Photo Source: Hitmen TV Broadcast February 11th, 2015

By now we all know that Vancouver Canucks top prospect Jake Virtanen is a beast (physically speaking, if not on the score sheet). He runs through

players with ferocious velocity, he charges hard into the dirty areas,

and he isn’t afraid to scrum it up either. In other words, he’s Jim

Benning’s prototypical hockey player.

But does Virtanen play a little too hard? Sure, Vancouver is itching

for a true hard-nosed power forward, and has been for a decade, but

there has to be a limit (as Canucks fans know all too well). Power forwards aren’t generally useful to their teams if

they’re sitting in the penalty box.

So does Virtanen have a discipline problem?

In the 2014-15 season, Virtanen played an even 50 games for the Calgary

Hitmen, and in that time he amassed 82 penalty minutes. His 1.64

PIM/game was the highest of any forward and second among his entire

team.

This isn’t an exorbitant amount – consider that Alex Burrows has

broken the 100 PIM mark in the NHL on three separate occasions. What is a

little bit concerning though is that all 82 of the penalty minutes are

accounted for by minor penalties.

The Penalties

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Above all other infractions, Virtanen was tagged with Roughing most

frequently. Racking up penalties this prolifically can be a bothersome player trait, or it can be

benign, depending on the context. In seven of the 15 instances Virtanen was put in the box

for roughing, the officials assessed coincidental minor penalties. On the remaining eight roughing penalties, Virtanen caused his team to go on the penalty kill.

Coincidental roughing calls can be overlooked – most of the bigger,

tougher, more aggressive players rack up a number of these over the

course of the season, and sending your team to 4-on-4 in not really all

that troublesome (and if you’re playing on a team with the Sedin twins, it’s actually sound strategy). However, some of these coincidental roughing calls are

incidents in which he took a penalty in a scrum after an opponent took

an initial penalty. It’s nice to stick up for your teammates, but in

these cases, Virtanen eliminated a potential power play. That’s not

particularly useful, and in fact costs your team a fifth of a goal for every time it occurs.

The solo roughing calls are even more useless, although sometimes they weren’t necessarily earned.

An example of a very liberal interpretation of the roughing infraction.

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Among all Canucks prospects last season, only 5 skaters recorded more

penalty minutes than Virtanen. 4 of those prospects played at least 16 more games

than Virtanen, and subsequently each of their PIM/GP numbers were

actually lower than Virtanen’s. The exception in this group was Cole

Cassels, who tallied 100 penalty minutes in 54 games, for a PIM/GP of

1.85. Cassels however racked up a number of penalty minutes through

majors, including 3 fights and checking to the head.

(Source OneCanuck)

Prior to the 2014 season, Jason Robertson, the Calgary Hitmen season ticket

holder formerly known as @Doogie2K on Twitter, mentioned this in a scouting report he gave on Virtanen:

The other, more glaring issue, is discipline. While he’s come along

greatly since his rookie season, when he seemed to take a bad penalty

every other game, there are still times when he’ll make a bad decision

and you’ll wonder where the heck his head was at. The example of this

that springs to mind comes from the last game of the regular season

against Kootenay. With the score 4-1 midway through the third period,

Virtanen engaged in a pointless scrap with Ice defender Rinat Valiev,

and left the ice favouring his hand. At the time I was concerned that

he’d busted his hand on Valiev’s helmet; while he returned for the

playoffs, it was revealed afterward that he’d suffered a shoulder

injury. It’s not clear whether that fight was the cause, or if it

aggravated a pre-existing injury, or whether it’s down to a nasty hit he

took at the turnbuckle in Game 3. Whatever the case, it was an

obviously poor decision: he’s far more useful to the Hitmen scoring

goals than throwing hands. – May 2014

It seems that someone else may have brought this to Virtanen’s

attention, as he had no fights during the 2014-15 season. He is

perfectly capable of dropping the gloves, doing so far 4 times in the

2013-14 season, according to Hockey Fights, and doing quite a good job of it.

To Robertson’s point though, that isn’t really what he should be using

his hands for. Players injuring themselves in a fight when their job is to score goals is particularly frustrating, right Connor McDavid?

Potential Explanations

There are a couple of reasons why Virtanen takes penalties

with such frequency. The first is that he’s a bit of a ruffian. He likes

to get involved and muck things up, be hard to play against and punish

opponents, and this is an aspect of his game that he is proud of. This type of hard nosed hockey is frequently met with

approval from the fans and disapproval from the officials.

Secondly, as a young player, Virtanen may not be as concerned about

taking penalties as he is about making an impression. In addition to

this, it doesn’t appear that he received too much negative

reinforcement. During the regular season, of his 41 minor penalties, 27

led to powerplays for Calgary’s opponents, though they were scored on

just 3 times during these kills. This means that Calgary killed

penalties at a rate of 88.9% after Virtanen put them a man down. This is

a step up from the 82.6% penalty kill rate the Hitmen finished the season with,

which happened to be 3rd in the WHL. They also scored an impressive 16

short handed goals, second best in the Dub. On the whole, the team did

not seem to be afraid of taking penalties at all, as they were short

handed 305 times – tied for 4th most. Between a confident penalty

killing squad and a general lack of repercussions following unnecessary

penalties, their didn’t seem to be much motivation for players –

particularly star players – to clean up their act.

