LATEST | The reason for the 2014 Jake Virtanen pick revealed
The Vancouver Canucks selected Jake Virtanen 6th overall in the 2014 NHL entry draft. The BC Native was a talented forward with a gritty play style.
Virtanen struggled to adjust to the NHL level. He played parts of six NHL seasons, tallying 100 points in 317 games. Despite Virtanen put up solid numbers but faced off-ice issues that derailed his NHL career. The 27-year-old currently plays in the DEL for the Bremerhaven Penguins.
This is obviously not an ideal scenario for the Canucks 6th overall pick, especially when the Canucks could have had William Nylander, Nikolaj Ehlers, Dylan larkin etc.
Elliotte Friedman says "...legend has it there was chaos at the Vancouver table in the [2014] draft...the list was not followed... and as a result they didn't have the best possible draft...»
The Canucks did draft Thatcher Demko with their second round pick, so the draft was useful in the end but it is a big "what if" scenario for the Canucks if they had made a different pick.
