Virtanen - needs a coach behind the bench!

So to sum up the season after 3 games is a bit futile but there's some trends starting to show through.

First off Jake Virtanen is the Vancouver Canucks best player. It's not even close.

They have Virtanen, Bo Horvat, and Sven Baertschi. And that's about it.

Virtanen continues to die on a line with Sutter... lost in the wind. But he continues to drive offense. He continues to setup players for goals shift after shift. He continues to be the fastest player on the team - easily. He continues to hit people. He continues to challenge the opponents to keep their heads up. And he's doing it alone. There's no one else on the team.

Horvat thinks he's a playmaker (not). Baertschi is in and out - when he's in he's terrific. But he's in and out.

Elias Pettersson played AWESOME against the Calgary Flames when the Flames didn't show up. They have since shown up. Pettersson has an excuse me helper besides the Flames. Pettersson setup the winning goal for the Carolina Hurricanes - in fact - he helped put it in.

And there's Virtanen looking at the stiffs he's playing with, sighing, looking up at the scoreboard - can't get on the Number 1 PP or PK for love nor money. He got 12 minutes of ice time... the dork who scored an own goal, Pettersson, got a baffling 19 minutes.

And the losses begin to pile up.

And Virtanen must be laughing at the clowns around him. They can't play hockey. They're not even close to Virtanen's talent level.

And it makes sense, right? Virtanen is a Top 6 pick in a great draft year - 6' 210 lbs. - best skater on the team - only player on the team to be suspended - best player on the team last 20 games of the season ALWAYS when the coach runs out of options and has no choice but to play Virtanen.

If you put Virtanen on the Leafs - 60 goals. Easily. Period. End of story.

Can you imagine Virtanen playing on a line with an actual center ? Holy geesh. With that shot? That size? That speed?

Meanwhile in Vancouver they continue to run the pop-gun, own net scoring, Elias Pettersson out there shift after shift after shift NOT with Beagle or Sutter but with guys who can pass the puck back. Pettersson continuing to get shift after shift on the Number 1 PP even though he turns the puck over and creates breakaway after breakaway !! BUT LOOK AT HIM DIVE BACK TO BREAK IT UP!! Ya, but he was the idiot causing the opponent's breakaways.

Fortunately, the EP/Wayne Gretzky era is slowly coming to an end here as it dawns on media and fans and hopefully management that he's not Wayne Gretzky. And hopefully it may occur to them that playing to get Pettersson points is a stupid way to play hockey because it creates Grade A chance after Grade A chance on their goalie Jakob Markstrom who, at some point, is going to attack his own coach on the bench.

They can't continue to play this loosey goosey type of hockey and win games. They don't have nearly enough Jake Virtanen's to pull it off. And even if you did have more Virtanens the coach wouldn't play them - he's either been told to continue to run Pettersson out there or he's oblivious to how badly he's doing.

You would think at some point the scoreboard and the record would be a clue for him.

The next move in this tire fire is for Virtanen to formally request a trade. And then there will be zero hope for the Vancouver Canucks for the next 15 years because the odds of them getting the First Overall pick and actual help in the NHL draft is none.

There are too many teams in more dire financial state than the Vancouver Canucks, you would think, that need the 1st Overall pick more - and since there's more than them, the odds are, the Canucks won't win the pick. Not suggesting it's rigged, just saying they are one team in a pool of waste floating around hoping one day to get sucked out of the garbage. You have to get lucky. And the odds are too long that they will.

EDITOR'S NOTE: (me)

In retrospect I think I meant dorky not dork. Dork was a bit cruel. I meant dorky or Bambi-like. It's kind of cute that he falls a lot and is kind of all limbs. Dork came across as a wrong choice. And I think I should have said Pettersson is good on the Power Play - there's no question he is. My point is though that Jake Virtanen is probably just as good or better - his shot is much better. I would have put Virtanen there and not Pettersson.