is ranks around 30th among those forwards, and he will still be an RFA in 2 years. I'd say that is pretty good value overall.

[CorsiHockeyLeague]

Originally Posted by Textcritic

Did you also buy out B. Sutter?

No, he was the 13th forward.

[Hangman]

Originally Posted by Blaster86

He regularly shows up out of shape, the coach is done trying with him, he refuses to play the in-the-trenches style he needs to play to be effective and he regularly does incredibly tone deaf if not out right stupid things off the ice.

We thought we were done with him too.

The potential to be a 20 goal hard hitting winger is there. He prefers to skate around the perimeter and is afraid to lay hits because he doesn't want to fight.

This is coming from one of the people who like him, too.

So he hasn't changed at all from his days as a Calgary Hitmen.

[Mean Mr. Mustard]

This is a fair show me what you got type of contract. He has been a very streaky player who can make a difference but I question whether he has the determination to actually put himself in a position to make the difference. He is continually showing up out of shape, plays in the low traffic areas, and relies upon his skills in order to make plays. The problem is though that while he has NHL level skills - they don't mean anything if you aren't interested in putting the effort in to make yourself a better player. He has put up better regular season numbers in successive seasons, so there is the possibility that he will continue to do so and become a second line player but a players prime offensive years usually happen in their early to mid 20s.

In a lot of ways he is like Bennett in the sense that he is continually leaving fans wanting more when he shows those glimpses of the player he could potentially be.