J.T. Miller sees a bit of himself in Jake Virtanen, gives him tough love (canucks)

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J.T. Miller sees a bit of himself in Jake Virtanen, gives him tough love

By Carol Schram

Jun 18, 2020 • 2:44 pm

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Let's start today where I left off in the last blog, with Dan Murphy's interview with J.T. Miller:

Two things jumped out at me.

1) Asked to compare his experience in a Canadian market with his past stops with the Rangers and Lightning, Miller replied:

"I think New York was a crazy place for me to start playing...a lot of passion, a lot of love/hate. Very strong opinions.

"Vancouver, in my opinion, they've been so supportive. Win or bad, they've never really lecturing. They're so nice to me, out, and they care a lot. Obviously, they've been very close in the last 15-20 years a couple of times. It's exciting to be a part of the new little wave here. A lot of new faces this year, so it's been a lot of positivity this season. Obviously, we're having a pretty good year. It's cool to be a part of the Canadian environment."

I kinda like how he uses the word 'bad' instead of 'lose'!

Doesn't exactly fit the stereotype that players are scrutinized more closely in Canada than in the U.S., does it? And it's funny — I was watching Episode 2 of the NHL's new cooking show 'Skates and Plates' yesterday, and Jacob Trouba was talking about how in Winnipeg, the Jets were the only game in town and now that he's in New York, he can kind of get lost when he's away from the rink because there are so many other things going on.

I guess my takeaway is that a lot also depends on where a player is at in his career. It'd be hard for anybody in Vancouver to find a critical word to say to Miller when he has been so outstanding since joining the Canucks. Not just offensively, where he put up 27 goals and 72 points in 69 games after a 47-point season with the Lightning last year and a previous career high of 22 goals and 56 points during his time with the Rangers. As we've discussed countless times, Miller's leadership and his hunger to win have been transformative for the Canucks — and have had a huge impact on the team's younger players.

2) Miller's relationship with Jake Virtanen.

I think there has ben more talk about the influence that he has had on his linemates Elias Pettersson and Brock Boeser, but Murph relayed a Twitter question, asking if Miller sees Virtanen as a younger version of himself.

I thought his answer was fascinating:

"I think in some ways, yeah, and I think that's why I tend to gravitate to him. When I was a younger player, I used to find ways to get in my own way sometimes and try to make something out of nothing when it comes to puck plays at the blue line and stuff and my coaches would tell me, 'You've got a lot of potential if you could just put it together.'

"Jake has so many really good qualities. He seems young, but he's been on this team a long time. I've only been with him for a year but I saw so many good things from September to where we were in March. He's a huge part of the team and when he's skating and being physical with that big body of his, it's contagious on our team.

"I think he's starting to realize that if you just play to your strengths, you're going to become a better version of yourself. I just want to help him realize that. Sometimes it's tough love but at the same time, I'm trying to be productive. And I still learn from him, too. The guy shoots the puck really hard and is a really good skater. There's definitely things that I can pick away from his game that I'd like to improve on."

With so much organizational depth at right wing, I seem to keep hearing Brock Boeser and Virtanen as players that the Canucks could potentially move to ease the logjam a little bit. I understand the logic — especially if Tyler Toffoli sticks around — but I worry on both that you'd be cutting ties with young players before they reach their potential, the way Miller has this year.

Boeser and Virtanen are both still just 23, and Jake took a big step forward this year — hitting a new high with 18 goals and developing a bit of a playmaking aspect to his game with 18 assists as well, all while seeing his ice time drop by nearly two minutes a game compared to last season.

Six of his goals came on the power play this year, and his takeaway numbers have been consistently good throughout his career. This year, he finished third on the team in that category behind Miller and Tyler Myers, and first in takeaways-per-60.

Also interesting — Jake's 36 points this season put him one ahead of fellow 2014 Vancouver first-rounder Jared McCann, who finished with 35 points in 66 games with Pittsburgh. And in a wildly roundabout way, we can say that McCann has ultimately turned into Tanner Pearson here in Vancouver. He also hit a career high this year, with 45 points.

When you think back to all the chatter about how Jake was in Travis Green's doghouse at training camp this year, it makes his season even more impressive to me. Virtanen still has plenty of upside. If he does get traded, I hope the acquiring team pays for that potential accordingly.

Still on right wing, a noticed a couple of items that Rick Dhaliwal dropped on Twitter this week:

If Toffoli is serious about re-signing with the Canucks, a great playoff performance would go a long way toward helping cement a new deal after the season ends. I guess the same is also true for Jacob Markstrom and Chris Tanev — and for RFAs with arbitration rights like Virtanen and Troy Stecher. All guys with a lot to play for!

But it sounds like Reid Boucher won't be in the mix, even as a Black Ace, and that his time with the Canucks organization and as a Utica Comets sniper is coming to a close. With the AHL just starting to try to formulate a return-to-play plan for next season, I expect we'll see more North American bubble players make KHL commitments over the next couple of weeks as NHL rosters start to take shape.

Another right-winger who's expected to stay in Europe next season, according to Dhaliwal: Petrus Palmu.

Palmu had a decent season with JyP in the Finnish league last season, finishing fifth in team scoring with 35 points in 47 games on a team that put together a solid 31-24-4 record for an eighth-place finish in the 15-team league.

And let's wrap up today with Petey living his best life. Safe to assume that the balance and dexterity that he shows on his skates and during his unicycle-riding adventures translates to supreme jet-ski skills?

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