There also exists the possibility that Virtanen is just playing a

style beyond his age. The CHL is a different game than the NHL – the

criteria for certain penalties may be a little broader with younger

players. That is to say that a roughing penalty in the CHL may be

acceptable at the NHL level, and a boarding penalty (an infraction with a

broad and relatively subjective set of criteria) may just be a hard but

unpunished hit. The difference in strength between Virtanen and his

peers often means that a simple shove from Virtanen will send opponents

flying into the boards – a problem he may not necessarily have when

bumping into heavier, stronger competition. In some instances, roughing

calls like the one above may be given out on plays that would never

incur such a call at higher levels.

The shenanigans didn’t stop for the big winger in the WHL playoffs as

he racked up 28 penalties in minutes in 14 games. That includes 8 in a single game

in the second round against Medicine Hat (Willie Desjardins won’t like that), 3

of which led to power-play opportunities for his opponent. Additionally, he was

suspended for a hit to the head that took place 2 games later.

During his brief stint with the Comets during the Calder Cup

playoffs, Virtanen managed to stay a little more disciplined, counting

just 3 minor penalties in 10 games, though he was up to his usual

hijinks: boarding and coincidental roughing accounted for 2 of those 3

penalties. However, with highlights of him laying out his opponents and

scrumming it up left and right being frequently distributed amongst

Canucks and Comets fans, it begs the question of whether his “discipline

problems” were related to the league he was playing in. Many things

that he was penalized for in the WHL may well have been let go at the

pro level.

Cutting Down the PIMs

In Alex Burrows’ most penalized year, he was tagged for 179 minutes in

penalties, although 60 of those were misconducts and 35 were majors,

leaving just 84 PIMs due to minor penalties in 82 games.

Alex Burrows Penalty Distribution 2007-08

(Source NHL.com)

Like Virtanen, Burrows collected a large amount of roughing penalties

for jostling after the whistle. As a bottom six grinder, that was of

course his job. Removing these roughing penalties from the equation

brings his penalty minutes total down to a pedestrian 46. As Burrows

transitioned from a supporting role to a top line finisher, it was

important for him to spend less time in the sin bin.

To this point, Virtanen has been trying to balance both, being an

important point producer for the Hitmen while also being a bit of a

pugilist. Unfortunately, it can be a little tricky to do both at the

same time, since the penalty box is an awfully difficult place to score

from. Throughout his junior career, his penalty minutes per game have

stayed relatively high, and at some points increases in penalties taken has corresponded with a drop in production:

Back to the Canucks, in the seasons following Mike Gillis’ hiring, the organization began

to preach a “between the whistles” approach, an idea that was imparted

on Burrows and Kesler in particular. Their point totals responded in

kind.

Given the amount of time that Virtanen spends in the box due to non-coincidental roughing penalties, it is likely that he may need a similar talking to. Burrows provides an example that high penalty minutes and high point production don’t often go hand in hand, and Virtanen would do well to learn this early on in his NHL career.

He will also need to learn when the time is right to fight back, and

when to skate away, especially if the opponent has already taken a

penalty. Derek Dorsett showed this sort of restraint against Michael

Ferland in the Canucks playoff series against the Flames (see video below), duping the

rookie Ferland into taking a penalty – though he unfortunately forgot

his restraint just a couple games later as Ferland turned the tables.

Hopefully Dorsett, the culture-carrying shoulder-rubber himself, can

impart the discipline he showed in the first run in with Ferland, rather

than the second.

Dorsett draws a penalty as rookie Ferland sheds his gloves prematurely.

It’s possible that Virtanen has shown a bit of growth already. Though

he went from 1.64 PIM/GP in the regular season to 2.00 PIM/GP in the

playoffs, none of his 4 post-season roughing penalties were

non-coincidental. Furthermore, in the AHL playoffs, his only roughing

call was coincidental and his PIM/GP was reduced to 0.60.

The Bottom Line

The simple answer is yes, Virtanen will need to work on being more disciplined. I don’t see this a major issue at this point though, and I’d imagine Canucks brass doesn’t either.

It seems that Virtanen’s large

number of penalties is the result of a correlation of forces, rather than any inability to control his aggression. Playing in a league against larger

opponents who don’t go flying every time he extends his arms will

naturally reduce some of his penalties, I’d think, as will the more conservative

whistle blowing of a professional official.

Even when these types of iffy calls are stripped away, there are still plays that Virtanen

himself is solely responsible for: late hits, obstruction infractions

and so on. These he will have to clean up on his own.

Undoubtedly there are some aspects that Virtanen needs to work on

with regard to restraint and discipline. Like any 19-year-old, he’ll become better at his job with experience and maturity.

Until then we’ll have to wait

for him to get a taste of NHL action to see if he follows the patterns

of previous seasons. If

Virtanen is going to play for the Canucks next season, and it certainly

looks like he might get a shot, he’ll need to find the line between playing

with an edge and going right over it. Spending 82 minutes in the

penalty box might fly in junior where he was a star, but NHL coaches

will not appreciate a young player and probable fourth-liner if that player’s most consistent contribution is

putting his team down a man.





