The Vancouver Canucks drafted B.C. boy Jake Virtanen with the sixth overall selection in 2014, but there little did we know that there would be plenty of frustration about his slow progress .
Virtanen wasn’t able to earn the trust of former head coach Willie Desjardins, as the 6-foot-1 winger appeared in just 65 total games over the 2015-16 and 2016-17 seasons. He only had 14 points to show for it.
New head coach Travis Green was tasked with trying to help Virtanen elevate his game at the NHL level. There was good reason to believe that Green would succeed, since Virtanen played well under his guidance when they were with the Utica Comets.