It was hoped that Jake Virtanen, with his experience both at last year’s World Junior Championship and with the Canucks this season, would be a leader for Team Canada. While he may be providing leadership off the ice, he hasn’t done much so far on it.
Virtanen and linemate Brandon Perlini are the only Canadian forwards without a point through two games and he just hasn’t had the impact, physically or offensively, that you might expect from a 19-year-old with 19 NHL games. I mean, expecting leadership from a 19-year-old seems crazy to me, but this is how the World Juniors works. 19-year-olds are seasoned veterans who sit on rocking chairs on porches, dispensing wisdom to the young'uns.
He hasn’t just been kept off the scoresheet, but has also struggled with the puck, committing the kinds of turnovers that would get him quickly benched by Willie Desjardins. It’s been a disappointing start for Virtanen, who was relishing the opportunity to play in Finland, the homeland of both his parents.
While he’s had his moments, they’ve been just that: moments. His overall game has simply not been good enough. You have to wonder if he’s putting too much pressure on himself to perform as one of the “veterans” on the roster. Fortunately, there’s still plenty of tournament for him to turn things around and he hasn't hurt the team defensively.
Virtanen skated on a line with Perlini and Brayden Point in Canada’s tournament-opening loss to Team USA on Boxing Day, finishing with 3 shots on goal.
Against Denmark, he played with Perlini and Dylan Strome and had 2 shots on goal. Considering Canada had 58 total shots, 2 shots is actually on the low end, but first line forwards Point and John Quenneville only had 1 shot each, so it’s hard to fault Virtanen too much for a lack of shots.
His usage might be an issue. He’s frequently being used as a net front presence, which would seemingly make sense given his strength, and hands, but it doesn’t actually play to his strengths as a player who excels at driving to the net with the puck.
It’s also worth noting that Virtanen is coming off an injury. He’s been out of the Canucks lineup since the end of November and played just two games in the AHL on a conditioning assignment before heading to the World Junior tournament. It’s entirely possible that Virtanen just isn’t back up to game speed, though his two goals against Sweden in pre-tournament action would suggest otherwise.
Fellow Canucks first-round-pick Brock Boeser has also been held without a point for Team USA, with 4 shots through two games against Canada and Sweden. Expectations are a little lower for the 18-year-old Boeser, however, in his tournament debut, and goals were hard to come by against Swedish goaltender Linus Soderstrom, who had a 46-save shutout against the US. Lukas Jasek has also been held off the scoresheet and also the Czech roster, by which I mean he was cut before the tournament started.
So with Virtanen and Boeser a figurative no-show early and Lukas Jasek a literal no-show, there hasn’t been much for Canucks fans to cheer about so far.
