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Jake Virtanen has played against Nikolay Goldobin and knows all about Brock Boeser.

“I played against Goldobin in the Top Prospects Game (2014) and Boeser has incredible talent,” said the wayward Vancouver Canucks winger, who is finding his professional way with the AHL’s Utica Comets.

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What the mercurial Virtanen also knows is despite the departures of Jannik Hansen and Alex Burrows, there’s considerable competition on the right side next fall.

Factor in Markus Granlund’s career season, Loui Eriksson’s need for a reset, Goldobin, Boeser, Derek Dorsett returning from neck surgery and a curiosity about Reid Boucher, and nothing is guaranteed for the Abbotsford native.

“You have to earn every opportunity — and I have to prove that I belong,” said Virtanen. “It’s how the game works.”

Well, yes and no.

Last season was about feel-good stories when a trio of wide-eyed rookies in Virtanen, Jared McCann and Ben Hutton cracked the roster. Virtanen and McCann were 19, played like it and sometimes acted like it.