Empoleon8771
Registered User
Do you watch the Canucks regularly? Virtanen struggles a ton. He is very similar to Simon in that he goes through stretches and then completely disappears for weeks. He's also regularly been a 20ish point player until he got PP time this year which boosted his numbers.
I was onboard for a Hornqvist + for Virtanen trade last summer. I don't think this summer has done anything for his value though and I would seriously be pissed if we moved a player like Poulin for him. Their comparable dominance in juniors is not very similar unless you highly weigh the WHL over the Q.
Virtanen had a 1.93 5v5 points/60 this year, which is better than what McCann was able to do this year. He also really turned it on after a slow-ish start, with putting up a 50 point pace in his last 44 games (12 goals and 27 points)
I think it's completely reasonable to say no to Poulin for Virtanen, but I think someone would offer a Poulin caliber pick or prospect for Virtanen if he'd become available. Not only are most GMs hard for size, but Virtanen's also a former #6 pick that had a 45 point pace while playing bottom-6 minutes this year. I can easily see teams salivating at the chance to get him, I imagine someone like Boston would easily offer their 1st rounder next year for him.
I don't think Virtanen is any less valuable than someone like McCann or Kapanen would be this off-season.