Report: Oilers waiting for answer from former Canuck Jake Virtanen, several other teams in the mix

The Edmonton Oilers are in the mix to sign forward Jake Virtanen to a professional tryout, TSN’s Ryan Rishaug reported Monday.

Virtanen, 26, played with the Vancouver Canucks from 2015 to 2021 after being selected by the club in the first round (No. 6 overall) of the 2014 NHL Draft.

According to Rishaug, “several other teams” are in the mix to bring Virtanen in for their respective training camps ahead of the 2022–23 season.

The Canucks exercised a buyout on the final year of Virtanen’s contract last summer after an unnamed woman came forward alleging the 6’1″, 227-pound forward sexually assaulted her in 2017.

A B.C. jury found Virtanen not guilty on one charge of sexual assault this past July. Virtanen had spent the 2021–22 season with Spartak Moscow of the Kontinental Hockey League, scoring nine goals and 16 points in 36 games.

Virtanen scored 55 goals and 100 points in 317 career games with the Canucks over parts of six seasons. Most recently, the Langley, BC product tallied five goals and zero assists in 38 NHL games with Vancouver in 2020–21.

The Oilers finished the 2021–22 season with a 49–27–6 record, good for 104 points and the No. 2 seed in the Pacific Division. They reached the 2022 Western Conference Final, being swept by the Colorado Avalanche after defeating the Los Angeles Kings and the Calgary Flames in the first two rounds.